{"id":7731,"date":"2017-09-14T23:45:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T23:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2788355&amp;preview_id=2788355"},"modified":"2017-09-14T23:45:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T23:45:52","slug":"on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"On-demand cannabis: California becoming hot spot for marijuana delivery, e-commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Sep 14, 2017, 3:09 pm \u2022 Updated: Sep 16, 2017, 10:14 am<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Eaze\u2019s e-commerce platform is meant to feel familiar.<\/p>\n<p>Scrolling horizontally and vertically through product pictures is practically Netflixian. Refining results with tag-based filtering borders on the Amazonic. And when a click of a button turns results into ordered products hitching a ride to a front door, it\u2019s a little Uberish. <\/p>\n<p>Eaze\u2019s software facilitates medical marijuana deliveries in California by connecting patients to dispensaries that sell and then deliver the products. <\/p>\n<p>The burgeoning San Francisco-based startup \u2014 which hauled in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/09\/14\/eaze-marijuana-delivery-tech-investment-california\/88083\/\">$27 million in investment capital<\/a> on Thursday \u2014 is among a growing class of tech companies and marijuana industry insiders who predict that dispensaries will go the way of Blockbuster Video as the Golden State begins legal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/15\/california-marijuana-laws-rules-organic-delivery\/81616\/\">recreational marijuana sales in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not unique to cannabis,\u201d Sheena Shiravi, head of Eaze\u2019s public relations, told The Cannabist. \u201cI think that (e-commerce) is the wave of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eaze and its cohorts are banking on California serving as the epicenter for an e-commerce cannabis revolution. They\u2019re buoyed by language in marijuana regulations passed last June that say dispensaries are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/15\/california-marijuana-laws-rules-organic-delivery\/81616\/\">not required to have a storefront<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Designed to unify the state\u2019s existing medical marijuana regulations with those for forthcoming recreational sales, <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB94\">Senate Bill 94<\/a> blasts open the doors for more virtual operations, said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association (CGA). A cannabis retailer can have a discreet licensed and regulated facility out of which to conduct deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>Industry forecasts peg California\u2019s legal cannabis sales at about $2.8 billion for 2017, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/02\/22\/report-united-states-marijuana-sales-projections-2025\/74059\/\">climbing to $6.6 billion by 2025<\/a> as the recreational marijuana market matures, according to a recent report by New Frontier Data, a cannabis data analytics firm. New Frontier highlights California\u2019s marijuana delivery services as an area with \u201csignificant potential for expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce.jpg\" alt=\"eaze app marijuana delivery mobile\" width=\"1000\" height=\"620\" class=\"size-full wp-image-88223\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laws in California for cannabis delivery give that sector the potential to expand as recreational marijuana sales begin in 2018. Software developed by tech company Eaze allows users in certain cities to order cannabis for delivery. (Provided by Eaze)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The growth of e-commerce should be \u201cvery, very explosive,\u201d New Frontier\u2019s executive vice president of industry analytics John Kagia said last week during a webinar presenting the report \u201cCannabis On-Demand: Evolving Trends in California\u2019s Medical Market\u201d to investors, business operators and researchers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia is going to be the most important and the largest single market in the world (for the cannabis industry),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond California\u2019s sizable population and economic power, the state\u2019s prowess in areas such as technology, media and cannabis cultivation \u201cwill be accelerants to the modernization, the increased sophistication and the maturation of the industry,\u201d Kagia said.<\/p>\n<h3>Hodgepodge of delivery rules<\/h3>\n<p>The state is the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/03\/24\/young-adults-california-cannabis-prohibition\/50785\/\">country\u2019s oldest<\/a> medical marijuana state, and its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2015\/10\/09\/california-medical-marijuana-regulations-governor-jerry-brown\/42105\/\">loose regulation<\/a> of that market has led to a patchwork of legality for on-demand delivery.<\/p>\n<p>Regions of California, notably the San Francisco Bay Area, have allowed for the delivery of medical cannabis. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has banned delivery services.<\/p>\n<p>CGA estimates that there are more than 7,500 cannabis delivery companies statewide that conduct up to 55 percent of current medical marijuana transactions. Expanding delivery has been the group\u2019s highest priority since July 2015, said Allen, and L.A. is their top target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cL.A. is, in our opinion, the premier cannabis marketplace in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/cannabis.ca.gov\/\">Bureau of Cannabis Control<\/a> and Los Angeles\u2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/08\/18\/los-angeles-cannabis-czar-cat-packer\/86367\/\">Department of Cannabis Regulation<\/a> are in the throes of drafting regulations, and officials were unable to comment specifically on potential delivery policies.<\/p>\n<h3>Low-key delivery businesses have appeal<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"figure wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce-1.jpg\" alt=\"Cannabis delivery services\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" class=\"size-full wp-image-88123\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andre Shavers, who runs a marijuana delivery business in Oakland, Calif., checks his inventory on May 11, 2017. Across California, there are an assortment of local rules on cannabis delivery. (Eric Risberg, The Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Beyond the City of Angels, CGA is actively working with local government officials, community leaders and law enforcement officials to open local markets to on-demand delivery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the cities and counties really are sensitive to the perceived neighborhood impact of a storefront,\u201d Allen said, noting dispensaries, like liquor stores, are associated with higher rates of crime.<\/p>\n<p>Delivery, he said, allows for increased consumer access without the perceived negative neighborhood impacts.<\/p>\n<p>Eaze has positioned the hub of its operations in the Bay Area, where delivery is legal, but it\u2019s also stationed personnel in areas of the state that could be poised to consider or adopt delivery legislation.<\/p>\n<p>To these communities and regulators, Eaze officials float delivery as a middle-of-the-road solution.<\/p>\n<p>While Eaze is \u201claser-focused on California,\u201d company officials are shooting some glances in the direction of Nevada, Oregon, Washington, medical-only states such as New York and Florida, and even beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon\u2019s laws have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kgw.com\/life\/marijuana-home-delivery-starts-in-oregon\/406724967\">permitted Portland<\/a> to legalize delivery services and it\u2019s also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/07\/24\/nevada-marijuana-delivery-service\/84441\/\">happening in Nevada<\/a>, but other states that have legalized marijuana have been reluctant to venture down that road.<\/p>\n<p>In Colorado earlier this year, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/02\/17\/colorado-could-have-home-delivered-marijuana-if-new-bill-succeeds\/73850\/\">lawmakers floated a proposal<\/a> to allow for marijuana delivery. However, the provision stalled in the legislative process after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/31\/colorado-governor-john-hickenlooper-marijuana-2017\/76411\/\">Gov. John Hickenlooper expressed concerns<\/a> that allowing delivery might raise the ire of federal enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n<p>But with California, home to the largest cannabis consuming population in the country, on board, Eaze is optimistic for its future in the legal marijuana marketplace, said Shiravi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we see in California is hopefully a pilot for federal regulation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/on-demand-cannabis-california-becoming-hot-spot-for-marijuana-delivery-e-commerce-2.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Tech company Eaze and others are banking on marijuana delivery expanding at &#8220;explosive&#8221; rate in California as state prepares for recreational sales. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,45,6813,77,5577,5667,6858,56,9,6833,5019,261,1,3,5219,61,1736],"tags":[5063,2628,6818,2655,5580,5673,6860,2636,6835,5022,2839,5234],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}