JULIA RAMPEN
September 7, 2015
Mirror
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| Mona Magick, owner of Witch Flame Botanica |
A businesswoman selling magic has attacked PayPal as “ignorant” and “snobbish” after the company blocked her account.
Mona Magick, who runs the online shop Witch Flame Botanica, found her account banned last year.
PayPal has frozen the funds she held in it and continues to refuse to release them. The online payments provider argues Magick was trying to sell products containing a hallucinogen - an ingredient in some class A drugs.
But Magick told Mirror Money she sells legal herbs that are fpr sale from wholesalers in the UK. She said: “I am not a criminal and do not understand why I have been treated as one.”
Witch Flame Botanica sells products to help with magic rituals including wands and herbal oils.
One of Mona's wares
But it is the flying ointments that seem to have triggered PayPal’s decision to shut the online account.
Witch Flame Botanica advertises the ointments as “excellent for aiding in trance work” and also “very good for ecstatic rites and sex magic”.
The small print of the website also warns customers the ointments are for the purposes of research only and are not meant for human consumption.
Mona said her attempts to find out what exactly was causing the problem were not answered, and she was told PayPal’s ‘Brand Guardians’ had made the decision.
Niamh Eastwood, executive director of drugs law charity Release, said the products are unlikely to be illegal: “As far as we can see, none of the products would be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.”
But depending on how the products are used, they could come under laws about using herbs for medical use.
She said: “This is actually a very complex area of the law and it will come down to issues such as the purpose of use.”
“PayPal does appear to be wrong in its assessment, based on the products we have looked at.”
A PayPal spokesman said: “We have to make sure the payments we process at PayPal are legal and comply with regulations around the world. That’s the reason we have an Acceptable Use Policy. It gives our customers information about what they can and cannot use our service for.
“One of the products sold through Witch Flame Botanica contained a hallucinogen, which contravened our Acceptable Use Policy, and is also classified as a class A drug in the UK.
“We encourage our customers to contact us directly through their account online if they have any questions regarding the legality of unusual products.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/witchcraft-shop-owner-protests-after-6397219
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