Apple secretly joined Amazon in advancing commercial cannabis reform

Photo Credit: Wired

This past summer, a little recognized thing occurred — one of the largest and most respected companies in the world quietly changed its policies in favor of cannabis. That company was Apple. As a result, they joined the ranks of Amazon as a global corporation advocating for policy reform that would open a federally legal, commercial cannabis industry in the United States.

For years, large tech companies, including Facebook and Google, have refused to acknowledge the legality of industrial hemp, let alone the legality of medical or recreational marijuana. Finally, Apple bucked that trend. In June, the fine print of Apple’s “App Store Review Guidelines” release stated that apps handling sales and delivery of medical and recreational cannabis in legal jurisdictions are now allowed on the App Store. This was monumental.

Unlike the big headlines we’ve seen recently from Amazon, Uber, the NFL, and other mainstream, institutional businesses, showing a positively changing attitude toward cannabis, Apple made no big-splash announcement that this had happened. Yet, this change came at a time of a shift in the cannabis paradigm for voters, policymakers, and the average American.

Published: February 15, 2022