San Francisco City Officials are trying to crack down on weed delivery apps, similar to how the city shut down predatory parking apps, Valleywag reported on Tuesday.
Eaze is seeking investors for its "Uber for pot" app, which markets itself as a delivery service for medical marijuana. Users simply pick a strain and quality, confirm delivery location and wait for a speedy delivery. It is being developed by a former Yammer executive, but Eaze is drawing attention from San Francisco's health department for operating without a permit.
The Department of Public Health regulates and permits medical marijuana dispensaries, inspecting each of the 28 permitted pot dispensaries twice a year and responding to any complaints about them. Obtaining a permit requires the owner to fill out paperwork, submit to a background check, provide a business registration certificate and plans for security, lights and ventilation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Whether Eaze and similar startups will need permits is still a developing concern, but public health officials are looking into it. The law does not outline protocol for companies that deliver medical marijuana to homes and lack a fixed storefront, Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The company is growing quickly, despite the investigation. The startup already has dozens of drivers and says it pays their drivers $45 an hour.
Michelle Aldrich, a member of the city's now extinct Medical Marijuana Task Force, is uncomfortable with Eaze because traditional dispensaries have to jump through so many hoops to become legal, but Eaze doesn't. The woman credits smoking pot with helping her beat lung cancer and was a pioneer of the movement to legalize the plant for medical use in California, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Since the company lacks both a permit and oversight, Aldrich said patients shouldn't trust the quality of the product it delivers.
