Pot's high point at CES and organisers not liking it

By Joshua Bruste

One of the final events at this year's CES is the Extreme Tech Challenge. Among the participants is MassRoots, a sort of Facebook for potheads. The arrival of marijuana at the tech industry's biggest trade show is causing a bit of discomfort both for the Consumer Technology Association, which oversees CES, and the organisers of the contest. This kind of tension is likely to grow for the show as pot legalisation spreads. It could hit particularly close to home for CES by next year.

MassRoots' apps let people discuss their cannabis-related experiences, learn about pot dispensaries, and keep up on developments in the stateby-state campaign to liberalise drug laws. This is a potentially attractive destination for marijuana-related businesses to advertise. “We're just taking the business model that works for Facebook and Twitter, and applying it to the cannabis industry,“ said Isaac Dietrich, one of the site's founders and its CEO.

The company is on firm ground legally. The organisers of the Extreme Tech Challenge were courting Dell in the hopes that it would send a judge to the contest and give computers to the winner. But Dell decided against it after MassRoots was named one of the ten semi-finalists. “Our goal with programs like this is to provide computers to intfluencers who create positive impact through technology,“ Dell said.“In this instance, we declined to participate because one of the companies in the contest did not meet our criteria.“

Kym McNicholas, the executive director of the contest, said she was unable to discuss any conversations with potential backers. “It would, however, make sense that some companies might be extra sensitive to industries that are subject to shifting legal landscapes,“ she said.

The CTA is also distancing itself from MassRoots. CTA on in Las Vegas CEO Gary Shapiro is one of the judges at the contest. But when asked about the organisation's approach to companies focused on cannabis, Allison Fried, a CTA spokes woman, said it had no over sight over the contest or its participants.

Pot tech is not an officially approved category at CES, which means cannabis-related firms are banned from exhibiting.

“If by chance a company sneaks on with such prod ucts, we could in theory pull them from the show floor,“ said Fried.