According to O. Shane Balloun’s excellently referenced paper to which Hyena linked, a seastead/shipstead just outside the contiguous zone (24 nautical miles offshore), which does not exploit natural resources, and has a zero-tolerance illegal drug policy, will enjoy little interference from Coast Guard.
There are many other challenges ahead, and we don’t have Thiel’s investment, but it is launching such a shipstead off the SF Bay Area that two former Seasteading Institute employees and I are working on at Blueseed.
Strictly, only manufacturing and distribution of controlled substances is subject to the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, but we don’t want to take unnecessary risks at this stage. Incremental approach.