Uber for Marijuana: Meadow graduates

A meadow is a field habitat vegetated by primarily grass and other non-woody plants. Meadows have ecological importance because their open, sunny areas attract and support flora and fauna that couldn’t thrive in other conditions

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three different species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis. These species are indigenous to Central and South Asia.

The Uber of medical cannabis delivery has arrived, and the venerable accelerator Y Combinator has given its rubber stamp of approval.

Meadow, a San Francisco-based startup, allows card-holding medical marijuana patients to browse different types of cannabis from nearby dispensaries and place an order, and within an hour the goods will be delivered to the patient’s door.

If you don’t have a medical marijuana card, you can schedule an in-home consultation with one of the doctors Meadow has partnered with and get a recommendation to use medical cannabis.

Meadow’s main functionality-the purchasing of medical cannabis by licensed patients and the delivery of cannabis by licensed dispensaries-is protected by California’s Proposition 215 and the statute known as SB420.

The app works only in the Bay Area of California, the first state to pass medical cannabis laws, in 1996, although the drug is still illegal under federal law.

While Meadow has a lot of competition from other delivery apps like Nugg, Eaze, Canary, and Nestdrop, Meadow is the only one with the backing of Y Combinator.

Meadow is technically a software company-it does not grow or sell cannabis.

California’s medical cannabis industry, although it’s the oldest in the nation, does not enjoy the same protections and regulations as dispensaries in Colorado do.

Hua attended the Oakland, California-based cannabis college Oaksterdam University, which was founded by cannabis activist Richard Lee in 2007 and offers classes on horticulture, culinary arts, dispensary operations, the history of cannabis and its prohibition, and science and law relating to the plant.

Hua had initially planned to launch an edibles company with his wife, who is a food writer, but after he met Debby Goldsberry, who founded cannabis collective Berkeley Patients Group and is an instructor at Oaksterdam, she told him about the various pain points of running a dispensary and he got a better idea.

“We’re not cultivators, we’re not dispensary owners. We’re good at user interfaces, tech, and we believe we can do the most good in that space because we can get into Y Combinator and pitch venture capitalists who may not have been thinking about cannabis.”

Hua says the company’s next step is to help spread the word and educate people about cannabis.

“That’s why legalization and the legitimization of the industry is so important. When you regulate cannabis, test it, and it’s sold from a store, it makes cannabis safer.”

Now, Meadow will be looking for more investors like the Paxhias-venture capitalists who have a passion for cannabis and its medicinal qualities.

(Credits to Will Yakowicz)

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