17 Oct, 2014 04:00

Weed express: Marijuana app offers on-demand home delivery

A new San Francisco smartphone app promises to promptly deliver cannabis right to your door. It's the latest in a new crop of apps aimed at making access to pot easier.

Dubbed “Meadow,” the app is available for Android devices through the Google Play store, and its creators claim it delivers medical marijuana to patients in San Francisco’s Bay Area from lawfully-operated dispensaries.

With a few touches of the screen, a patient can upload their California ID and valid medical marijuana prescription into the app’s database, which is verified by dispensaries, according to TechCrunch. Once approved, the patient can browse through high-quality images of different strains of marijuana with names like “Betsy” or "Blueberry Kush," decide on a quantity, place an order, and expect delivery to their home within the hour.

“This is not some get rich quick scheme,” Meadow creator David Hua told TechCrunch. “We’re playing the long game on behalf of the medical movement. Our over-arching goal is to implement and publicize a lawful marketplace to demonstrate to medical cannabis opponents that patients can obtain access to necessary treatment without endangering public safety or the rule of law.”

The company charges the dispensary a $3 fee for delivery. So far, it has only one dispensary partner, but managing pot deliveries through the app could save patients time waiting in line or repeatedly checking in on their eligibility. The app could also be indispensable for the disabled, who may have trouble traveling to dispensaries, reported Mashable.

Meadow’s creator plans to make its “quick, lawful and convenient access” service available nationally.

The on-demand service is just the latest effort to allow for home delivery of marijuana. Another app called “Eaze” launched in the Bay Area in July, and the “Canary” service was launched in Seattle in June.

"We're offering the revolution of on-demand services for medical marijuana patients," Eaze CEO and founder Keith McCarty told the San Francisco Chronicle. The Eaze app uses a mobile dispensary, with each driver carrying eight ounces of pot.

There are hundreds of delivery companies, including dozens in San Francisco, that are listed on Weedmaps which acts as a Yelp-like website for pot-industry companies, reported the Chronicle. Many dispensaries offer free delivery.

Medical marijuana laws are on the books in 23 states. Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia will vote on the issue this year.