When he first began buying medical marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis, Mark Manasse was forced to visit a dispensary every time he needed to get fresh buds.
But thanks to a host of new apps like Quil, he can order the marijuana from his home in California and wait for the delivery to arrive in less than an hour - much like you would a pizza.
"I like that they show me the expected delivery time so I can figure out, OK, I had better finish cooking dinner then, so I can be ready for when the delivery arrives," Manasse told CNET.com's Lexy Savvides.
The delivery apps are part of a growing push by the cannabis industry to bring technology to bear on everything from growing and testing to selling and delivering their product. And with the medical marijuana sector legal in 23 states and Washington, D.C. and becoming big business in places like California, where sales reached $1.1 billion last year, there is no shortage of entrepreneurs and investors interested in getting in on the action.
Rapper Snoop Dogg has invested in the marijuana delivery service EAZE, while Founders Fund, the investment firm created by Peter Thiel, has put money into Privateer Holdings whose subsidiary, Marley Natural, sells marijuana. The Founders Fund was among those who first invested in Facebook, Spotify and SpaceX.
"As things have come above board and more financing has become available and companies become less threatened that they would be put out of business, they have been more willing to invest in technology that is making cannabis products safer and more effective," Donald P. Land, a University of California, Davis, professor who is the chief scientific consultant for the cannabis testing firm Steep Hill, told CBS News.
Land's company has been at the forefront of providing testing on cannabis products, introducing a system back in 2008 that tested for pesticides, heavy metals and the level of active ingredients known as cannabinoids in pot.
A few weeks ago, it rolled out a mobile testing lab called QuantaCann II that can tell the potency and moisture of the cannabis in minutes.
Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by CBSNEWS
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length
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