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Show HN: Medical marijuana product search

25 points by alexu 13y ago

No revenue model yet, but I am trying to figure out how to get referral fees.

lizzu 13y ago
Is it legal?
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Barring the possibility that you are in a jurisdiction with unusually draconian drug laws, sure it's legal. This site is just telling you how much different strains cost at different businesses where you can legally buy them (currently, if you have a prescription). The site itself isn't selling weed.
markz 13y ago
How do I find "normal" weed? Is it only medical?
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Nowhere in Washington or Colorado is selling recreational weed legally yet (although many businesses are partially through the licensing/application process). fwiw, Leafly seems a bit easier to use than this site.
  - jtreminio 13y ago
    I believe there is now one business in CO that has their permits :)
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      Hmm, it looks like you are right, but I think they can't start actually selling until January 1st. I'm not quite sure there. In Washington it will still be a few more months, since anything sold recreationaly needs to be grown explicitly for recreational use, and that process cannot start until the permits are issued (I believe they have until the end of this year before they are required by law to start issuing permits to grow (or sell)).
- code_duck 13y ago
  What do you mean? There's no actual difference in the product.
  - chimeracoder 13y ago
    While I understand the facetiousness of your comment, I should take the opportunity to point out that there are medical strains that are bred (optimized) to treat certain specific conditions. So, the fact that we have medical marijuana does let people create higher-quality (and higher-precision!) products, vis-a-vis available offerings on the black market.
    - code_duck 13y ago
      My comment was not intended facetiously in any way. Sure, while certainly the change in legal environment engendered all sorts of new breeding, by and large most medical marijuana is the exact same strains that were (and still are) sold on the illegal market, largely grown by the same people who would be/used to/are growing it for the illegal market.
dave_sullivan 13y ago
How are you getting the data? As far as I know, the dispensaries don't have APIs, so are you just going in and scanning their menus every day? This is actually pretty useful in that you can then comparison shop different dispensaries. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal element (which you should). Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them? Still seems to me to be totally fubar thanks to otherwise unemployable crazy old people...
- chimeracoder 13y ago
  >Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal element (which you should). >Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them? In 2006-2008, Obama said that he would not prosecute medical marijuana operations that were operating under state law. However, over the last five years, the administration has been responsible for a number of raids (most famously Haborside and Oaksterdam). These raids were conducted on the grounds that the dispensaries were in violation of tax policies. However, this was an underhanded trick: the dispensaries had no legal way of complying with the policies in question - they were in a catch-22. By doing it this way, they were able to continue raids, while still paying lip service to the letter of Obama's campaign promises, while completely disregarding the spirit of them. The last time I saw a comparison was sometime in early 2012. At the time. Obama was rated as the least marijuana-friendly president since Clinton[0]. Suppliers (growers) are even more vilified than dispensaries. The further away you get from the patients, the easier it becomes to distract people from the actual patients who suffer and instead beat the "drugs are evil" drum. [0] The first medical marijuana laws as we know them today were passed (at the state level) during Clinton's administration
ajays 13y ago
How is this better than Leaf.ly, Stickyguide or Weedmaps ? http://www.leafly.com/ http://www.leafly.com/ http://www.stickyguide.com/ http://www.stickyguide.com/ http://www.weedmaps.com/ http://www.weedmaps.com/
- alexu 13y ago
  It's designed for quick cross-store comparison shopping and finding suitable replacements. All sites above are designed for browsing stores.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    The presentation is pretty good (fairly minimal, which I like), but I think that some autocompletion in those search forms would go a long way. Things like showing autocompletes for town names or strains.
  - herbietokens 13y ago
    http://www.leafly.com/hybrid/blue-dream/availability/seattle_wa http://www.leafly.com/hybrid/blue-dream/availability/seattle...
laurenstill 13y ago
I'd like to see that filter menu on the front page. I don't know my flowers, so having that be the only initial filter/search method left me in the dark.
sixQuarks 13y ago
Absolutely HORRIBLE usability dude! What the hell were you thinking including a search box with no guide on what to search for? Here's a simple tip: Get rid of the search, just ask for the zip code. Then afterwards, allow some sort of filters.
- alexu 13y ago
  I an going to try that, that's a second comment today that it's not clear what to do on homepage...
justbaker 13y ago
Love it. justbaker
ryan_j_naughton 13y ago
I'm very curious how you are getting the data. scrapping the competitors sites? some APIs?

25 points by alexu 13y ago

No revenue model yet, but I am trying to figure out how to get referral fees.

lizzu 13y ago

Is it legal?

jlgreco 13y ago
Barring the possibility that you are in a jurisdiction with unusually draconian drug laws, sure it's legal. This site is just telling you how much different strains cost at different businesses where you can legally buy them (currently, if you have a prescription). The site itself isn't selling weed.

markz 13y ago

How do I find "normal" weed? Is it only medical?

jlgreco 13y ago
Nowhere in Washington or Colorado is selling recreational weed legally yet (although many businesses are partially through the licensing/application process). fwiw, Leafly seems a bit easier to use than this site.
- jtreminio 13y ago
  I believe there is now one business in CO that has their permits :)
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Hmm, it looks like you are right, but I think they can't start actually selling until January 1st. I'm not quite sure there. In Washington it will still be a few more months, since anything sold recreationaly needs to be grown explicitly for recreational use, and that process cannot start until the permits are issued (I believe they have until the end of this year before they are required by law to start issuing permits to grow (or sell)).
code_duck 13y ago
What do you mean? There's no actual difference in the product.
- chimeracoder 13y ago
  While I understand the facetiousness of your comment, I should take the opportunity to point out that there are medical strains that are bred (optimized) to treat certain specific conditions. So, the fact that we have medical marijuana does let people create higher-quality (and higher-precision!) products, vis-a-vis available offerings on the black market.
  - code_duck 13y ago
    My comment was not intended facetiously in any way. Sure, while certainly the change in legal environment engendered all sorts of new breeding, by and large most medical marijuana is the exact same strains that were (and still are) sold on the illegal market, largely grown by the same people who would be/used to/are growing it for the illegal market.

dave_sullivan 13y ago

How are you getting the data? As far as I know, the dispensaries don't have APIs, so are you just going in and scanning their menus every day? This is actually pretty useful in that you can then comparison shop different dispensaries. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal element (which you should). Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them? Still seems to me to be totally fubar thanks to otherwise unemployable crazy old people...

chimeracoder 13y ago
>Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal element (which you should). >Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them? In 2006-2008, Obama said that he would not prosecute medical marijuana operations that were operating under state law. However, over the last five years, the administration has been responsible for a number of raids (most famously Haborside and Oaksterdam). These raids were conducted on the grounds that the dispensaries were in violation of tax policies. However, this was an underhanded trick: the dispensaries had no legal way of complying with the policies in question - they were in a catch-22. By doing it this way, they were able to continue raids, while still paying lip service to the letter of Obama's campaign promises, while completely disregarding the spirit of them. The last time I saw a comparison was sometime in early 2012. At the time. Obama was rated as the least marijuana-friendly president since Clinton[0]. Suppliers (growers) are even more vilified than dispensaries. The further away you get from the patients, the easier it becomes to distract people from the actual patients who suffer and instead beat the "drugs are evil" drum. [0] The first medical marijuana laws as we know them today were passed (at the state level) during Clinton's administration

ajays 13y ago

How is this better than Leaf.ly, Stickyguide or Weedmaps ? http://www.leafly.com/ http://www.leafly.com/ http://www.stickyguide.com/ http://www.stickyguide.com/ http://www.weedmaps.com/ http://www.weedmaps.com/

alexu 13y ago
It's designed for quick cross-store comparison shopping and finding suitable replacements. All sites above are designed for browsing stores.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jlgreco 13y ago
  The presentation is pretty good (fairly minimal, which I like), but I think that some autocompletion in those search forms would go a long way. Things like showing autocompletes for town names or strains.
- herbietokens 13y ago
  http://www.leafly.com/hybrid/blue-dream/availability/seattle_wa http://www.leafly.com/hybrid/blue-dream/availability/seattle...

laurenstill 13y ago

I'd like to see that filter menu on the front page. I don't know my flowers, so having that be the only initial filter/search method left me in the dark.

sixQuarks 13y ago

Absolutely HORRIBLE usability dude! What the hell were you thinking including a search box with no guide on what to search for? Here's a simple tip: Get rid of the search, just ask for the zip code. Then afterwards, allow some sort of filters.

alexu 13y ago
I an going to try that, that's a second comment today that it's not clear what to do on homepage...

justbaker 13y ago

Love it. justbaker

ryan_j_naughton 13y ago

I'm very curious how you are getting the data. scrapping the competitors sites? some APIs?