Google Bans Weed Delivery Apps From Play Store

Selling weed on Google Play conflicts with plans to be child-friendly.

Buncha Narcs

If you had plans to capitalize on the growing trend of marijuana legalization by starting a weed-delivery app, then the Google Play Store is not the place for you.

Google just banned any apps on its platform from selling pot or even facilitating the sale of THC products, according to Android Police. The push likely stems from Google's efforts to make its app store more child-friendly, which Google cited as the reasoning behind policy changes announced Wednesday.

Compliance Period

Existing weed delivery apps like Weedmaps and Eaze won't be deleted from Play, but they do need to make some changes.

Google confirmed to Android Police that existing apps will have one month to comply with the new regulations, which could be as simple as deleting their shopping cart functions.

Private Interests

The app store ban shows that even as legalized marijuana becomes more mainstream, privately-owned gatekeepers like Google and others don't necessarily need to follow suit.

In other words, even if the government makes it legal to buy and smoke Beelzebub's Broccoli, there's no law saying it will be easy to do so.

READ MORE: [Update: Google statement] No chill: Google just banned marijuana delivery apps from the Play Store [Android Police]

More on weed: Legal Marijuana Could Threaten the Alcohol Industry, Says Report