A micro conversion with those interested in this subject -- weed economics.
For those who don't know, I'm in the payments industry and specialize in "high-risk" merchant accounts so naturally we've done a lot of cannabis and related work thus far. Many cannabis business managers seeking the ability to accept legitimate payments, do not seem to grasp that marijuana is a Schedule I substance and **IS** illegal in the USA and its territories, and IS the subject of dozens of various abatement legislation. Furthermore, the plethora of "war on drugs" treaties has even Canadian banks obliged to follow US federal law, so we are being swamped with Canadian business seeking payment accounts backed by, ironically, an american bank, yet denominated in Canadian dollars.
This is a real email I wrote and sent out earlier today (to a rather annoying and nagging prospect) driving the point (and my frustration) home.
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Hello, I'm in charge of the technical aspects of our system, and perhaps a bit of an economic perspective is in order. First, lets be clear on what our "services" primarily do here -- we try and find you a Sponsor Bank **willing** to **risk** financing **illegal** economic transactions. Notice I said illegal. That is exactly what they are. They are federally illegal transactions, and the risk exposure for us and the banks is enormous. One executive order from the POTUS (or one bad court case) is all it would take to bankrupt my company and our sponsor bank network. Yes, they/we are paranoid. In the USA, technically, any "contract" (like a visa/mc sale) is unenforceable if the contract itself breaks Federal law. Since, marijuana and its derivatives are illegal -- and seriously "Schedule I" so! -- it is entirely possible that EVERY payment made related to marijuana could be held null and void making collecting on said debts legally impossible and forcing mass-refunds to consumers.

So NOTHING on our website applies to the sale of illegal goods. Nothing. Meaning, we have no "brochure" and nothing on our website is not necessarily applicable at all to what you're doing. Furthermore, nothing on anyone else's site does either. We are all figuring it out as we go along, and we are ALL taking considerable personal and professional risk playing in this unknown sandbox at this time. Again, one little "executive order" bankrupts us, and all of our sponsor banks. The potential liability is enormous. Already, we have Canadian customers who are banned from entering the USA just because they make their living in the cannabis industry (in Canada!). Federally, this is very far from settled right now.

So what are our formal services in this (if we did make a brochure for it)? We find you a reputable sponsor bank, then find a payment gateway and processor that will take you so financial payment transactions can be made and managed on our otherwise legitimate network with resulting periodic deposits made to your account. Then we hope and pray the Feds play nice. If you already have your own American bank willing to do these transactions at a reasonable rate, then you don't need us. If you do not, then you do need us. The rest -- execution of an actual payment transaction -- is a commodity.

There are absolutely zero guarantees or warranties being made whatsoever in this space because no guarantees or warranties can be made. Anyone who does make them is either a fool or a crook. We could get you up and running today and a number of external entities can choose to shut you down and seize your deposits tomorrow, completely outside of our control or even our prior knowledge.

I'm more than happy to discuss the normal capabilities and virtues of our system, it's limitations, and general options of commercial payment mediums, but until you have a valid merchant account from a sponsor bank and network, it's all moot and theoretical. What you are "buying" from us is friendly access to our network of sponsor banks (we have a reputation in "high-risk" anyway) who are known to seriously consider a legally risky enterprise relationship.

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me for any reason.