So what’s up with Lakewood Cannabis and Facebook?  Let me explain.  Facebook and Instagram are the private property of the Meta corporation, just like YouTube is owned by Google and Twitter is owned by Elon Musk.  This is their personal/corporate property.  Much like you can say what behavior is allowable in your home or on your lawn, they can dictate what behavior is allowable on those respective platforms.  Honestly, there is a lively debate over whether or not they should be allowed to control those entities in their entirety with no oversight, guidance or input whatsoever from the government or public, but as of today the rules are that those entities control what does and does not happen on those platforms.

As we all know, cannabis is a Schedule 1 at the federal level.  This means that in the laws at the federal level there is no worse drug than Cannabis.  Not cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl – nothing outranks Cannabis at the federal law level.  You and I know that to be a falsehood and we can see it across the country where all of those different drugs that I’ve mentioned have had massive corrosive effects on our friends, families and neighbors and the doom that some predicted from cannabis legalization has totally failed to materialize.  But, as things stand today, the Federal government – by law, says that there is nothing worse than Cannabis.

Some of you may recall that Facebook got into some hot water over Russian influence into our elections by spreading information through that platform that potentially swayed the election.  Mark Zuckerberg was called up in front of Congress and they effectively held him accountable for the information that people/countries place on their platform.  Part of the fallout from that, which many have seen now, is the Facebook “fact checking” that goes on with posts – most recently seen in the Covid epidemic.  Another part of that decision is the fallout seen on the cannabis page front.

In the eyes of Facebook, for example, they are equating this to their having to police the content on their platform lest they run afoul the federal government.  The federal government, in their eyes, could come after them for their allowance of the advertising and trafficking of Schedule 1 drugs on their site.  Not just in America mind you, there are other governments to contend with globally also.  So Facebook has decided to eliminate their role in the promotion of the sale of Schedule 1 drugs.

At Lakewood, we understand all of that and we understand why and we essentially have no issue with it on the surface.  Where we have a problem with it is the uneven enforcement of their policies.  Some stores can do the same things as others do and one will get a 30 day ban and the other will not.  I, Mark Goodwin, got a 30 day ban on all of my accounts, personal and professional, for posting 7 packs of sealed gummies and announcing that they’re a new arrival to our stores.  Meanwhile there are stores that can post pictures of cannabis, prerolls and whatever they choose without repercussion.  Our issue is, “if you’re going to ban us then ban us all.  Don’t do a half-hearted attempt of banning some of us for some things under the name of ‘we’re trying’ while leaving others free and unhindered”.  It’s not right, it’s not fair and it’s not an even playing field.

So at Lakewood what we’ve decided to do is to start our own web site.  We can say what we like here.  We can post whatever pictures we want to here without fear of cancellation.  We can say what we like in the way that we prefer without the fear of “Big Brother” chastising us.  So essentially we are taking our content to a new place and we welcome you with open arms to join us.