Heady NJ’s newsletter, The Heady Chronicle (THC), was banned by the email platform Mailchimp due to our promotion of cannabis dispensaries.
They will not allow CBD, legal cannabis or kratom to be advertised.
They have a fear and/or prejudice against cannabis due to the nature of federal marijuana prohibition under which it remains a Schedule I narcotic.
Building the Independent NJ Cannabis News Site Heady NJ
Heady NJ was founded on the belief that there would be a massive, lucrative state-legal cannabis industry that could and should be covered and promoted.
We are a small, independent media company that seeks to provide news to everyone from regular people blazing joints to the Powers That Be in Jersey. Thus, the goal was always to advertise a lot of companies.
Our vision was that New Jersey’s small cannabis market, would be transformed. For years many advocates and industry experts have believed the existing companies sell mediocre cannabis for too much money.
Independent dispensaries, growers, and manufacturers can create a market with competitive prices and quality products. It would be prosperous enough for everyone to enjoy.
Heady NJ was thus launched on a vision like the creation of Las Vegas. A small sleepy cowboy town could be a major entertainment and gaming center.
After years of grinding, that vision is becoming real. But then the trouble began in August.
Mailchimp did want us to promote the new independent NJ adult use cannabis dispensaries, Mountain View Farmacy of West Milford and Leaf Haus of Franklin Township.
It was very disheartening.
Fighting Mailchimp
We very carefully updated The Heady Chronicle newsletter to include the ads for Mountain View Farmacy and Leaf Haus. But then we were unhappy when the email was not released when it was scheduled.
We received a message from Mailchimp: “The content associated with your industry conflicts with our Acceptable Use Policy (mailchimp.com/legal/acceptable_use) or presents a significant risk to our deliverability.”
“Though we don’t judge anyone’s content or industry, there are strict anti-spam and ISP rules that we must comply with,” they argued. “These filters are sensitive to certain keywords, and some industries tend to generate greater-than-average complaint rates with their emails.”
We wrote back and sought to appeal their decision.
Federal Prohibition Hindering Cannabis Progress
“As we are based in the United States, we must comply with the laws and regulations that govern our organization. Under United States Federal law, these types of products are not legal in all 50 states, therefore online purchase and delivery is not legal. As our email servers are located within the United States, we are bound to comply with State and Federal regulations,” they wrote.
“We must have the links and images associated with the organizations that offer the sales and delivery of any CBD/Hemp oil/Cannabis/Kratom products, removed from any draft campaign, and a confirmation that this type of content will not be included in future campaigns,” they argued.” “To note, we are still seeing this type of content in the current draft campaigns.”
“The flagged campaign once again contains advertising for a site that sells and ships CBD. We will need to see this content removed before we can move forward with the account review. Any content sent form the account cannot contain links where CBD or like products can be bought. We will be on the lookout for your reply.”
Thus, they seemed to fear a SWAT team raid of feds ruining their office.
CBD Problems & Thin Ice
In 2022, Heady NJ first had problems with Mailchimp when we sought to promote small CBD companies.
They wrote to us that “while we understand CBD/Hemp oil/Cannabis/Kratom products are legal in many states and countries, unfortunately there is a high risk associated with sending emails that contain methods to purchase these online.”
Thus, Heady NJ previously had problems with Mailchimp. We were on thin ice in the first place, as so often happens when promoting legal cannabis. Unfortunately,
It’s really funny that they think CBD is like weed since it’s not supposed to get you high.
“We are a news site, like many others. (Also) we have been using Mailchimp for 5+ years. We do not engage in any illegal or harmful content. Please advise,” we wrote back.
They did not indulge our appeal.
Thus, we have parted ways with Mailchimp on bad terms. Therefore, Heady NJ recommends a total Mailchimp boycott.
After great difficulty, we have established a relationship with Mailerlite to continue sending our newsletter when new articles are published.
Growing Heady NJ Despite Federal Prohibition
We are among the many ancillary companies designed to do business with legal cannabis plant-touching businesses in the industry and have faced similar problems.
Heady NJ had a similar issue with GoDaddy in 2021 and was forced to find a new web host server.
Among other things, our growth has been hindered by social media platforms thinking the feds will swarm them if they allow posts describing legal cannabis news.
We are not the only ancillary organization to face such problems. Leaders of the NJ CannaBusiness Association (NJCBA) noted they have had trouble securing banking, for example. Thus, many industry experts recommend not having the word “cannabis” in a company’s name.
