Until now, companies trying to deliver weed to doorsteps around the state – the companies trying to follow the letter of the law, anyway – have faced a daunting patchwork of local regulations.

Buying cannabis is legal in California, but cities and counties can still choose to regulate or ban the trade as they please. As a result, neighbors on opposite sides of the same street might not have the same legal access to cannabis deliveries.

The system has forced delivery companies trying to stay compliant with local laws to draw up elaborate maps to tell drivers where they can legally go, said Ian Stewart, who practices cannabis law at the Los Angeles firm Wilson Elser.

“In the past, delivery services have really had a hard time,” said Stewart, who estimates only about 30 percent of local jurisdictions in the state have regulated pot.

But state rules approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Jan. 16 give licensed cannabis delivery operations free rein to deliver pot almost anywhere in California, even into cities and counties that have barred it. [Read more at Palm Springs Desert Sun]