2015 seemed to be a year of progress, or at least some groundwork set, for cannabis and marijuana advocates. The momentum building for 2016 support is unquestionable. The support is also being felt online and across several social media platforms, but Instagram ain’t having any of it. In fact, there are some businesses being directly impacted and having their social media accounts affected.

Instagram Crackdown

Instagram has cracked down in a big way on accounts having much or little to do with weed. Countless stories have surfaced of unsuspecting user accounts being deleted. While legal in 23 states and D.C., in some form, marijuana or, more specifically, the promotion or solicitation of drugs is against Instagram’s community guidelines. Marijuana’s status as a schedule I substance means it’s still an illegal, illicit drug at the Federal level. That makes things tricky for community-style media platforms policing their hundreds of millions of users.

Cannabis Business Owners

Perhaps the biggest bummer is that Instagram is perfect for up and coming canna-businesses, many of whom really are operating to the letter of their local laws. The platform, used properly, can be an incredible and free tool for the budding entrepreneur. Announcing new products, staying in touch with customers, reaching new audiences and the like is super easy with social media so of course dispensary owners and cannabis products are building massive followings.

Sticking With Instagram

The risk of those being wiped clean without warning is one many dispensaries and cannabis ventures are willing to take to reach new patients although some are just over it. We’ve seen many awesome Instagrammers leave the bigger platforms and stick mainly with sites like MassRoots. But in staying on mainstream social platforms are cannabis ventures making a stand to bring greater awareness towards responsible cannabis use? We hope so.