Hawaii Breaks New Ground as First State to Request CanPay

September 18, 2017         By: Steven Anderson

It wasn’t so long ago when we first heard about CanPay, a mobile payments service geared toward providing a cashless way to pay for medical marijuana. Now, new word from the state of Hawaii says that CanPay is set to be the mobile payment system of choice for its eight licensed dispensaries.

Such a move is actually a first of its kind in the United States; the entirety of the state’s medical marijuana dispensation system has agreed to go completely cashless, and to do so by October 1. While CanPay has been available in several states—California and Colorado both put it to use—this is said to be the first time that an entire state’s dispensary system has gone to one common payment platform like this.

With CanPay, users connect checking accounts to the system, which routes any subsequent payments to the Safe Harbor Private Banking credit union. For users with smartphones, this will be comparatively simple. Those without, meanwhile, can still set up a CanPay account from a PC using an email address and a personal identification number (PIN).

Then, using tablets at the individual dispensaries, users can log into CanPay from there and make the necessary payments. Hawaii is also said to be working on a kind of prepaid card specifically geared toward those without checking accounts.

Such a concept is actually necessary; with credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard assiduously staying out of marijuana products altogether, and state and federal laws at as-yet-unresolved loggerheads, the issue of paying for medical marijuana is a difficult one to tackle. By setting up this concept, dispensaries now effectively have a way to not only pay their employees but also pay for the product in question.

With the medical marijuana issue potentially ready to turn into a political minefield at just about any time, something’s got to be in place to keep the system running in the meantime. Visa and Mastercard opting out opened up the field, and that’s where CanPay stepped in.

While CanPay may not be able to act in this market space forever, it’s likely going to clean house while it’s there. An entire state putting it to work and several others chipping in will give this company a revenue stream for a while.