Online email management provider Mailchimp.com on Friday refused to allow the Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative to use their service to send out campaign emails, because the subject matter was related to marijuana.
“Unfortunately, we cannot support sending any marijuana related content through our servers. While we do understand you are a legitimate organization and are not selling products, the risk associated with this type of content is too great for us to shoulder,” company representatives wrote in an email.
This explanation came after OMPI Director Robert Wolfe received an email from Mailchimp declaring that ““Your account falls under this prohibited content and / or industry noted in ours Terms of Use under exhibit (f): Illegal goods or services.”
Wolfe objected to that characterization, writing to company reps that “You’ve gotten this wrong. We are not offering ANY goods or services. We are a legitimate political campaign, registered with the Oregon Secretary of State, busy collecting signatures for an initiative petition. We do not sell marijuana — or anything else. We are promoting POLITICAL CHANGE and this is a professional political campaign.”
OMPI has since opened an account with Constant Contact, whose representatives were able to distinguish between marijuana selling and legitimate political activity.
OMPI has an email list of nearly 10,000 names, all opt-in email recipients who have expressly consented to receiving emails regarding pro-cannabis political activity. OMPI is promoting two citizen initiatives for the 2012 general election in Oregon, and is registered with the Oregon Secretary of State as a Petition Committee, a 501(c)(4) organization.
