6 ms·

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

by ksaj 7y ago

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?

ilikehurdles 7y ago
They allow Drizly, an alcohol delivery app.
- floatingatoll 7y ago
  Do they knowingly allow it and have affirmed publicly that such apps are okay? Or, have they silently permitted it on their App Store but never openly said “this is fine”?
  - ckorhonen 7y ago
    Considering they have actively featured some of alcohol delivery apps in the store at some point (either at the Food and Drink category level, or in a "Plan that Memorial Day BBQ" type curation), then I assume that it is fine? It maybe starts to get a bit more hairy since some of them now also sell tobacco and CBD products alongside the alcohol.
    - floatingatoll 7y ago
      There's a big difference between "An official Google blog post said it's okay", to the same level of certainty as the pot post linked above, and "An app store curator selected an app". App store curators are likely independent contractors hired by a third-party management firm, for one. They're not quite clear about whether "featured apps" are endorsed by Google or merely selected by "staff" (a term that usually includes contractors), but I imagine if you made a fuss about "Google promotes XYZ evil app", they would quietly update the legalese to say that "featured" does not imply "endorsed" or similar. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/1295940?hl=en https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...
- shard972 7y ago
  Well hey, that's illegal in Iran, so might as well ban it from the google store.
duskwuff 7y ago
> Do they allow alcohol ads? https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6012382 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.
- dmix 7y ago
  Which demonstrates the benefit of having decentralized websites deciding which ads are okay rather than one centralized global distribution platform deciding what's "acceptable content" for every app uploaded there.
  - duskwuff 7y ago
    I'm not sure this demonstrates anything of the sort. Google delegates this specific decision to AdSense partners, but there are plenty of other categories of ads which Google prohibits outright (like guns, pornography, or profanity).
chepaslaaa 7y ago
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.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  Other than the potency limit, what limits legal stores from fixing all the other issues (bad trimming job, dry, chemical additives, craft cannabis, etc). It just seems like since it's new and everyone's jumping to buy it, there's more focus on quantity right now, but maybe as the market gets more competitive that'll change. I don't see why it'd be different to, for example, Starbucks vs your local quality coffee shop, both co-existing.
  - chepaslaaa 7y ago
    Imagine a paradigm our local coffee shop isn't legally allowed to operate and Tim Hortons is ran by the government.
    - ehsankia 7y ago
      Again, other than the potency, I'm asking, what stops the "local coffee shop" to legally be allowed to operate? What stops from a local place charging more to do a better job at quality? If there's demand for it, I'm sure it'll eventually pop up.
  - 7y ago
disordinary 7y ago
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.
- latch 7y ago
  The morality of the largest economies (generally backed by the largest military) has always been pushed onto others. Isn't this the way the world has worked since the dawn of the first civilizations? Not you specifically, but most people on HN have probably been the overwhelming beneficiaries of this approach.
  - omegaworks 7y ago
    > Not you specifically, but most people on HN have probably been the overwhelming beneficiaries of this approach. That doesn't make it right.
  - lone_haxx0r 7y ago
    Do you say that because most people on HN live in the USA and other developed countries? Just curious.
    - bsamuels 7y ago
      that's probably why he's saying that, yes
  - Barrin92 7y ago
    >Isn't this the way the world has worked since the dawn of the first civilizations? Not really, for most of humanity's history people could barely even figure out what happened on the other side of the mountain or the sea. The extreme degree of globalisation that carries these policies and attitudes across the globe is pretty new. It wasn't even the case in the 60s or 70s say. It's predominantly online markets that are dominated by individual companies, control used to be significantly more national.
buildzr 7y ago
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-just-banned-marijuana-delivery-apps-from-the-play-store/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/29/no-chill-google-jus...
- rando444 7y ago
  If you read the article, they say it's anything marijuana related that has a shopping cart. The apps are legal as long as google isn't the one processing money from drug related transactions. Which, while disappointing, does make sense.

by ksaj 7y ago

ilikehurdles 7y ago

They allow Drizly, an alcohol delivery app.

floatingatoll 7y ago
Do they knowingly allow it and have affirmed publicly that such apps are okay? Or, have they silently permitted it on their App Store but never openly said “this is fine”?
- ckorhonen 7y ago
  Considering they have actively featured some of alcohol delivery apps in the store at some point (either at the Food and Drink category level, or in a "Plan that Memorial Day BBQ" type curation), then I assume that it is fine? It maybe starts to get a bit more hairy since some of them now also sell tobacco and CBD products alongside the alcohol.
  - floatingatoll 7y ago
    There's a big difference between "An official Google blog post said it's okay", to the same level of certainty as the pot post linked above, and "An app store curator selected an app". App store curators are likely independent contractors hired by a third-party management firm, for one. They're not quite clear about whether "featured apps" are endorsed by Google or merely selected by "staff" (a term that usually includes contractors), but I imagine if you made a fuss about "Google promotes XYZ evil app", they would quietly update the legalese to say that "featured" does not imply "endorsed" or similar. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/1295940?hl=en https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...
shard972 7y ago
Well hey, that's illegal in Iran, so might as well ban it from the google store.

duskwuff 7y ago

> Do they allow alcohol ads? https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6012382 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.

dmix 7y ago
Which demonstrates the benefit of having decentralized websites deciding which ads are okay rather than one centralized global distribution platform deciding what's "acceptable content" for every app uploaded there.
- duskwuff 7y ago
  I'm not sure this demonstrates anything of the sort. Google delegates this specific decision to AdSense partners, but there are plenty of other categories of ads which Google prohibits outright (like guns, pornography, or profanity).

chepaslaaa 7y ago

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.

ehsankia 7y ago
Other than the potency limit, what limits legal stores from fixing all the other issues (bad trimming job, dry, chemical additives, craft cannabis, etc). It just seems like since it's new and everyone's jumping to buy it, there's more focus on quantity right now, but maybe as the market gets more competitive that'll change. I don't see why it'd be different to, for example, Starbucks vs your local quality coffee shop, both co-existing.
- chepaslaaa 7y ago
  Imagine a paradigm our local coffee shop isn't legally allowed to operate and Tim Hortons is ran by the government.
  - ehsankia 7y ago
    Again, other than the potency, I'm asking, what stops the "local coffee shop" to legally be allowed to operate? What stops from a local place charging more to do a better job at quality? If there's demand for it, I'm sure it'll eventually pop up.
- 7y ago

disordinary 7y ago

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.

latch 7y ago
The morality of the largest economies (generally backed by the largest military) has always been pushed onto others. Isn't this the way the world has worked since the dawn of the first civilizations? Not you specifically, but most people on HN have probably been the overwhelming beneficiaries of this approach.
- omegaworks 7y ago
  > Not you specifically, but most people on HN have probably been the overwhelming beneficiaries of this approach. That doesn't make it right.
- lone_haxx0r 7y ago
  Do you say that because most people on HN live in the USA and other developed countries? Just curious.
  - bsamuels 7y ago
    that's probably why he's saying that, yes
- Barrin92 7y ago
  >Isn't this the way the world has worked since the dawn of the first civilizations? Not really, for most of humanity's history people could barely even figure out what happened on the other side of the mountain or the sea. The extreme degree of globalisation that carries these policies and attitudes across the globe is pretty new. It wasn't even the case in the 60s or 70s say. It's predominantly online markets that are dominated by individual companies, control used to be significantly more national.

buildzr 7y ago

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-just-banned-marijuana-delivery-apps-from-the-play-store/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/29/no-chill-google-jus...

rando444 7y ago
If you read the article, they say it's anything marijuana related that has a shopping cart. The apps are legal as long as google isn't the one processing money from drug related transactions. Which, while disappointing, does make sense.