http://pr.cannazine.co.uk : It all happened within minutes and with no warning at all.

One moment the Canna Zine cannabis seed store was open for business, offering the worlds favourite cannabis seeds, a commodity which to this day, remains legal here in the UK, and accepting PayPal payments in return for free, worldwide shipping. 

Whatever you want, you will find it here, with the "holier-than-thou" PayPal only too happy to handle the payments

But in an instant we were shut down, as PayPal, an eBay company, had frozen our trading account and when we politely enquired as to why this was, bearing in mind cannabis seeds are legal in the UK, we were told it was as a result of PayPal company policy. 

No negotiations were entered into, and for the next three months, no access was allowed to the Canna Zine PayPal account. 

Under these circumstances I guess there's little we can do. If PayPal don't want to entertain the revenues from cannabis seed sales, what can we do about it right?

Meanwhile, sites across the web were offering links to illegal download websites and offering PayPal as a payment option so we drew this to the attentions of PayPal and their publicity company, fully expecting PayPal to wish to disassociate from software piracy as quickly as possible. 

BSA
No matter how you look at it, offering downloads of cracked software applications and games is against the law, with the British Software Association (BSA) threatening massive fines and prison sentences for those found guilty in trading in pirated software, also known as "warez", yet a quick google search for the term "Warez" will bring up literally hundreds of websites, from which you can download absolutely any piece of software, any movie or any PC/Console game. 

The website in question here is a site called "Rapid Share" and heres how it works.

First of all you visit a bulletin board, (no names mentioned) and request whatever it is you are looking for, be that a game, or an application such as the latest copy of Windows Vista, Microsoft Office etc.

In this instance I chose to search out one of the latest PC games which is proving to be popular - Assassins Creed, and I immediately hit "pay dirt", being offered a link to Assassins Creed; The directors cut.

Worth £24.99 (around $50 dollars) on top games website Game.Com, the directors cut comes with a load of bonus material and is a must for any hardcore gamer. 

Following the link I was offered a free download from Rapid Share, for which I had to wait my turn as a ticketing system is in operation. Dependent on how many downloads you wish to accept the time you wait is between 30 seconds and 3 minutes - just long enough to make a coffee.

But if you're life is simply so busy you can't wait three minutes you can pay the princely sum of 6.99 (euros) and download as much software as you want for 48 hours, and you guessed it, primary payment processor is the mighty PayPal!

It wasn't all that long ago that PayPal was a nickel and dime outfit, plying their trade on eBay. At this stage you could buy whatever you wanted and PayPal were happy to take your money, for crossbows, MACE spray, cannabis seeds, you name it.

These days however its a very different landscape which greets the online buyer, and if PayPal don't like what it is you're buying or selling, they will freeze your account with no warning, only telling you whats happened after the event.

It was March 2nd 2008 the Canna Zine drew PayPals attentions to the fact illegal software download sites were offering PayPal as a payment option.

Today, March 24th 2008, Rapid Share are STILL offering PayPal as a payment option for illegal software, yet you are still not allowed to buy cannabis seeds using PayPal, even though 12 states of the US have legalised medical marijuana, the Supreme Court in the Czech Republic has done the same, as has Germany.

Portugal, Belgium and Holland have created "policy guidelines" which allows their respective citizens to grow and possess a small amount of cannabis for personal use, and the third major political party here in the UK (Liberal Democrats), have said via their manifesto, that they will create similar policies should they be voted into power at the next general election, meaning the growing of cannabis in the UK, for personal or social supply, will be decriminalised.

Click to buy cannabis seeds regardless of what PayPal (or eBay) say 

But PayPal, as a member of the worlds financial industry, are playing judge & jury in deciding whether or not people should be allowed to buy cannabis seeds but in the same breath are condoning and encouraging software piracy by allowing their online payments service to be used for what is, no matter how you look at it, an illegal practice.

Hypocrisy at a corporate level?

Go figure!

• Their toll free number is (888) 221-1161 - personally verified by experience of the admin of this site.
  
• Their NEW regular telephone number is: (650) 864-8000 - (verify)
  
• An automated phone number is 402-935-7733 (verified by admin)
  
• Another regular telephone number is: (402)935-2050 - (verify)
  
• 408 376 7400 fax: 408-376-7514 (Verified by Whois)
  
• One of their fax numbers is: (402)537-5765 - (unverified, but probably good)
  
• Another fax number is: (650)251-1101 - (verified via whois search)
  
• The entire block of phone numbers from (402)935-2100 to (402)935-2299 seems to be all PayPal's. This list of PayPal phone numbers was created by a user of PayPalSucks.com.
  
  
• PayPal UK is 08707 307 191 (UK national call rates apply)
  
• PayPal UK FAX is 020 8605 3001. (verify by entering PayPal's registration number which is 226056.)
  
  
• A Whois lookup on their domain shows: (This is supposed to be the legal address for process.)
  
  Registrant:
  PayPal Inc. (PAYPAL2-DOM)
  2211 North First Street
  San Jose, CA 95131
  US
  
  eBay Inc. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
  2145 Hamilton Avenue
  San Jose, CA 95125
  US
  408 376 7400
  fax: 408-376-7514
  
  
• PayPal UK shows:
  
  Hotham House
  1 Heron House
  Richmond Upon Thames
  Surrey
  TW9 1EJ
  GB
  
  You can verify this info here. Just enter PayPal's registration number which is 226056.

Have your say
What do you think? Should cannabis be allowed for recreational/medical purposes here in the UK? If so why do you think its not allowed? Is it as the government says? A question of public health?

Or is there perhaps another, hidden agenda which the government are working to?

Should PayPal, or any other privately run company be able to stop you buying what you want if it contravenes no local laws? 

Sign up to the Canna Zine forums and have your say.

Buy Cannabis Seeds from the Canna Zine shop .