A Marijuana Dispensary Wants Me to Upload a Photo of My Drivers License

Should California's marijuana customers be worried virtually the federal regime charging them with a crime?

That'southward the provocative question a reader asked united states subsequently we published Pot 101, an article that outlines what you can and can't legally do under the state's recreational marijuana law, Proposition 64.

The measure legalized recreational pot sales statewide on January. 1, 2018.

The reader, who requested that we non utilise her proper name, said she was asked to submit a copy of her photo ID to complete a marijuana purchase online, through a retail clinic.

She was concerned her information, and that of all customers, could exist obtained by the federal government should the dispensary e'er be shut down.

The short reply to her question is: Yes. Federal law yet classifies marijuana as an illegal drug and there are no current protections for recreational customers.

Days afterwards California legalized retail pot sales, U.Due south. Chaser Full general Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama assistants memo that recommended a hands-off approach to marijuana prosecution. The move was seen every bit possibly paving the way for a federal crackdown on marijuana, though it's uncertain whether that will happen.

To get a fuller motion picture, we spoke with marijuana policy experts about the likelihood of federal prosecutions and examined customer privacy and information collection practices at California'southward marijuana dispensaries.

Like the land'southward marijuana law itself, we plant the answers aren't always articulate cutting.

What information can dispensaries collect on recreational marijuana customers?

To buy recreational marijuana at a dispensary in California, customers must testify a valid ID to prove they are 21 or older. A driver's license or passport is sufficient.

This is the only information dispensaries are required to check for walk-in recreational customers under Proposition 64. The constabulary does not instruct businesses to agree on to customer data following a purchase, said Tamar Todd, who helped draft the ballot measure, and is legal affairs director with the Drug Policy Alliance. But there's also cypher in the law that prevents the businesses from asking for it and keeping it.

The six dispensaries we contacted all told PolitiFact California they retain customer information. Most said they browse driver's licenses, a procedure that in some cases automatically enters personal information into the store's reckoner system. One dispensary, in addition to the scan, requires customers to fill out their names and phone numbers on a contact form. Another told us they type in customer initials and a appointment of nativity if they're uncomfortable giving their full proper noun.

'Find a different shop'

Many stores collect this data for marketing purposes, said Robert Mikos, a professor at Vanderbilt Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, who studies state and federal marijuana policy.

"As a consumer you might go into a store where they don't give you the option to decline, stores are always trying to assemble information," Mikos said. "You might merely find a dissimilar shop where they don't collect that information."

Marketing is part of why dispensaries rails customer purchases. But so is the need to comply with state laws that limit the amount of cannabis sold to an individual each 24-hour interval, said Lauren Mendelsohn, a Sebastopol-based chaser who specializes in permitting and licensing for cannabis businesses. The law allows recreational customers to buy one ounce of cannabis per day, which is enough material to make full a few dozen joints. Alternately, they can purchase up to 8 grams of cannabis concentrates institute in marijuana edibles such every bit candies, brownies and breakfast confined.

"They need to go on track of who bought how much and when they were at that place," Mendelsohn said.

Marijuana dispensaries in California are required to verify that customers are 21 or older / Associated Press file photo

Delivery orders

Under the constabulary, dispensaries are instructed to retain some personal information for delivery orders to assistance ensure marijuana is not being diverted to those under 21, said Todd, of the Drug Policy Alliance. In those cases, the shop retains copies of each delivery request.

To purchase medical marijuana, patients must bear witness a doctor's recommendation or a land-issued medical marijuana ID bill of fare when they visit dispensaries.

Amy Jenkins, a Sacramento-based lobbyist who represents the California Cannabis Industry Association, said she has not heard of dispensaries storing substantial personal information for those who buy recreational or medical pot.

She noted, however, that medical patients "like to be entered into the system merely for convenience and ease when they come dorsum in to acquire new products," rather than bringing a letter from their dr. each fourth dimension they visit.

Videotaping

There's another form of information collection at dispensaries: Videotaping.

Dispensaries are required under the state's emergency licensing regulations to videotape customers on-site, including each transaction, Todd said.

"I find it a picayune concerning in terms of privacy, especially for patients who are medical marijuana customers," Todd said, citing health privacy laws. "Information technology'south unnecessary to me, and has sort of a chilling result on customers in subjecting them to unnecessary legal exposure."

She said the surveillance requirement is part of the state's six-month emergency rules that govern manufacture practices and were released in late 2017.

California'south voter-approved Proffer 64 legalized recreational marijuana sales on January. 1, 2018 / Associated Printing file photo.

How worried should customers exist about privacy?

Experts told us it's very unlikely the federal government would target individual customers for enforcement.

"The concerns are pretty minor and pocket-size for consumers," said Mikos, the Vanderbilt professor. "In office that's because the federal government has never spent much effort actually groovy down and enforcing its marijuana ban against consumers. Information technology'southward ever focused on big suppliers. And information technology'due south left the treatment of consumers to state authorities. So it's very unlikely that the federal regime would pursue legal activeness against consumers."

Todd, of the Drug Policy Alliance, agreed.

"It's very, very unlikely that there's going to exist targeting of individual customers. Many, many other targets would come up kickoff," she said.

The chances the federal authorities would target medical marijuana customers appears even less probable because they take a form of legal protection. Since 2012, Congress has barred the U.S. Department of Justice from using its budgeted funds to prosecute individuals or suppliers who comply with country medical marijuana laws, Mikos said. The protection stems from an subpoena authored by Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

For recreational pot consumers, in that location's no such protection. Todd said at that place take been several bills submitted in Congress to strengthen protections for recreational customers, ranging from legislation to similarly restrict the DOJ from prosecuting customers who follow state police to a the broader proposal to legalize marijuana nationwide.

Are at that place any state laws to protect customer privacy?

In April 2017, Oregon passed a law prohibiting marijuana retailers from keeping or sharing customers' personal information. Customers may still voluntarily sign-upward for emails from shops to get coupons or discounts, according to an commodity past the Oregonian. Lawmakers in that state cited fears the Trump administration could crack down on the country's cannabis manufacture.

Like laws are already in place in Alaska and Colorado and self-imposed manufacture standards in Washington state, according to the Associated Press.

As of early February 2018, there were no formal proposals in the California Legislature to accost privacy concerns at dispensaries. But at least one state lawmaker has explored the topic, said Jenkins, the cannabis industry lobbyist.

A land senator, who Jenkins declined to proper name, is examining the idea of legislation that would "further protect customers from dispensary operators that are seeking information beyond" verifying an ID bill of fare. She described information technology as an early "fact-finding inquiry," to assess whether there's a trouble, noting the lawmaker has not committed to bringing a beak frontward.

Our respond: Yes, with some caveats

Our reader asked whether marijuana customers can be charged by the federal authorities with a crime. Our respond is yeah, but with some caveats.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Additionally, the Trump administration has taken steps to make a crackdown on the industry easier.

We found California dispensaries do collect personal data, mayhap more than customers realize. While country law doesn't require this collection, it also doesn't block stores from asking for and retaining information technology.

All the same, marijuana policy experts believe it'southward very unlikely federal authorities would target individual customers. They note medical marijuana customers have some legal protections, as long as they follow state medical marijuana laws. Recreational pot consumers don't have the same safeguard.

It'due south too early on to say whether California or the federal authorities volition pass legislation to eternalize protections. Dispensaries, on their own, likewise could play an of import function in guarding customer information.

Amy Jenkins, the cannabis association lobbyist, said the industry will answer to customer concerns.

"If at that place are privacy concerns," Jenkins said, "or if there are behaviors and data drove occuring that shouldn't exist, I recollect we every bit an industry are going to do our best to better inform dispensary operators on what's appropriate and what isn't."

What are your marijuana questions?

We want to know your questions near what's allowed and what's non nether California'south marijuana laws.

Email us at [email protected], or contact u.s.a. on Twitter or Facebook.

We'll consider researching your question and we'll add together more to our Pot 101 in future weeks and months. Also, if you hear a misleading claim virtually California's legal cannabis, let united states of america know. Nosotros'll consider a formal fact-check on those in 2018 and across.

PolitiFact California intern Kathryn Palmer contributed research and writing for this commodity.

UPDATE: After publication, California State Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Silicon Valley, introduced a neb at the state Capitol that would offering a measure of privacy for pot customers. Assembly Bill 2402 would ban retail marijuana shops from selling customer data to third-party vendors without the customer's consent. Low said the bill would also block employers from obtaining information nigh an employee who buys marijuana. Capital Public Radio reported on the new bill here.

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Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2018/feb/13/how-much-privacy-do-you-have-when-you-buy-marijuan/