7 ms·

> Transportation may not be done by aircraft, watercraft, rail, drones, human powered vehicles, or unmanned vehicles. What? Why no marijuana watercraft? In all

by donatj 9y ago

> Transportation may not be done by aircraft, watercraft, rail, drones, human powered vehicles, or unmanned vehicles. What? Why no marijuana watercraft? In all seriousness though this seems very arbitrary.

elthran 9y ago
> human powered vehicles Does anyone have an idea why bicycles would be a problem?
- falcolas 9y ago
  I can only imagine this is borne out of "ways we saw marijuana transported while it was still illegal."
- TFortunato 9y ago
  Completely spitballing this one, but I can imagine that a bike might be argued to not be a safe way to transport drugs or any sort of high-value delivery, since they are less easily secured and more easily stolen than a locked motor vehicle when it's parked outside an apartment building (for example).
  - djrogers 9y ago
    ^ This. The California government likes to regulate away things it thinks will be dangerous, or that it's citizens will be too ignorant to avoid doing. Honestly I'm kinda surprised they didn't specify armored car transport as the only acceptable option.
Hupriene 9y ago
This is probably motivated in part by a desire to prevent legal in-state distribution from being easily parleyed into illegal interstate distribution. They want to be able to keep track of all the vehicles distributing mj. This is easier if they can only drive on roads and are required to have gps. Since federal regulation of mj is built on the interstate commerce clause, actual interstate commerce is a likely trigger of conflict between the federal government and the California mj industry
- eganist 9y ago
  In short: this regulation was passed to keep from giving the feds a very easy reason to raid the state government of California. Sound accurate?
  - subway 9y ago
    Seems reasonable considering all the ongoing raids on Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada governments.
- stephengillie 9y ago
  From yesterday: Legal Marijuana Is Almost Here, If Only Pot Farmers Were on Board[0] > California, which by one estimate produces seven times more marijuana than it consumes, will probably continue to be a major exporter — illegally — to other states. In part, that is because of the huge incentive to stay in the black market: marijuana on the East Coast sells for several times more than in California. Interstate cannabis transport legalization appears to be the hurdle to California's reaping tax benefits from the industry. How will legalization in a few New England states impact Northern California's economy? [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15210766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15210766
throwawayjava 9y ago
> this seems very arbitrary It's not arbitrary at all. The only options remaining are 1) walking (totally impractical); and 2) driving a registered vehicle on public roads that are easy to spy on -- see e.g. http://gizmodo.com/feds-are-spying-on-millions-of-cars-with-license-plate-1682016561 http://gizmodo.com/feds-are-spying-on-millions-of-cars-with-... This keeps marijuana inside state boundaries.
- wolco 9y ago
  Why the ban on human powered vehicles? Sounds bad for the environment on the surface.
  - throwawayjava 9y ago
    Cause you can pretty easily bike, with a big trailer of drugs, from one border town to another.
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  So dogsleds are horses ok? "It's like Uber for Marijuana by Pony!"
  - throwawayjava 9y ago
    Nope. "in person by enclosed motor vehicle" only. And the vehicle needs GPS monitoring. Again, the goal is to make sure that legal marijuana delivery operations are demonstrably not moving legally grown California marijuana across state borders. To avoid federal involvement.
    - DonHopkins 9y ago
      So ice cream trucks would be cool, right? http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Distribution http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Distribution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars
ShannonAlther 9y ago
A lot of states have heavy restrictions on transport of alcohol, a sort of state-mandated middleman that is either parasitic or fulfills an important regulatory purpose depending on who you ask. This seems like a natural extension of that. In the article, it even specifies that deliveries must be accompanied by GPS.
kabdib 9y ago
Doesn't say anything about tunnels (another biz opportunity for The Boring Company?), or delivery via pneumatic tube. It's also unclear if ballistic delivery plus a parachute qualifies as a vehicle. So, marijuana delivery by unpowered smart mortar . . . :-)

by donatj 9y ago

elthran 9y ago

> human powered vehicles Does anyone have an idea why bicycles would be a problem?

falcolas 9y ago
I can only imagine this is borne out of "ways we saw marijuana transported while it was still illegal."
TFortunato 9y ago
Completely spitballing this one, but I can imagine that a bike might be argued to not be a safe way to transport drugs or any sort of high-value delivery, since they are less easily secured and more easily stolen than a locked motor vehicle when it's parked outside an apartment building (for example).
- djrogers 9y ago
  ^ This. The California government likes to regulate away things it thinks will be dangerous, or that it's citizens will be too ignorant to avoid doing. Honestly I'm kinda surprised they didn't specify armored car transport as the only acceptable option.

Hupriene 9y ago

This is probably motivated in part by a desire to prevent legal in-state distribution from being easily parleyed into illegal interstate distribution. They want to be able to keep track of all the vehicles distributing mj. This is easier if they can only drive on roads and are required to have gps. Since federal regulation of mj is built on the interstate commerce clause, actual interstate commerce is a likely trigger of conflict between the federal government and the California mj industry

eganist 9y ago
In short: this regulation was passed to keep from giving the feds a very easy reason to raid the state government of California. Sound accurate?
- subway 9y ago
  Seems reasonable considering all the ongoing raids on Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada governments.
stephengillie 9y ago
From yesterday: Legal Marijuana Is Almost Here, If Only Pot Farmers Were on Board[0] > California, which by one estimate produces seven times more marijuana than it consumes, will probably continue to be a major exporter — illegally — to other states. In part, that is because of the huge incentive to stay in the black market: marijuana on the East Coast sells for several times more than in California. Interstate cannabis transport legalization appears to be the hurdle to California's reaping tax benefits from the industry. How will legalization in a few New England states impact Northern California's economy? [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15210766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15210766

throwawayjava 9y ago

> this seems very arbitrary It's not arbitrary at all. The only options remaining are 1) walking (totally impractical); and 2) driving a registered vehicle on public roads that are easy to spy on -- see e.g. http://gizmodo.com/feds-are-spying-on-millions-of-cars-with-license-plate-1682016561 http://gizmodo.com/feds-are-spying-on-millions-of-cars-with-... This keeps marijuana inside state boundaries.

wolco 9y ago
Why the ban on human powered vehicles? Sounds bad for the environment on the surface.
- throwawayjava 9y ago
  Cause you can pretty easily bike, with a big trailer of drugs, from one border town to another.
DonHopkins 9y ago
So dogsleds are horses ok? "It's like Uber for Marijuana by Pony!"
- throwawayjava 9y ago
  Nope. "in person by enclosed motor vehicle" only. And the vehicle needs GPS monitoring. Again, the goal is to make sure that legal marijuana delivery operations are demonstrably not moving legally grown California marijuana across state borders. To avoid federal involvement.
  - DonHopkins 9y ago
    So ice cream trucks would be cool, right? http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Distribution http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Distribution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars

ShannonAlther 9y ago

A lot of states have heavy restrictions on transport of alcohol, a sort of state-mandated middleman that is either parasitic or fulfills an important regulatory purpose depending on who you ask. This seems like a natural extension of that. In the article, it even specifies that deliveries must be accompanied by GPS.

kabdib 9y ago

Doesn't say anything about tunnels (another biz opportunity for The Boring Company?), or delivery via pneumatic tube. It's also unclear if ballistic delivery plus a parachute qualifies as a vehicle. So, marijuana delivery by unpowered smart mortar . . . :-)