Privacy Policy

Who we are and what we do?

Marijuana Anonymous Ireland (MA) is a local chapter affiliated with Marijuana Anonymous World Services based in the USA, and part of District 14 which is a service committee that covers meetings in the UK and Ireland.

The right to anonymity is a core principle of Marijuana Anonymous. We fully respects your rights to privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information by strictly adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This Privacy Notice explains when and how we collect, process, and use your data and sets out our security practices. It is primarily directed to individuals who wish to contact us to seek information, to seek assistance with stopping using cannabis/marijuana or our Twelve Steps, to locate meetings.

What we collect

We collect personally identifiable information (PII) that you provide to us, which is information that identifies you as an individual. This PII may include your name, address, private and corporate email address, and phone number.

How we use your Personal Information and the Legal basis for doing so

Any personal information that you provide will be used only for the purpose of providing the services and supports that we offer. We are not affiliated with any other companies, bodies or entities of any kind and we will never share or disclose your personal data or information with any third parties.

As engagement with Marijuana Anonymous is entirely voluntary we process personal information based on your consent.

We may use the information:

to provide you with details of meetings

to provide you with any information or literature that you may request from us

to respond to your requests

to improve our level of service

to seek your views on our services

In addition, if you agree to engage in service in any way in the MA organisation e.g. at Group or District Level, or as a World Service Delegate we shall further process your personal information for those purposes having first sought your consent. This may entail entering your details in a secure internal data base and including your first name and the first initial of your surname (or any name that you provide to us) along with the general area in which you reside and a contact telephone number in our Directory of MA meetings in Ireland (in both paper and electronic form). We do this so that people seeking assistance with our Twelve Step programme may seek and obtain the assistance, support and information that they require. The above details may also be included in documentation such as minutes of service meetings arising from your participation in service.

Retention Period

Personal data that you provide in connection with a request for information, support or services is deleted on completion of your request.

In the case of members who engage in service, we will retain your personal data in our internal data base for not longer than two years after your period of service has been completed.

How we protect your PII

MA will take all appropriate legal, organisational, and technical measures to protect your personal
information.

We may disclose your information to contracted companies who act as “data processors” on our behalf. Our data processors include external consultants, professional advisers such as lawyers, software and technical support providers and IT consultants. When MA uses a third-party service provider, that provider will be carefully selected and will be contractually required to use appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality and security of personal information.

We never share your PII with any third parties. In accordance with our Traditions, we are also not associated with, or affiliated to, any other body, entity or organisation of any kind.

MA never transfers your data to countries outside of the EEA (European Economic Area).

MA takes its obligations very seriously and adopts the strongest line in relation to the misuse of personal data or information by any of its members.

Your Rights

Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you

Right of rectification – you have the right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete

Right to erasure – in certain circumstances, you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records

Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply you have a right to restrict the processing by us of your data

Right of portability – subject to certain restrictions, you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation or to receive a copy of the information where we hold it in electronic form.

Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing. Please note that we do not engage in direct marketing of any kind and do not disclose or share your personal data with any third party. Any correspondence or literature that we send you will be requested directly by you. 

Website usage information

We also automatically collect information about your computer browser type and operating system, websites you visited before and after visiting our websites, standard server log information, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. We aggregate this information to understand how our visitors use our website and mobile applications so that we can improve them and the services we offer. These analytics do not typically identify individual users.

Cookies

Our websites and mobile applications may use technology called “cookies”. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a server. Cookies allow our websites and mobile applications to respond to you as an individual. The website or mobile application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies or receive a warning before a cookie is stored if you prefer. Please refer to your Internet browser’s instructions or help screen to learn more about these functions and to specify your cookie preferences.

If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our website.

Links to other websites

Our website may from time to time provide links to or embed third party websites. This Privacy Statement does not apply to those websites. Please ensure you check the legal and privacy statements posted on each website or mobile application your access before entering any PII.

Changes

We may occasionally update this Privacy Statement. If the changes we make are material, we may post a notice regarding the changes on our website. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Statement to stay informed about how we protect your PII.

Contact

If you wish to contact us on any issue regarding your data protection, including to exercise your data subject rights, the following are the contact details:
Phone: 086-378 003 and Email: info@marijuana-anonymous.ie

Complaints

In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by us or how your complaint has been handled, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the supervisory authority:

Data Protection Commission
Canal House
Station Road
Portarlington
Co. Laois, R32 AP23
Ireland
Phone +353 (0761) 104800
Email info@dataprotection.ie