Tag: keep seeds legal

Challenges of Marketing Cannabis

Posted on by Matt Pagliaro

Before 2019, the world was a much different place. Our team was scattered throughout Maine doing different jobs and still trying to find purpose in our careers. The owner of North Atlantic Seed Co, Beth Mathieu, was working as a medical care giver in central Maine. Providing clones and care to her patients opened her eyes to the need for accessible genetics in the United States. Maine Clone Company was already established and connected her with locals that reaffirmed that need. 

North Atlantic Seed Co. launched in 2019 and Beth started to find a few breeders to work with and distribute their genetics. We were fortunate to work with a few that had proven quality including Ethos Genetics, Barney’s Farm and a few more. As demand grew, Beth hired me to help with marketing and expand our reach domestically so she could continue to balance her other businesses. Back in 2020 when I first got my start, Covid forced people to stay at home and many were looking for a new hobby as well as alternative forms of self-care. I quickly discovered how fortunate we were to launch when we did. Word of mouth was the most important marketing we could do so we put all our focus into top-notch customer service and improving the customer experience with our website. We still have that mentality today because we understand that builds loyalty in our community and will continue to set us apart.

As time went on we started working with more breeders, hired more friends and family, got a payment processor to work with us and customers helped build trust online about our business. Marketing cannabis online has always posed a challenge. Our industry has never had access to common marketing tools like GoogleAds, social media sponsored content, text marketing and standard SEO tools so we have had to get creative. Seeds have been legal since the 2018 Farm Bill but algorithms and community standards have been unable to differentiate our legal business from the illegality of cannabis at the federal level. We adapted our approach to each platform and learned some lessons the hard way.

North Atlantic Seed Co Team 2026

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

These platforms have a large audience for our target demographic but can be the most restrictive in reach. Facebook flags bud pics and removes our content more than any other platform so we use it more as a re-direct for our customers these days. There are also scammers on Facebook that pretend to be us so we try to manage that as much as possible. We will never ask for money on any social platform so be aware of these common scams!

Instagram used to allow more than it does currently. They have started to remove cannabis accounts altogether. Our original account went down when we had 11k followers. The backup account had 30k followers and all content archived or deleted when it went down. This was incredibly frustrating when our account was removed based on content that could not be reported. Meta was completely incompetent when providing ‘support’. They refused to provide the report of what content triggered the removal. Their community standards are intentionally vague stating that they don’t allow the sale of illegal goods - even though seeds are legal and they are wrong. This allows scammers to thrive on Instagram and we see more scam accounts here than any other platform. Meta often won’t remove these scam accounts when they are reported. Further proving that their platform is broken.

We still have accounts on both platforms today. For Instagram we have started leaning towards more educational and lifestyle content than cannabis or promotional content. Even now, giveaways trigger the algorithm, most content is not populating followers feeds and we run the risk of losing our accounts at any moment.

X and BlueSky

X and BlueSky are the least restrictive but have a smaller audience. We can post more promotional content here compared to any other social platforms. Follow us HERE and HERE to stay up to date on all our best drops and promotions.

YouTube and RSS

YouTube recently tightened restrictions and has consistently taken down our content. We have seen this happen to many other cannabis YouTube channels as well. This is unfortunate because YouTube has a lot of reach potential. All the video content can be found on an alternative platform - Vimeo. Most of our video content comes from our NASC Cast team where they interview breeders and learn their backgrounds, what they love to grow and what the future looks like for their brands. NASC Cast has interviewed some of the best in the industry like Solfire Gardens, Twenty20 Mendocino, Gnome Automatics, Brothers Grimm, Dirty Bird Genetics and MORE! If you haven’t checked the NASC Cast out, you can listen or watch anywhere you get podcast content or watch on Vimeo.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is our best way to get our drop info and promotional info directly to you. Plus you get a 10% OFF code when you sign up! If you want to stay up to date and be the first to hear about things like 4/20 specials, please sign up!

Reddit

Reddit has proven to be valuable from the very beginning. Long before we had an account, customers would advocate for North Atlantic Seed Co. on Reddit when people would ask where to buy seeds. We are grateful for everyone that ever gave us a shoutout on Reddit and sent customers our way.

Follow us on Reddit to stay up to date on our blog, educational content and see what others are growing! We will be more active here in the months to come so make sure to join and engage with the community HERE!

Discord

Up until recently, Discord was a fantastic community building platform. We lost our Discord channel twice and decided to pivot towards other options. Getting our community to move to a new platform every few months is not ideal but we remain optimistic and hope you all continue to find ways to stay active in our community.

Patreon

Today we launch our newest community option on Patreon. We are so excited about this FREE to join Patreon that allows cannabis content and should prove to be similar to our Discord. Please join us on Patreon for educational content, a growing community and so much more!

Here’s a word from Jaden, Marketing Associate, on both Discord and Patreon.

“Discord was a platform that was a major back and forth battle for us. The community aspect of Discord was something far different than traditional social media and it was amazing to see so many people from so many different places come together and share their love for growing. Getting to know the members of our community was always one of my favorite parts of my job. Whether it be through them sharing plants, pets or some of their other favorite activities, I was always interacting with the NASC community in one way or another. Unfortunately on the other side of the coin there was an increase of action taken against cannabis servers on the platform. With constant violations being given to both us and our members, our server being taken down multiple times, and the majority of other cannabis servers facing the same issues as us, we ultimately decided to move away from the platform for the foreseeable future.

With all of that being said there was a light at the end of the tunnel. After once again losing our Discord server I started to look for alternative platforms that have a strong emphasis on building a community, that we also wouldn’t face as many struggles with. So, I am excited to announce that as of today we have launched a free Patreon page that utilizes the platform's community chats feature to allow a similar experience to Discord and the ability to share your plants freely. Along with that we will be using the posts section to keep you updated on all of our future educational content. Blogs and NASC Cast episodes will be posted there, allowing us to have a strong emphasis on education. Also be on the lookout for future paid tiers for more exclusive content available on Patreon, as we plan to expand what we offer while always keeping the community free to access. I am excited to dive back into the NASC community and see faces both new and old. Please visit https://www.patreon.com/cw/NorthAtlanticSeedCo and join for free today!”

2026 will prove to be a pivotal year in our industry. Cannabis rescheduling and the potential hemp ban will shape the future of genetics in the United States. Please support our efforts in Keeping Seeds Legal by purchasing packs HERE or making a donation at checkout. All proceeds will directly fund the legal future of cannabis seeds.

Keep Seeds Legal - Proceeds Go Towards Preserving Seeds
Keep Seeds Legal - Sour Pebbles F1 Auto $10 Donations

Read more about this important cause HERE

Thank you for reading and for your continued support! We wouldn’t be here without you. Please follow us anywhere and everywhere you engage online. We want to hear from you and grow with you!

As a small token of our appreciation, please use this 10% OFF code on your next order: 

MattSentMe 

Good for one time use. Exclusions apply. $25 min. Expires 4/17/26.

-Matt Pagliaro, Marketing Manager

The Fight to Keep Cannabis Seeds Legal with North Atlantic Seed Co. by Beth Mathieu

Posted on by Beth Mathieu
Keep Seeds Legal - Proceeds Go Towards Preserving Seeds

In Nov 2025, a statute was passed in the FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Act that will federally redefine and criminalize most cannabis seeds sold in the US by excluding them from the previous definition of hemp set forth in the 2018 Farm Bill. Set to take effect on Nov 12, 2026, seeds will become recognized as “cannabis” rather than “hemp” if the mother plant contains over 0.3% THC. 

This new statute – found in Sec 781, Exclusion C –undermines the definition of hemp as set forth by the 2018 Farm Bill, and it reverses the 2022 DEA ruling that effectively legalized cannabis seeds by clarifying the DEA’s operative definition of hemp as inclusive of cannabis seeds.

The 2018 Farm Bill defines hemp as any part of the cannabis sativa L plant, including the plant itself and the seeds thereof, that contain 0.3% THC or less on a dry weight basis. Cannabis seeds contain 0% THC, and are therefore federally recognized as hemp. 

The new statute, found in Sec 781, Exclusion C of the FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Act, excludes seeds from the previous definition of hemp if the seeds were derived from a plant that contains more than 0.3% THC. This shifts the onus from the seed to the mother plant. 

As a result, legal interstate sale of cannabis seeds will no longer be permitted under federal law. Banking and payment processing will become inaccessible to cannabis seed businesses and breeders, and shipping carriers like USPS will no longer ship cannabis seeds. Despite containing 0% THC, cannabis seeds will become a Schedule III drug.  

NASC has been working hard behind the scenes to advocate for sensible changes to this statute before it takes effect this November 2026. By teaming up with industry leaders, attorneys, and politicians, we are hopeful we can get the job done. Now more than ever, we need to unite as a community to fund this effort, to educate our politicians and our peers, and to make our stories, our experiences, and our voices heard. 

This week, North Atlantic Seed will be launching the Keep Seeds Legal! Limited Series. With the help of our breeders and allies, we hope to raise money to fund this cause. 100% of proceeds from the sale of any items on this limited edition menu will go to the Keep Seeds Legal advocacy effort. If this is an issue you care about, please consider shopping from the KSL menu this season, and check back regularly as we hope to continue expanding upon the line with added breeders and genetics. 

In addition, you will find that you can make a donation at check out should you choose, and we plan to pair this with free seeds in order to give back to all of our amazing customers who donate to this important cause. 

If you are willing to reach out to your state US Representatives and Senators, here you will find a website called Democracy.io which simplifies and streamlines this process. Below are some helpful messaging points to lean into. We strongly encourage everyone to make this as personal as it can be, and to lean into the talking points and issues that matter most to your elected politicians. We recognize that doesn’t always align with what matters most to us as individuals or collectively as a community and industry; however, if we expect results, we have to speak the same language they are speaking, meet them where they are at, and attempt to resonate. 

Key Messaging Points: 

  1. We think the cannabis/hemp seed exclusion set forth in Sec 781(c)(1) of the FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Act should be removed entirely from the bill. 
  2. Cannabis Sativa L seeds contain 0% THC, and they are not intoxicating. We feel they should be regulated the same way all seeds are regulated in the US–as an agricultural input. Cannabis seeds should not be lumped in with intoxicating end-products. Doing so unnecessarily overcomplicates an already complex regulatory issue by placing two very different and very nuanced things (agricultural inputs versus intoxicating substances) under the same regulatory umbrella, and categorized as equivalents as Schedule III controlled substances. 
  3. As written, we feel this law will inhibit economic growth, research, and innovation across multiple industries, from industrial hemp to medical research and science initiatives. This law effectively limits the gene pool necessary for innovation in breeding, an issue which is equally relevant to research communities as it is to the US industrial hemp industry. Much like any other crop, scientists require access to genetics in order to isolate and breed forward the desirable traits they are seeking, while breeding out undesirable traits. Beyond just that, genetic diversity is crucial to creating and innovating any vigorous, elite crop. 
  4. The US is well-positioned to be a world leader in the hemp genetics space if we can create a safe regulatory environment for businesses and scientists to innovate and thrive. This statute hamstrings the work we’ve done to set the US apart as trail blazers. There are businesses all over the world attempting to mimic the US’s hemp genetics in order to fulfill demand. Up to this point, it has been nearly impossible to do business outside of the country in the hemp genetics space due to an unclear and often contradictory regulatory framework. US Customs has seized millions of dollars of hemp seeds from US businesses who are 100% compliant with federal law. This bill now threatens our ability to do business and innovate within our own country as well, and we expect that to have a devastating effect on small businesses, their employees, and the state and federal economies that rely on the economic impact this industry has. 

By purchasing one of the following packs, you can help fund the legal future of cannabis seeds! Donation options also available at checkout!

Products by Category

Keep Seeds Legal by Jim Riddle, Lambs Breath

Posted on by Crystal Hinners
Keep Seeds Legal - Proceeds Go Towards Preserving Seeds

In 2022, the DEA ruled that all cannabis seeds are "hemp" because the seeds themselves contain no THC. That ruling allowed for the legal interstate sale of cannabis seeds. USPS and other shippers began handling seeds. Banks and credit card processors started providing services to the cannabis seed sector. 

A new “hemp ban” passed by congress reverses the DEA ruling by removing cannabis seeds from the definition of "hemp” if the mother plant contained over 0.3% THC. 

While most of the hemp industry is focused on delaying or reversing the intoxicating hemp product ban, the seed issue gets little attention.

The cannabis seed sector and its supporters need to push for a narrow law change that either deletes the new seed definition, or that amends the law by requiring that all cannabis and hemp seeds be regulated under the Federal Seed Act, which is a truth-in-labeling law. 

If the Section 781(c)(1) of the law goes into effect in November 2026 as written, it will become illegal to ship cannabis seeds internationally and between states; USPS and other shippers will likely stop delivering seeds; banks and credit card processors may pull out of the seed market; and the future of legal cannabis genetics will be damaged.

As another breeder put it, “Lawful access to cannabis and hemp genetics matters for research, agriculture, education, medical study, preservation, and innovation."

Please contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives and ask them to delete or amend 781(c)(1) to keep cannabis seeds legal.

Contact your members of Congress here:

https://democracy.io/#!

By purchasing one of the following packs, you can help fund the legal future of cannabis seeds! Donation options also available at checkout!

Products by Category

Contact Us

Email:
[email protected]

Mailing Address:
PO Box 2724
Waterville, ME 04903

Frequently Asked Questions

Customer Service:
Mon. to Fri.: 9am to 4pm EST

Shipping:
Monday – Friday

Disclaimer: Cannabis seeds are sold as souvenirs, and collectibles only. They contain 0% THC. It is imperative that you check your state and local laws before attempting to purchase seeds, and we are not liable for what you do with seeds after receiving them. The statements on this website and its products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Consult your doctor before use. North Atlantic Seed Company assumes no legal responsibility for your actions once the product is in your possession and is not liable for any resulting issues, legal or otherwise, that may arise.