"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 States like California and Washington has not so much legalized cannabis so much as they have repealed all their state laws and deliberately refuse to enforce federal law on cannabis.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.

This is not an accurate representation of the current status quo. Medical marijuana is effectively legal at the federal level in states where it is legal. The federal government, via the appropriations bill has not allocated any funding to prosecuting these crime. More recent case law has clarified the meaning of this, it explicitly forbids prosecuting these crimes in states where medical marijuana is legal. In a number of cases where the accused was charged and plead guilty, prosecution was later stopped(and hundreds of thousands in cash, and precious metals that were seized, were all returned) because of this.

> Medical marijuana is effectively legal at the federal level in states where it is legal.

Do you not see the contradiction in this statement?

> Medical marijuana is effectively legal at the federal level in states where it is legal. The federal government, via the appropriations bill has not allocated any funding to prosecuting these crime. More recent case law has clarified the meaning of this, it explicitly forbids prosecuting these crimes in states where medical marijuana is legal. In a number of cases where the accused was charged and plead guilty, prosecution was later stopped(and hundreds of thousands in cash, and precious metals that were seized, were all returned) because of this.

Which completely agrees with the point I'm making. It's still against the law, it's just that some states are refusing to enforce it. This is not the same thing as something being legal. This is not just pedantic quibbling, it has real consequences. The constitution forbids persecution for illegal actions so long as they were legal at the time they were committed. But cannabis isn't legal. Which means that if the attitude towards cannabis changes, it is possible for a future administration to persecute everyone that bought or sold pot. Individuals like you an I may not care very much about this possibility, but the shareholders and executives of multi billion dollar companies unsurprisingly have a different mindset.

It is not states that are refusing, but that the federal government is barred from enforcing it. Legal marijuana spending in the US and Canada totaled $12 billion last year and is expected to hit $18 billion this year, in large part because of the current status of the law.

> Medical marijuana is effectively legal at the federal level in states where it is legal.

Unless you're a federal employee. If you're a federal employee, marijuana use is prohibited, even if it is legal in the state where you reside, since it remains a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA). As I understand it, under the CSA, doctors cannot issue prescriptions for marijuana use

Steam started selling porn games semi recently. It was a dark day for my “recommended” feed

I bought the first season of RE: Zero on Steam when Steam first started offering streaming services . I think it counted all 25 episodes as distinct purchases. This seems to have made their recommendation algorithm think that I am a very big fan of anime games. So for the next several months, my recommended feed was filled with anime games. A surprising number of them... suggestive.

That said, I'm glad that Steam took a permissive approach to its marketplace in allowing controversial games like Postal and Hatred on its platform. I think saying "fuck it" and allowing porn gives them a decent amount of leeway to keep the rest of their platform permissive.

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.

But it's just as hypocritical.

Is it? I'd buy weed but not sell it. I'll watch porn but not produce it. I'll read a book but not write one.

Last time I checked Google didn't sell weed, didn't produce porn and didn't write books. You wouldn't, but I would, thanks to your moral standards I can't do business, because US with your legacy regulations on Internet allowed Google became sheriff of the internet.

I believe marijuana (and many other intoxicants) should be legal. But I wouldn't sell it because I'm afraid of legal repercussions. That's not hypocrisy, it's self-preservation.

“Do as I say, not as I do” is commonly known as “hypocrisy”. It’s generally not seen as a desirable trait in many cultures.

It’s not hypocritical to cover your ass in markets where it’s not legal, it’s just good business sense.

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.