Cannabis Arrives to Twitter. Would You Want Your Children to Be Exposed?

Have you ever noticed that Twitter content is generally suitable for all audiences? For some reason everyone tries to stick to language that will not offend anyone and you will rarely see strong language used in tweets in public. And even when strong words are used, twitterers will often choose to mask them somehow not to offend anyone who may not want to see offensive language on Twitter.

Yet from time to time I am surprised with what I see on Twitter. Like today, for example, I have received a following notification from a user MediCann with a bio stating “Largest Provider of Medical Marijuana Evaluations”. The user only signed up yesterday, sent one update and followed a few users (me included) - and got some followers back, obviously. The account linked to the website of the company providing evaluations for patients to prove they are allowed to buy cannabis.

As an outsider without any knowledge on how legal this activity is and how such companies operate, I had to ask a more knowledgeable friend about it. He explained that in California the best dispensaries rely on MediCann as an approver of doctor’s recommendation and no purchase can be made without their seal.

The most surprising thing to me was that the company promised to have “Online shopping coming soon” and this is at the very least surprising to me as I thought buying marijuana should be way more difficult than completing an online form. But I am not talking about this particular company, its workflow and legal side of the business.

What is of particular concern to me is that we are seeing the company making its appearance on Twitter - advertising their services and obviously reaching out to people like me (and dozens of others) with their message. So this incident made me think that such things simply should not be on Twitter - legal or not - as the community is supposed to be safe for all ages (especially since ToS stipulate that to join Twitter a user must be a minimum 13 years old - hardly the age you’d want your child to see an ad for cannabis, right?).

My idea is that Twitter should introduce a certain ranking system for accounts so that users could choose exactly how they want their content to be rated. Of course the majority of the accounts should stay G-rated as they are but owners of some accounts may very well be willing to choose R-rated or even X-rated status as more appropriate for their businesses. Have you seen porn accounts on Twitter? I myself have seen tons of accounts from various porn movie stars and porn producers and I could not help but feel uncomfortable that such accounts (along with their often frivolous updates and links) can not be limited in any way to show there are some people who should not be able to access them, children included. I fully realize that such rating system will mean additional load on Twitter but I believe the team should not want to face legal actions from concerned parents and should figure out a way to cope with activities that should have limited distribution on Twitter.