Google bans apps that facilitate sale of marijuana

[ksaj]

Illegal markets? It is legal in all of Canada, in pretty much the way alcohol is. Are the apps unavailable in Canada where the legal pot (which is in some cases far superior to the shaggy bits one would get on the streets) comes from government certified sources?

But then again, I haven't seen a Google booze ad. Do they allow alcohol ads?

[disordinary]

It's the danger that we're getting as these global companies have more influence over the entire planet. The morality of the home country is pushed on those who want to use the service. Same thing with the whole Google / Huawei stoush. US priorities have an impact on users all over the world.

[duskwuff]

> Do they allow alcohol ads?

https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6012382

Surprisingly, the answer is "yes". But alcohol ads can only be shown on sites which have explicitly opted in to alcohol ads, which most sites don't.

[buildzr]

Sounds like they're actually only banning delivery apps, even in Canada most (if not all?) of the delivery services being offered by Weedmaps for example are illegal. In most provinces you'd need to order from a provincially run store or go through the medical system where you can order from a specific licensed producer to get it legally by mail.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/29/no-chill-google-jus...

[chepaslaaa]

The highest end concentrates are only available on the black/grey market currently, and if you have some skilled growers in your relationship circle you can access some much better stuff (more potent and/or grown with less chemical additives, not to mention a much fresher curing process and a more thorough trimming job) than whatever is the highest end stuff they sell in the stores. They have put a limit on potency and their regulations mean that the weed they sell in stores in way too dry once it reaches costumers. It's not the biggest deal to most people and better than putting people behind bars, but there could also be a much better craft cannabis culture that could be promoted by small businesses rather than the corporate consolidation the liberal party is currently encouraging. In my opinion it would make users build a healthier rapport to this drug, in the same way that getting into fancy wine as well as craft beers and spirits can lead to a more gastronomic approach to alcohol than drinking coors light and vodka.

[ilikehurdles]

They allow Drizly, an alcohol delivery app.

[bayareanative]

More than likely, Google's lawyers were worried about DA's in various US states, cities or feds going after them. This has little or nothing to do with "morality" or "ethics." This is CYA, not a moral panic.

[slavik81]

It has become a real problem for Canadians visiting the States[1]. The US government doesn't seem to care whether it's legal in Canada or not. Presumably that's because the law is written such that foreign legality is irrelevant.

[1]: https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/07/05/canadian-cannab...

[klausjensen]

I looked it up so you don't have to: CYA => Cover Your Ass. :)

[paxys]

And yet a large chunk of Google employees and executives enjoy all of the freedoms provided to them in the state of California, including legal marijuana.

[manfredo]

"Legal marijuana" is a bit of a misrepresentation. In the eyes of the law, cannabis remains illegal nation-wide. Federal law supersedes state laws on controlled substances. States like California and Washington has not so much legalized cannabis so much as they have repealed all their state laws and deliberately refuse to enforce federal law on cannabis. For everyday people, this effectively legalizes it. We can go to a store, buy a pack of joints, and walk home with zero threat of legal repercussion. But for large organizations, they still have good reason to be afraid of being subject to repercussions if they monetize or facilitate the sale of marijuana.

And regardless, plenty of large tech companies have blanket policies of avoiding controversial markets. Amazon does not sell ammo and many gun accessories (e.g. magazines). They don't sell porn either as far as I know.

[ehsankia]

But what does that have to do with anything? I'm sure they also enjoy porn on their free time too, but that doesn't mean they have to allow it in their ads and apps.

[asveikau]

That one is at least ambiguous, as it is still federally illegal in the whole US. I think the Canadian example cited elsewhere is less ambiguous.

[ta1234567890]

Someone I know started a b2b business in the marijuana industry. Tried doing google ads and got all their ads blocked. Every time they reached out to support they gave them a different reason for blocking the ad. And every time after complying and re-submitting, the ads would get blocked again. Finally they gave up on Google ads.

[throwaway66666]

I bought and sold stock from a Marijuana ETF when they first got introduced. And 3 days later my bank called me and told me I cannot do it again. Of course I immediately tried doing it again after the call, but the online brokerage system would return an error. So, if I can't trade stock from weed-related business, but those tickers are listed and valid on NASDAQ (which is an american index), who can?

[bradleyhb]

Link to the business please?

[mastrsushi]

Has anyone opposing this action thought maybe an aggressively competitive tech corporation doesn't want to be held liable for assisting in distribution of a drug that isn't nationwide legal? They have way larger concerns than worrying about this.

[switchbak]

Which nation? Not mine. And that's the problem, now we're having foreign morality imposed upon a populace (where it is entirely legal) based upon the preferences of another nation (or really the whims of this particular corporation).

You could say "just use another app store", but that's really not a viable option. When a company's store policies becomes a limiting factor for your (fully legal and ethical) personal choices,I think we have a problem.

[paxys]

Big national banks and credit card providers now openly take and store payments for marijuana dispensaries. Companies happily provide them with insurance and mortgages. There are mutual funds and ETFs on national exchanges that invest in such businesses (and you can buy into them as well, from anywhere in the country).

Somehow I don't think Google is scared of getting into trouble for allowing an app that has a web browser with a reference to marijuana. It is a moral stance, nothing else.

[burtonator]

> They have way larger concerns than worrying about this.

And this is the problem with large corporations.

If the industry was more competitive they wouldn't be able to turn away money.

[m-p-3]

They offer ads and app distribution services in Canada, where marijuana is legal nationwide yet decided to dismiss all of those worldwide.

[RaceWon]

For the love of god can we please make weed legal here in the US? Anyone, anywhere can buy weed at anytime, and its been that way for like 50 fuckin years now. Can we all agree that the war on weed is over, and the US Gov't lost. WTF!!

[GreaterFool]

I've been spending some time in California and I noticed a worrying trend that it gets harder and harder to purchase marijuana. ID requirements are getting more onerous, MasterCard no longer accepted, etc. Things are going backwards!

[callmeal]

Dispensaries cannot accept credit cards because the federal banking system is off limits to them. But as far as id requirements go, you can walk into any dispensary with a valid California drivers license (haven't really tried with out of state ones), and cash purchase anything they have in stock.

[wcarron]

ID requirements more onerous? Not sure what you mean. You simply need to show a State ID verifying you are 21 or older. I've sure noticed many more dispensaries requiring ID instead of just..."forgetting to check", but that's not the same thing.

[oh_sigh]

Thank goodness they shut this down quick. It's not like this was just a straightforward app designed to keep tabs on your chattel, I mean female family members. Marijuana actually hurts people!

[rblatz]

I got the sarcasm in this post, but it seems like it went over a lot of heads.

[DonHopkins]

Lift the bales with you legs, not your back.

[amolo]

>Marijuana actually hurts people!

How old are you again

[jammygit]

I’m literally texting a friend today about helping him with his legal Canadian pot site. The importance of the “open web” sure got more concrete today

What is the real world small business alternative to the play Store - progressive web apps? Fdroid?

[eadmund]

A key difference between Android and iOS: on Android, there are alternatives to Google’s app store; on iOS there are not. So it would be entirely possible for someone who lives in a country where marijuana is legal and wishes to facilitate the legal industry there to set up an app store (cloning F-Droid could be a quick start) which offered such apps. He'd be out of luck on iOS.

The federal marijuana laws are — mostly — blatantly unconstitutional, of course, but they are still on the books. I don't blame Google for not wanting to litigate the issue; their lawyers are probably acutely aware of the Backpage case.

[notus]

It's dumb, but all they have to do is put the shopping cart on a responsive website instead, minor inconvenience.

[NorthOf33rd]

I'll miss venmo.

This article is a bit thin on details. is this just black market? All sales? something else?

[buildzr]

Wonder what they mean by "facilitate"? Were certain mail order places offering apps they're banning? directly taking payments?

Or are they seriously going after stuff like Weedmaps that just offers references to places that sell.

[Marsymars]

Better source with answers to those questions: https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/29/no-chill-google-jus...

[AstralStorm]

I'd call that free advertisement, good old Sturgeon's effect.

[Jerbyjoober]

But yet they have booze delivery apps all throughout the Play Store. They said no cannabis because the Play Store is for kids. But I suppose quick booze delivery is fine for "their" kids.

“At Google Play, we’re committed to providing a positive, safe environment for children and families,” the blog post read. “…After taking input from users and developers we are evolving our Google Play policies to provide additional protections for children and families.”

[harry8]

Better ban signal. Do you want that wrapped in "fighting terrorism", "war on drugs" or "think of the children".

We google should not be in a position of power to decide what is allowable and what is not. That is for elected officials. If they have more than reasonable influence, break them up.

Same for any group of people anywhere. Get elected.

[tssva]

Elected officials in Google's home country have made the decision. They decided to make marijuana illegal at the national level, they decided to make facilitating financial transactions supporting sales of illegal drugs also illegal and they have repeatedly choosen not to change those laws. More recently elected officials have decided to appoint law enforcement officials that are less willing to overlook violation of federal drug laws in states that have legalized marijuana at a state level. It is this later move which has most likely made Google decide to make the changes in their content policy. So in effect Google is doing exactly as you suggested, allowing elected officials to make this decision.

[plemer]

By using their services, we elect them.

Still, yes, citizens could attempt to effect government intervention.

But probably the average person has more leverage as a consumer than as a political actor.

[Simulacra]

This is a bit asinine, they’ll have to ban messaging apps and everything because it all does the same thing.

[michaelbuckbee]

This is a matter of geographic laws conflicting with worldwide applicability and something we're seeing more and more of, both with things like GDPR but also certain states having much tighter regulations around things like biometrics. In that light, it's interesting to see what Google has done with things like their Arts and Culture app, which has a "take a selfie and see what artwork you most resemble" feature. That feature (but not the whole app) is disabled if they detect that you're within the bounds of Illinois which has some of the strictest regulations about personal data.

[throes_death]

Thank goodness I just use skype and email to communicate with my dealer. Oh, hang on, they're applications too :S

[sanxiyn]

This is disappointing indeed.

[DonHopkins]

I can't use gmail to communicate with my weed dealer any more? Damn.