Privacy policy

What we collect

Analytics

The site uses Google Analytics 4 (property G-ZL91XH7YL2) to count visits. In most places it starts when a page opens, and the bar at the bottom of the page tells you so. In the European Union and the rest of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Washington State and Nevada, it loads only after you choose OK on that bar. Wherever you are, you can turn it off by choosing No thanks on the bar, or by having your browser send Global Privacy Control, which the site treats as a No thanks without showing the bar. While it runs, it sets two cookies in your browser, named _ga and _ga_ZL91XH7YL2, so that Google can count a return visit as the same browser. It tells Google which pages you viewed, how you arrived, your browser and device type, and a rough location worked out from your IP address, which Google Analytics 4 uses for that estimate and does not store. The site also sends Google an event when you click a buy button, run the December 11 checker (the verdict and the product type, never the numbers you typed), or click the medical card block on a condition page. We use all of this as counts. We cannot see who you are from it, and the site carries no advertising network and no other tracking script. Choose No thanks and Google Analytics stops at once: the site removes those two cookies, no further events go to Google, and it does not load on the pages you open afterwards.

To know which of the two rules applies, the site takes the country and state our host works out from your IP address and keeps the answer in a cookie named er_region. It holds one of two words (optin or notice) and nothing that identifies you. Fonts are served from this site, so opening a page sends no request to Google Fonts.

Server logs

The site runs on Vercel. Like any web host, Vercel records each request (your IP address, browser, the page asked for and the time) in logs it keeps for a short period to run and protect the service. We look at those logs when something breaks and at no other time.

Email

If you write to hello@ediblerank.com, we have your address and whatever you wrote. We keep the thread so we can answer and find it again if you write back. Nothing you send is added to a list, because there is no list.

Payments through Stripe

Everything sold on EdibleRank (the December 11 briefing and readout, badge licences, sponsor seats and featured dispensary listings) is paid through Stripe Checkout, on a page Stripe runs. Your card number goes to Stripe and never to us. After you pay, our download pages ask Stripe about your checkout session and read back: whether it was paid, which product it was for, the reference we attached when you clicked the button (the product or seat you chose, or for the checker readout the numbers you entered), the name and email you gave at checkout, and whether the charge has since been refunded. The badge licence PDF prints that name as the licensee. We keep none of this in a database of our own. The record of your purchase lives in our Stripe account, and Stripe emails you the receipt.

The December 11 checker and the dosing calculator

Both run in your browser. The checker sends nothing to us when you run it. If you buy the readout, the numbers you entered travel inside your Stripe checkout reference and come back only to build your PDF.

Business listings and sponsor copy

The dispensary directory lists business names, addresses, phone numbers and websites taken from public sources and state regulator records. Sponsor seats and featured listings publish the business details, copy and links the buyer sends us, which is the product they bought. To correct or remove a listing, email us.

What we do not do

• No accounts, logins or profiles.
• No newsletter, mailing list or marketing email.
• No sale of personal information, and no sharing of it for targeted advertising.
• No advertising network, no social media pixels, no session recording.
• No cookies of our own beyond er_region, which holds one word. The only other cookies on the site come from Google Analytics, and they go when you choose No thanks.

Cookies

EdibleRank places three cookies at most. The er_region cookie described above lasts until you close the browser. The two Google Analytics cookies last up to two years, and they are set only while Google Analytics runs. If you choose No thanks or your browser sends Global Privacy Control, they are removed or never set. Your choice is kept in your browser's local storage, which stays on your device and never reaches us, and the bar does not come back. To change your choice, clear this site's data in your browser. You can also clear or block cookies in your browser, install Google's opt-out add-on for Analytics, or run a content blocker. The site works the same without them. Stripe's checkout page and the other sites we link to set their own cookies under their own policies.

Links to other sites, and referral links

Pages link out to brand sites, dispensary menus, regulators, journals, court dockets, Instagram and Stripe. Each of those runs under its own privacy policy, and what you do there is between you and them.

EdibleRank runs no referral or affiliate links today. If that changes, a referral block will say so next to its button. If you click one and buy or sign up, the company at the other end pays us a fee. The price you pay is the same either way, and the fee has no bearing on what we write.

Who else handles the data

• Google, for Analytics. Google's privacy policy and how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
• Vercel, for hosting and request logs. Vercel's privacy policy.
• Stripe, for payments and receipts. Stripe's privacy policy.

Nobody else receives data from this site. We do not share email threads or purchase records with anyone except where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Google keeps event-level analytics data for the retention period set on the property and then deletes it. Vercel keeps request logs for a short period and then drops them. Email stays for as long as the thread is useful; ask and we delete it. Stripe keeps the payment record for as long as tax and accounting rules require, and we keep access to it through our Stripe account for the same period.

Your rights under state privacy laws

California's privacy law, and the laws of a growing list of other states, give residents the right to know what personal information a business holds about them, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, to opt out of its sale or its sharing for targeted advertising, and not to be treated worse for asking. Whether or not a given law applies to a site this size, we handle requests the same way for everyone.

Email hello@ediblerank.com with the subject line Privacy request. We reply from that thread to confirm the request came from the address the information is tied to, and we answer within a month. The answer is usually short, because what we hold is usually an email thread, a Stripe record, or nothing at all. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of.

Readers outside the United States

EdibleRank is written for readers in the United States, and this policy is written to US law. We do not aim the site at readers elsewhere. If you read it from outside the US, the practices above are still the whole picture, and the same email handles any request about your data.

Age

EdibleRank is for adults 21 and over, or the legal age for cannabis in your state where that is lower. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under that age. If you believe we have, email us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When the site starts doing something new with data (a different analytics tool, a paid product that needs more than Stripe), this page changes and the effective date at the top moves with it. The current version is always at this address.

Contact

Questions, corrections and requests: hello@ediblerank.com. The terms of use cover the rest of the relationship.