Totally uncool California bureaucrats shoot down drone weed delivery California says its impending legalization of recreational marijuana will not include skies full of herb-toting drone delivery bots. A set of rules [PDF] handed down from the state's Bureau of Cannabis Control mandates that any delivery services operating in the state only use cars to make their drop-offs. The ruling expressly …
> "Much of the reasoning behind the rules appears to be safety-related."
I'll say. We sure don't want those pretty pretty packages to inadvertently come down in a school yard, now do we? And I suppose the same will apply to booze deliveries or any other restricted substance or device.
Pretty much takes all the fun out of drone deliveries, except for the novelty factor.
"Much of the reasoning behind the rules appears to be safety-related."
My thinking might be wrong here, but it seems to me that one of the big advantages of legalizing pot is that it becomes just another product, like alcohol or tobacco, and with readily availability I would expect the price and risk to supply chain participants to drop to similar levels, thus eliminating most of the motive for criminal involvement.
"So why don't the same rules apply to alcohol or tobacco?"
A lorry taking a delivery to a corner shop that includes a case of Vodka doesn't require a police escort. A lorry full of vodka from the factory might be randomly selected for an unmarked escort, along side the alarms and tracking from a control room with priority lines to all relevant police forces.
I used to work in a control room that handled high value transports like tobacco and alcohol. Drivers with a £10mil load would rather leave without any tracking system or alarm than be late home for dinner. The relevant legislation for this is technically a clause in tax rules, the insurance company is liable for tax on stolen or missing goods.
They are writing a new set of rules that apply to a group of people who have traditionally wanted open fields of drugs. I suspect these rules are for that part of the industry, the word "delivery" didn't traditionally mean to consumers. Those rules come later...
Now I'm confused. I thought we were talking to consumer deliveries like pizza not deliveries to distribution outlets. In any case alcohol and tobacco require age verification and I don't see a drone doing that although I suppose you could let it scan your ID card. Not that it ever stopped straw purchases of booze and cigs.
I guess the pressing question is does an Uber/Lyft qualify as a commercial vehicle and what about the Domino's delivery guy who supplied most of the folks on campus back in the day?
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