
Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only - dpieri
https://marvina.com
======
wbronitsky
Why is everyone just attacking these people without trying the product at all?
Does anyone share their scaling plans directly with HN? I'm very put off by
the negativity here.

I think this is a great idea. There are a ton of patients who want a great new
selection of their medicine delivered to them with no hassle. I'd love to try
this service if they actually deliver on the "top shelf" promise. In my
experience, not all "top shelf" flowers are made the same. Would be down to
try a month though!

~~~
robbyking
To be fair, there are already a number of dispensaries in SF that deliver
medical cannabis. (Lifted Health and Wellness, for one.)

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everly
What is the benefit over an existing SF delivery service like the Green Cross?
They have better rates and I can have up to an ounce delivered within 90
minutes. They also have 'top-shelf' product and an itemized list of strains
available. I don't mean to denigrate the idea, just want to hear some thoughts
because I have been extremely impressed with every aspect of the Green Cross'
service.

~~~
DonHopkins
I think they covered this in an episode of Weeds. Rich people love to pay
extremely inflated prices for "exclusive" products that they think nobody else
can get, and don't realize are exactly the same as the normal stuff.

------
djtidau
I too don't understand such negative responses here. As far as how it looks
the site seems just fine to me. Not being too familiar with this market I'm
unsure of the feasibility of the business but the idea seems sound.

Is there any reason why you are cash only at the moment? You really should
look into adding some kind of online payment integration (Stripe is very easy
to get up and running if the allow it for this market).

Just a heads up, on Chrome/OSX your example boxes popup is created three
times, one on top of the other.

Good luck!

~~~
dpieri
Thanks for the encouragement!

If only we could use Stripe! Unfortunately marijuana is specifically mentioned
in their list of prohibited businesses: [https://stripe.com/us/prohibited-
businesses](https://stripe.com/us/prohibited-businesses)

~~~
desdiv
Look into "high risk merchant accounts". Quite a few CC processors specialize
in it. Porn shops, gun shops, marijuana dispensaries, etc, all fall under that
umbrella.

Despite the derogatory name, I actually doubt these kind of businesses present
a higher than normal financial risk. For example, all gun purchase undergo
FBI's NICS background check, so I suspect that gun shops have a _lower_ rate
of CC fraud compared to other retailers. As for porn shops, Guy Ritchie says
it better than me:

 _Tom: Listen to this one: you open a company called the "Arse Tickler's
Faggots Fan Club".

Soap: You what?

Tom: You take out an advert in the back page of some gay mag, advertising the
latest in arse-intruding dildos. You sell it with, I dunno, "does what no
other dildo can do until now", "the latest and greatest in sexual technology",
"guaranteed results or your money back", all that bollocks. Now, these dils
cost twenty-five quid a pop. That's a snip for the amount of pleasure they're
gonna give the recipients. But they send their cheques to the other company
name – nothing offensive, er, "Bobbie's Bits" or something – for twenty-five
quid. You take that twenty-five quid, you stick it in the bank until it
clears. Now, this is the smart bit. You send back the cheque for twenty-five
pound from the other company name, "Arse Tickler's Faggots Fan Club", saying
we're sorry, we couldn't get the supplies from America because they ran out of
stock. Now, you see how many people cash that cheque: not a single soul,
because who wants their bank manager to know they tickle arse when they're not
paying cheques?_

~~~
eli
Maybe, but porn & guns are legal to sell according to federal law.

------
eof
The only thing wonky about this is the price. I really like the idea of having
curated, nice strains delivered.

However, this is really a service for aficionados, (I think?.. who else would
possibly smoke even an eighth a month regularly).

There is no problem getting mega-high quality herb delivered like 'right now'
for cheaper than this.. if I were to subscribe to this service (I am not in
SF) I would prefer a discount for a subscription lock-in.

This to me is like subscribing to a monthly-book.. where you send me a random
book you think I'll like and charge me more-than-retail for it... when I can
just get a book (even with recommendation.. every dealer will talk ad-nauseum
about their strains) delivered instantly for ever-lower than 'retail' prices.

Curated delivery is good.. prices are a bit steep compared to the market. I
smoke more weed than easily 95% of HNers; and I would pay for a subscription
service.. but only if that service offered me _more value_ than I could get
from any halfway decent distributor (which I think is .. and maybe I am just
wrong here .. very very difficult to do), or if it were cheaper than calling
them.

I wish you guys luck. 420blazeiterrdayetc

------
rfrank
Why is this any better than just calling a delivery service that already
exists? You get to maintain direct control over the strains you get that way
as well. And you don't get any of the promotions from a physical dispensary.

Ex. Magnolia Wellness in Oakland does a $25 3.5g with a donation of $35 or
more on Saturday, and 4.5g eighths on Sunday, both of which beat the price per
gram of this service.

~~~
dpieri
We created Marvina for people who don't enjoy picking strains each month.
Unless you are fairly knowledgable choosing from the hundreds of strains on
the market can be overwhelming.

If you know exactly what strains you want then Marvina probably isn't for you.

~~~
anigbrowl
You don't have to pick out a different strain every month (or however often
you purchase). Once someone finds 2 or 3 that they like they just keep buying
those. People are already faced with a huge number of choices for alcohol and
numerous other consumable products, but have little difficulty identifying
their favorites even if they're not not connoisseurs of any particular
product.

~~~
zhengyi13
I think there's also significant value to the supply chain if there's evidence
that certain strains have a committed market over time. You get better
informed decisions on what to deprecate/not grow in the future, and if you
have a dedicated customer base for a particular strain, you've got data
telling you exactly how much growing space to dedicate to that.

~~~
anigbrowl
True, but I am not seeing the claimed consumer surplus. Data-driven decision-
making is good up to a point, but it too easily becomes an excuse for chasing
the lowest common denominator, because it mistakes popularity for quality.
Budweiser is (I think) the most popular beer int e US, but anyone who likes
beer knows it's not particularly good, it's just the least bad across multiple
criteria.

------
angersock
How did you not go with

    
    
      weed.ly
      ku.sh
      nugg.et
    

...or whatever the kids are calling the reefer these days.

~~~
dpieri
With the Marvina brand we wanted to stay away from traditional marijuana
stereotypes. We want to create something more inclusive than the vibe that
most current marijuana businesses give off.

Our two branding rules right now are: 1\. No green 2\. No puns

~~~
lanaius
> rules right now are: 1. No green

What's your long term plan if you don't want to make any money?

~~~
stockkid
I think he means no green in the color scheme.

~~~
baddox
I think lanaius was violating rule 2.

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joelrunyon
I read somewhere that this is cash-only? How does that work? I feel like this
is a perfect use-case for bitcoin.

~~~
dpieri
Yes cash-only for now. We've considered Bitcoin but unfortunately all of the
popular Bitcoin payments companies don't work with marijuana businesses.

~~~
psykovsky
Why do you need a Bitcoin payment processor? Bitcoin, BYOB.* ;)

* Be Your Own Bank

~~~
chc
You need a way to turn the Bitcoins into spending money.

~~~
grubles
There are multiple routes for doing so:
[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trading_bitcoins](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trading_bitcoins)

------
adamwong246
I love it. I had this same idea but with a twist- the weed should come in a
pillbox like so:
[http://www.triqplastics.co.uk/upload/U72374_67173.jpg](http://www.triqplastics.co.uk/upload/U72374_67173.jpg)

One little container a day, every 4 weeks.

~~~
dpieri
Try it out and let me know what you think!

dane at marvina dot com

~~~
adamwong246
Sadly, I'm not in San Fran

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jack-r-abbit
So it gets delivered. And it is cash-only. How does that work? COD? I assume
someone must be there to accept the delivery anyway (as apposed to just
leaving it at the door). So I guess you just pay the person delivering it?

~~~
dpieri
Correct. You also have to be there because only the person with the doctor's
recommendation can accept the delivery.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
That makes sense. And until things improve on the legal front, it seems wise
for customers to stay cash-only anyway. I know I do even though the dispensary
I use takes credit cards.

And I understand the part about too many choices being overwhelming. My
dispensary has 30-40 varieties and I often just stand there and stare at the
board.

But, probably not a service I'd use. I have several convenient choices on my
way home from work and being at home for a delivery is less convenient. But I
can see it being very beneficial to people that might be home-bound and need
their medicine. Best of luck.

~~~
dpieri
Thanks for the encouragement!

------
refurb
Suggestion, get rid of the "retail value". I first saw that and thought "$115
for a 1/4?". Or at least make it less prominent. $95 for a 1/4 still seems
high, but since you're aiming for the high-end weed and it's delivered, all in
all, not too bad.

~~~
fein
Wow, what are legal prices supposed to be?

50/100/150/300 is the norm around these decriminalized parts.

~~~
refurb
Take a look at the dispensaries like GreenCross. Sub $30 for an 1/8th is
pretty typical.

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lizzard
I would love this if they offered arthritis cream and edibles. Not so much
with the smoking.

~~~
dpieri
Absolutely! We have our eyes on topicals, edibles, and concentrates. That's
really where the market is moving. Look out for an edibles only Marvina box
soon!

Until then I'd recommend docGreen's cannabis infused creams. I think you can
pick them up at SPARC in San Francisco.

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boxcardavin
Scaling plans?

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abennobashi
they're uber for weed!

~~~
anewcolor
Eaze is more of the "uber for weed". eazeup.com

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notastartup
how difficult is it to become a medial marijuana user in SF? it seems pretty
tough in BC with the classic "stress/anxiety disorder".

~~~
dpieri
It's not very hard. In California a doctor can give you a recommendation for
any condition for which marijuana may be helpful. This includes things like
stress, anxiety, insomnia...

I've got with these guys, they have two offices in SF and an online
appointment scheduler: [http://green215.com](http://green215.com)

~~~
seccess
My favorite reason I've heard of for prescribing medical marijuana: writer's
block. A police officer told me that, so I'm inclined to believe its true.

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fady
nope. first link i clicked gave an error. green cross is a great delivery
service for SF patients.

------
sbussard
Is this seriously at the top of Hacker News? -_-

~~~
dpieri
We believe that cannabis should be taken as seriously as any other business.

Hopefully soon this won't be a topic that people are afraid to bring up in
polite company.

~~~
prawn
Sometimes HN doesn't seem like polite company!

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imaginenore
3.. 2.. 1.. got seized by the feds

~~~
adamnemecek
You do realize that medical marijuana is legal in CA right?

~~~
imaginenore
You realize it's still illegal at the federal level?

