1. Where the rule sits, and the sentence that does the work. Play's Developer Program Policy files alcohol, tobacco and cannabis under Restricted Content then Inappropriate Content, as two separate sub-policies: "Tobacco and Alcohol" and "Marijuana" (§https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9878810 ; the consolidated full policy text sits on §https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/18258653). The tobacco and alcohol full policy is one sentence: "We don't allow apps that facilitate the sale of tobacco or products containing nicotine (such as e-cigarettes, vape pens and nicotine pouches) or encourage the illegal or inappropriate use of alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine." The policy summary restates the same test for reviewers: "Apps that facilitate the sale of tobacco or products containing nicotine (such as e-cigarettes, vape pens and nicotine pouches) or encourage the illegal or inappropriate use of alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine are not allowed."
2. Marijuana is a different shape of ban - "regardless of legality". "We don't allow apps that facilitate the sale of marijuana or marijuana products, regardless of legality." The three examples of common violations are concrete and worth reading literally: "Allowing users to order marijuana through an in-app shopping cart feature." / "Assisting users in arranging delivery or pick up of marijuana." / "Facilitating the sale of products containing THC(Tetrahydrocannabinol), including products such as CBD oils containing THC." The phrase "regardless of legality" is the whole point: a state-licensed dispensary, a medical recommendation, or adult-use legality in your distribution country does not create a permitted path on Play - there is no declaration form, no region list, and no age gate that unlocks it.
3. The CBD clause is the trap. The named violation is sale of "products containing THC(Tetrahydrocannabinol), including products such as CBD oils containing THC". THC-free CBD is not named in that example, but the moment a catalogue SKU carries THC - broad-spectrum oils, gummies dosed with THC, "full spectrum" listings - the flow falls inside the ban, and a "browse only, buy elsewhere" surface still breaches the second example if it arranges the pickup. Check the SKU level, not the category label.
4. Alcohol is not blanket-banned; tobacco is. Read the two verbs in the same sentence: "facilitate the sale" is banned for tobacco and nicotine, while for alcohol the banned behaviour is "encourage the illegal or inappropriate use". The Key Considerations make the asymmetry explicit - the single Do item is: "Provide age-gating safeguards for the sale of alcohol and for limited sale of tobacco in food/grocery apps." So an alcohol retail or alcohol-delivery app is a policy question about age-gating, legality and presentation, whereas a vape-shop or tobacco storefront app is a policy question about whether it can exist at all.
5. The six Additional Information rules, verbatim, because each one is separately enforceable: "Depicting or encouraging the use or sale of alcohol or tobacco to minors is not allowed." / "Implying that consuming tobacco can improve social, sexual, professional, intellectual, or athletic standing is not allowed." / "Portraying excessive drinking favorably, including the favorable portrayal of excessive, binge or competition drinking is not allowed." / "Advertisements, promotions, or prominent featuring of tobacco products (includes ads, banners, categories and links out to tobacco selling sites) is not allowed." / "We may allow the limited sale of tobacco products in food/grocery delivery apps, in certain regions, and subject to age-gating safeguards (such as ID check at delivery)." / "We may allow the sale of products marketed as nicotine cessation aids subject to age-gating safeguards."
6. The Do/Don't list is the shortest version of the whole policy. Do: "Provide age-gating safeguards for the sale of alcohol and for limited sale of tobacco in food/grocery apps." Don't: "Don't facilitate the sale of tobacco, e-cigarettes, or nicotine pouches." / "Don't encourage the use of alcohol or tobacco by minors." / "Don't advertise or promote tobacco products, including links to selling sites." / "Don't imply that using tobacco improves social, professional, or intellectual standing." / "Don't portray excessive drinking favorably." Five of the six are content-and-presentation rules rather than transaction rules - which is why marketing copy, screenshots and banner inventory are where these violations are usually found first, not the payment flow.
7. Read the tobacco exception narrowly. It is "limited", it is scoped to "food/grocery delivery apps", it is region-dependent ("in certain regions"), it requires "age-gating safeguards (such as ID check at delivery)", and it is written as "we may allow" - a discretion, not an entitlement. A standalone tobacco or vape storefront sits outside the exception however good its age gate is; the exception is about a grocery basket that happens to contain a tobacco SKU, handed over against an ID check at delivery. Do not read "food/grocery delivery app" as a workaround you can bolt onto a dedicated tobacco shop.
8. Nicotine cessation aids are the one nicotine sale Play contemplates, and the qualifier is "marketed as". "We may allow the sale of products marketed as nicotine cessation aids subject to age-gating safeguards." A cessation product sold with a real cessation claim, and age-gated, is contemplated; the same device sold as a flavour-novelty vape with a cessation footnote is a nicotine sale with a compliance sticker on it.
9. Three adjacent policies hit the same app, so fixing only the catalogue is never enough. (a) Illegal Activities (§https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9878877) lists "Facilitating the sale or purchase of illegal drugs", "Depicting or encouraging the use or sale of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco by minors" and "Instructions for growing or manufacturing illegal drugs" as common violations - that last one catches cultivation or extraction guides inside the app or its linked content. (b) Families policy: in a child-directed context, "Apps that glamorize the use of alcohol, tobacco or controlled substances" is listed among common violations, and the ad content that "should not be displayed to children" includes "Controlled or Harmful Substances: Ads for alcohol, tobacco, controlled substances, or any other harmful substances" (§18258653) - so an ad network can pull a compliant app into a violation on its own. (c) Age-Restricted Content and Functionality (2026) requires apps meeting its descriptions to "use the Play Console functionality and tools to block minors"; the list is Real Money Gambling, apps whose core functionality is matchmaking or dating, apps that randomly connect users to chat with strangers, and apps whose core functionality is anonymous communication (§https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/16302250). Alcohol and tobacco apps are deliberately not on that list - the minor-protection duty for them comes from this policy's age-gating requirement plus an honest content rating, not from a Console toggle that does the work for you.
10. The content-rating side asks the same questions. The ratings questionnaire help in Play Console runs 20 items; the set includes "Tobacco" and "Age-Restricted Physical Goods", and there is a dedicated Tobacco reference page that defines the three levels (§https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6161122): "Reference: Text, dialogue, lyrics, and/or images of tobacco products would be considered references." / "Use: The use/consumption of tobacco products in any case would constitute use." / "Encourages/Glamorizes: If characters gain advantage or achieve success after the use of tobacco, this would be considered encouragement/glamorization. This includes prominent advertising for real-world brands explicitly encouraging the use of tobacco (e.g., a lit cigarette with the words "You know you want it"; a couple telling the audience that "X Brand Cigarettes are the smoothest")." Note that the last definition is the same rule as bullet two of the Additional Information, expressed as a rating question: under-declaring the questionnaire and then shipping a scene where the character relaxes with a cigarette is two violations from one design decision.
11. What a reviewer actually looks at, in practice. A THC or flower SKU in the catalogue behind an in-app cart; an "order now, pick up in store" or "arrange delivery" flow for cannabis; a banner, a "shop" category, or an outbound link to a tobacco-selling site inside an otherwise unrelated app; store-listing screenshots where a cigarette, pipe or vape is the prop or the brand logo is visible; party or lounge imagery that makes heavy drinking look aspirational; an ad SDK serving alcohol or tobacco creatives into a child-directed audience; a delivery checkout with no ID check at the door; a "healthy / safer / stress relief" style claim attached to a nicotine product.
12. Pre-release checklist that maps one-to-one onto the text above. (1) Inventory the catalogue: any SKU containing THC, any tobacco or nicotine product, any alcohol product - and label each one's policy path. (2) Remove every cart, ordering, delivery-arrangement or pickup flow for cannabis/THC products; if the app must talk about cannabis, keep it to information and local law, with no transaction path. (3) For tobacco: decide whether you are the "limited sale in a food/grocery delivery app, in certain regions" case; if you are not, remove the SKUs and the selling links entirely. (4) Implement real age-gating with ID check at delivery for alcohol and for the permitted tobacco/cessation cases, and keep evidence of the flow. (5) Scrub the presentation layer: no tobacco brand featuring, no links out to tobacco sellers, no success-through-tobacco framing, no favourable binge-drinking imagery, no glamorising in anything a child-directed audience can reach. (6) Age-gate and exclude alcohol and tobacco creatives from any ad inventory in child-directed or Families-designated apps. (7) Answer the IARC questionnaire at the highest level of accuracy your build deserves, and keep the rating in sync with the shipped content after every release that adds or changes such scenes.
13. Enforcement and where to ask. These are Restricted Content violations, and the standard Play escalation applies: rejection at review, removal after launch, and developer-account consequences for repeat or bad-faith cases; Play also notes on the policy pages that you can request help from the Help page inside your Play Console account. Because the Do/Don't list is presentation-heavy, the cheapest defence is a pre-release content pass over screenshots, banners and outbound links, and the second cheapest is an honest catalogue audit - both of which happen before review rather than in an appeal.