Pubdate: Wed, 13 Aug 2014
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2014 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: David Downs

WE TEST EAZE APP'S PROMISE OF POT IN TEN MINUTES

Veteran techies are disrupting the medical marijuana industry with
Eaze; and SB 1262 contains a game-changing surprise.

Folks, the future has finally arrived. You can now open a web browser
on your phone, pick out a package of Miyagi OG or L.A. Confidential
and have it sent to wherever you are with the push of a button. New
medical pot delivery app Eaze promised us Tangerine OG in 10 minutes,
24-hours a day. It actually took about 20 minutes to deliver a $40
eighth-ounce of the citrusy hybrid, but that's still way faster than
you can get a pizza in the Bay.

San Francisco-based EazeUp.com launched on July 29, and quickly got
noticed by the San Francisco Chronicle, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the UK
Telegraph, and even Fox Business News. Eaze was developed by Keith
McCarty, the fourth employee of enterprise social networking service
Yammer, which bought by Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012.

Said McCarty of Eaze's release: "The process of acquiring medical
marijuana can be slow, cumbersome, and unpredictable. Often, patients
have to search multiple dispensaries manually each time they order as
stock often varies. Verification of medical eligibility can take 24
hours and has to be repeated with each dispensary.

"Eaze's technology automates all of that so each patient can have a
consistent, comfortable experience - and can focus on getting better."

Indeed, Eaze is sick.

You sign up for the free service using a web browser on a desktop or a
mobile device, and right away you can tell it's optimized for mobile.
The colors and design are simple, clean, and minimal. Through a series
of four steps that takes a couple of minutes, Eaze processes the data
needed to verify you as a valid patient. If you've signed up at a
dispensary, you can easily fill out the same type of form online, and
Eaze's staff will verify you in a few minutes.

Eaze's team has a background in secure enterprise business and
healthcare software, so the site is much more secure than your average
pot shop. My verification took two hours, and in the interim, the app
read "pending verification" and let me in to browse Eaze's menu. (East
Bay residents can pre-verify for the service's expected roll-out on
this side of the bay in September.)

Eaze has the cleanest weed menu in the history of mankind, broken down
in rows by flower type, strain name, weight, and strain description
with cost. We counted only nine strains, which some would find
laughable, but McCarty said twenty to thirty strains would be
available in two weeks. "It'll happen really quickly."

McCarty is meeting with investors and partners, adding collectives and
raising venture funds to provide Eaze's services to the rest of the
Bay Area and to spread to Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, and other cities.

The app also has some mind-blowing geolocation features that pin to
your "Deliver To" address, and give a delivery ETA (mine read five to
fifteen minutes). Press the "Request Delivery" button and a
confirmation screen starts a timer, similar to Uber. There are also
buttons to text or call the driver with specific instructions.

Sure enough, a thirty-something gentlemen with a big smile wearing a
T-shirt and jeans showed up to my location in twenty minutes. Dave's
Tangerine OG from Uni Collective looked great and smelled great.

On Sunday, we got an eighth-ounce of Champagne delivered in five
minutes.

Pot for Profit?

A historic California medical marijuana regulation bill finally scored
a key hearing date. Senate Bill 1262 is scheduled to be heard in the
Assembly Appropriations committee on August 13.

Amendments continue to shape the bill faster than online records can
post them, and the final sticking points seem irrelevant compared to
one startling fact that's emerged: SB 1262 would, for the first time,
allow the $1.8 billion medical pot industry to make profits.

Under 2008 guidelines, California's medi-pot collectives must operate
as "not-for-profit" enterprises, and their operators are routinely
arrested for alleged profit-making. Federal prosecutors use
"profit-taking" to justify dispensary raids and prison sentences.

By contrast, the word "profit" is not mentioned once in SB 1262, and
it's a deliberate omission, said Nate Bradley, for the California
Cannabis Industry Association. "It's silent [on profit]."

But profit would be the default mode for state-licensed medical
cannabis growers, drivers, and stores - just like it is any other
licensed, state-regulated business, Bradley said. That's huge.
Canna-businesses could plow profits into education campaigns, lobbying
efforts, and political donations to help end dispensary bans across
vast swaths of the state, amend overly restrictive state regulations,
and even straight-up legalize pot in 2016.

However, there's still plenty to fix in SB 1262, Bradley added.
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MAP posted-by: Matt