My question is in regards to the legalities of Marijuana discussion forums and US Law. Is running a Marijuana forum illegal, if I have my server the site is hosted on in the US? I am mixed up here, as I would think that my rights to have a Marijuana discussion forum would be protected by the Bill of Rights and my freedom of speech, but being that Marijuana is illegal I don't know if it would be legal to discuss on a forum that is hosted in the US. The forum would be for discussion only, talking about experiences, and how people smoke it, etc. I don't know if one could look at it as me trying to promote Marijuana in the US and the usage of it, or if I could be prosecuted for it. Any help and advice is appreciated on this matter. Thanks!
I don't think it's a problem. Look at high times magazine. They have huge photo spreads of marijuana and they legally sell magazines every month.
It's risky I would say. One of the biggest marijuana forums - Overgrow.com - got shut down a while ago and AFAIK it wasn't even hosted in the US but the DEA/FBI pressured the Canadian government into taking the site(s) down. OverGrow had a ton of information about growing marijuana though, it wasn't just a forum. There are quite a few drug forums that are large and still running without problems. These sites have strict rules though, such as no talk about dosage or where to obtain drugs. Your best bet would probably be to talk to a lawyer or someone who knows their shit. RIP Overgrow!
I see. Well, I would host it in Europe no problem, but I have my own dedicated server that is based in the US. I'm not a rich guy, and my funding is super duper low for such things.. If I have to, I guess I'll host it in Europe with imaginary funding, but I'm trying to find out if there is any possible way to not get it shut down in the US or not get me in trouble.
Hey as long as you are not selling the stuff or facilitating the sale of the stuff I don't see how they could find a problem with it.
ESP. now that in the United States that marijuana is a medically-receivable prescription, there wouldn't be much they can do to you; you can claim you and your users are all patients.
shouldnt be a problem if your not doing anything too dodgy or host it in amsterdam or something but the nets #1 marijuana growers and smokers forum www.overgrow.com got closed down suddenly last year/early this year for some reason.. never got the full story but i think the US govt was involved but whatever you do make sure the server is 100% secure and can be deleted if needed you probably wont have any problems tho their is alot of weed forums around getting by with no real problems i like what overgrow did... by not accepting discussions of any unnatural drugs so pretty much weed and shrooms only OG RIP!
While you may think that hosting on a European server would make a difference, it really doesn't... IF something is illegal in the US, even if you host it in a foreign country, you're still a US citizen so therefore you're still breaking the law and you could be prosecuted. That being said, having a marijuana discussion forum is NOT illegal. You MAY run into some problems if you have ads for paraphenalia, but I'm not completely certain about that. On a federal level you're fine, but some states have some weird "indecency" laws, so you may want to check to make sure you're not in violation of those, but generally speaking, it should be perfectly legal to host a forum. If you're really worried about, I'd say to consult a lawyer, or check out the NORML website, maybe they have a forum or some contacts that you can get further information. Also, just as a precaution... If you're planning to host a forum, i'd make sure you have absolutely no illegal drugs in your house and that you don't post any incriminating stuff... Also I'd recommend getting Whois protection, because while it's not foolproof, it might prevent some local cop who stumbles upon your site and isn't very knowledge about domains from going all gungho without cause... And it might also be better so someone from your neighbor doesn't find out who you are and then suddenly everyone knows...