Surely you must have already heard about Uber by now, the mobile application that allows you to contact non-professional drivers who will take you wherever you ask them to in exchange for a certain fee.
It reached Spain about two months ago, and currently only operates in Barcelona, but the controversy surrounding this collaborative-economy app has already come to the fore throughout the country. Since it was launched, thousands of taxi drivers have taken the streets to protest against this service.
The reasons are evident: while cab drivers have to pay for licenses, permits and pass all kinds of controls, Uber is, in their view, an underground-economy application. Those responsible for the app, of course, deny this. In any case, only a couple of days ago, Barcelona was left taxiless due to a strike undertaken to intensify their protest and ask the government to prohibit the platform from operating.
Marijuana at your doorstep
Uber was founded in San Francisco, where it has been running for nearly four years. Likewise, in the US – specifically in Seattle (Washington State) - a group of students are developing Canary, a service which has been described as the “Uber of marijuana,” and whose main objective is to make life easier for users of medicinal cannabis.
Josiah Tullis and Megh Vakharia are the two twenty-somethings behind the project. The first thing they did? A survey among different drivers linked to Uber who might be interested in working for their application. The only requirement? Drivers must undergo background checks.
Canary came about as an on-demand service allowing consumers to obtain medicinal cannabis without having to personally travel to a dispensary. Thanks to the application, it will be delivered directly to their doorsteps. However, only those holding cards entitling them to acquire medical marijuana may use the service. They can also select different strains of marijuana from different dispensaries, and receive them without getting up from their sofas.
The young entrepreneurs, of course, have it all figured out: they will make thorough and extensive verifications to assure that those using the system are actually patients who are authorized to buy the product.
They have defined it as the “easiest way to buy cannabis.” They believe that the new era of cannabis “must be taken advantage of in all its areas, and that includes the new technologies, as we are faced with an increasingly competitive sector that requires marijuana providers to stand out from each other and adapt to survive.” They offer producers the opportunity to showcase their products in the Canary catalogue, and develop their own section for them on the application.
The website reaches out to growers and dispensaries, assuring them that with Canary their products will be consumed by thousands of users. This may be a simple way to connect users and dispensaries.
Top-quality products
They attract users in a fun way: “we know that you don't want to leave home on weekends. With Canary you don't have to.” And they promise that the products delivered through the application - in less than an hour - will be of the highest quality. Deliveries may be ordered 24/7, remaining open as long as dispensaries are.
The steps that users will take when ordering are simple. Before making their first order users must register by presenting their ID and medical marijuana card. Once verified that the user's information is correct, he/she can choose the strains of cannabis that he/she prefers, not only those available at his local dispensary. This is due to the fact that young people are managing to connect with numerous dispensaries throughout the area. The user may also request different quantities of cannabis, depending upon what the laws of each state specify.
Due to federal regulations, payment will be initially restricted to cash. However, the idea is that over time, payment options will be expanded to credit cards and PayPal, depending on how regulations develop in this area. Moreover, “Canary provides the infrastructure and logistics necessary to deliver the products to customers, as well as hiring and compensation if something goes wrong as well as the management, and delivery.”
Many investors
They report that, thanks to theirwebsite, they have attracted many investors, though they admit that, while developing idea, they didn’t get the support of many companies, who considered them too young for a project of this kind.
Whatever the case, they are already bearing in mind the legal consequences they may have to face, and that is why drivers joining the team will have to possess cargo transport permits. “The question marks do not have to do with the technology, since such systems have already been implemented in the past. The uncertainties are related to the business end,” they note.
For now they are focused on the health sector, but have not ruled out the possibility of applying the idea to the recreational area too, coinciding with the opening of stores dedicated to this field in Washington. Canary’s service will be expanded into Denver and California sometime this year and the application should be available for use on the iPhone and Android in the coming months.
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With information from Expansión, Cadena Ser, El País, Campusreform.org, Ajc.com, Trycanary.com, q13fox.com, independent.co.uk and Businessinsider.com.
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