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OneLocal Restricted Business and SMS Messaging Policy
OneLocal Restricted Business and SMS Messaging Policy

It is strictly prohibited to discuss cannabis with your customers via SMS text messaging across North America.

Paulo avatar
Written by Paulo
Updated over a week ago

Please note we have certain restrictions in place for specific business industries, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This list is updated periodically and may also be extended at the sole discretion of OneLocal.

All Merchants are required to comply with this Restricted Business Policy. Any breach of this Restricted Business Policy will be considered a breach of the OneLocal Terms of Service.

DO NOT Discuss Cannabis with Contacts Using LocalMessages

Does your business have any connections with cannabis, CBD or similar goods or services? You might be thinking, if it's legal in my area, it should be fine to promote or discuss with my customers and leads right?

Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to text messaging. Although cannabis has been legalized in some States, as well as in Canada, the sale and promotion of it is prohibited via SMS and MMS messaging. All major phone carriers are screening/blocking these types of messages and continuing to promote these items could result in your phone number being blocked entirely from the largest phone networks in North America. Unfortunately, if your business breaks these rules on multiple occasions, you could also lose access to LocalMessages.

How Does OneLocal Keep Track?

The OneLocal platform automatically monitors text messages sent from your business based on a list of keywords. This does not apply to incoming messages sent by your customers or leads, but if this happens you should not respond including any details related to cannabis, CBD or other related words. Our system is monitoring for the following keywords or combinations thereof:

  • Marijuana

  • Cannabis

  • THC

  • CBD

  • Hemp

  • Joint

  • Smoke

  • Strain

  • Dispensary

  • Bong

  • Jellies

  • Vape

  • Edibles

  • Buds

  • Dank

  • Gummies

  • Ganja

  • Hashish

  • Kush

  • Reefer

  • Blunt

  • Stoned

  • Smoke out

  • Puff

  • Roach

  • Vape pen

  • Rolling papers

  • Grow house

  • Hydroponics

This list is not comprehensive, is regularly being updated and there may be more variations which will trigger alerts in our platform.

What Happens If I Break the Rules?

You will receive an email alert indicating your message has been flagged and not delivered to your customer. You will also contacted by your OneLocal Account Manager to discuss the matter and ensure you understand the rules around the use of cannabis and CBD-related content in LocalMessages.

If you break this rule 3 times you will lose access to LocalMessages. We do not wish to do this to any of our OneLocal partners, so please do not send messages containing any cannabis-related content.

What if Cannabis is Legal in My State? This Doesn't Seem Fair

As cannabis has only been legalized in select US states and our technology provider for SMS text messages is regulated at the federal level, this will continue to be the case until such time as cannabis has been legalized federally across all 50 states and restrictions have been lifted by the phone carriers.

This doesn't mean you can't continue to supply your customers with cannabis or CBD-related products in your services if you do live in a legalized state, it just cannot be discussed by your business using LocalMessages. We recommend thinking about alternative forms of communication if these topics do need to be discussed, such as via a phone call, email, or in-person conversation.

What if my Business and Customers are Located in Canada? Am I Affected?

As mentioned above, these rules apply across North America, including Canada.

What Can I Do if I Need to Have Cannabis-related Conversations with a Customer?

Other forms of communication are recommended in these cases, such as by email, phone call (yes, you can use LocalPhone part of your OneLocal dashboard for this), or in person.

If you have any questions, please contact OneLocal Support via the chat button in our app or email support@onelocal.com and we’ll be happy to help!

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