

Show HN: Medical marijuana product search - alexu
http://harvestigation.com/
No revenue model yet, but I am trying to figure out how to get referral fees.
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ajays
How is this better than Leaf.ly, Stickyguide or Weedmaps ?

[http://www.leafly.com/](http://www.leafly.com/)

[http://www.stickyguide.com/](http://www.stickyguide.com/)

[http://www.weedmaps.com/](http://www.weedmaps.com/)

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alexu
It's designed for quick cross-store comparison shopping and finding suitable
replacements. All sites above are designed for browsing stores.

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jlgreco
The presentation is pretty good (fairly minimal, which I like), but I think
that some autocompletion in those search forms would go a _long_ way. Things
like showing autocompletes for town names or strains.

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dave_sullivan
How are you getting the data? As far as I know, the dispensaries don't have
APIs, so are you just going in and scanning their menus every day? This is
actually pretty useful in that you can then comparison shop different
dispensaries.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will
be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In
general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if
stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution
still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal
element (which you should).

Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in
California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules
of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them? Still
seems to me to be totally fubar thanks to otherwise unemployable crazy old
people...

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chimeracoder
>Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the federal legal response will
be to the various medical cannabis related startups i've seen popping up. In
general, it looks like the road to legalization is pretty open (well, if
stoners voted and orange county didn't...), but production and distribution
still need to be addressed if you're really going to remove the criminal
element (which you should).

>Anyone know anything about the current legal climate around cannabis in
California? Specifically, increase/decrease in raids/legitimacy/rules
of/around medical dispensaries and current situation wrt supplying them?

In 2006-2008, Obama said that he would not prosecute medical marijuana
operations that were operating under state law.

However, over the last five years, the administration has been responsible for
a number of raids (most famously Haborside and Oaksterdam). These raids were
conducted on the grounds that the dispensaries were in violation of tax
policies. However, this was an underhanded trick: the dispensaries had no
legal way of complying with the policies in question - they were in a
catch-22.

By doing it this way, they were able to continue raids, while still paying lip
service to the letter of Obama's campaign promises, while completely
disregarding the spirit of them.

The last time I saw a comparison was sometime in early 2012. At the time.
Obama was rated as the least marijuana-friendly president since Clinton[0].

Suppliers (growers) are even more vilified than dispensaries. The further away
you get from the patients, the easier it becomes to distract people from the
actual patients who suffer and instead beat the "drugs are evil" drum.

[0] The first medical marijuana laws as we know them today were passed (at the
state level) during Clinton's administration

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morganw
There was another hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee just 2 months ago
because of these raids and the "recreational use" measures in Washington &
Colorado. Canna-businesses' ability to get bank accounts to avoid the
diversion and robbery issues around cash was discussed.

[http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=094c...](http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=094c28995d1f5bc4fe11d832f90218f9)
[there's a video of the hearing at the "Webcast" link. It's just a title card
until 30:11, but you can seek ahead]

The DOJ Cole memo from Aug 2013 is at
[http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/August/13-opa-974.html](http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/August/13-opa-974.html)

Witness list:

The Honorable James Cole, Deputy Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice,
Washington, DC

The Honorable John Urquhart, Sheriff King County Sheriff’s Office, Seattle, WA

Jack Finlaw, Chief Legal Counsel Office of Governor John W. Hickenlooper,
Denver, CO

Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., Co-founder and Director, Project SAM Director, Drug
Policy Institute, University of Florida, Cambridge, MA

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sixQuarks
Absolutely HORRIBLE usability dude! What the hell were you thinking including
a search box with no guide on what to search for?

Here's a simple tip: Get rid of the search, just ask for the zip code. Then
afterwards, allow some sort of filters.

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alexu
I an going to try that, that's a second comment today that it's not clear what
to do on homepage...

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laurenstill
I'd like to see that filter menu on the front page. I don't know my flowers,
so having that be the only initial filter/search method left me in the dark.

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markz
How do I find "normal" weed? Is it only medical?

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jlgreco
Nowhere in Washington or Colorado is selling recreational weed legally yet
(although many businesses are partially through the licensing/application
process).

fwiw, Leafly seems a bit easier to use than this site.

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jtreminio
I believe there is now one business in CO that has their permits :)

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jlgreco
Hmm, it looks like you are right, but I think they can't start actually
selling until January 1st. I'm not quite sure there.

In Washington it will still be a few more months, since anything sold
recreationaly needs to be grown explicitly for recreational use, and that
process cannot start until the permits are issued (I believe they have until
the end of this year before they are required by law to start issuing permits
to grow (or sell)).

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ryan_j_naughton
I'm very curious how you are getting the data.

scrapping the competitors sites? some APIs?

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lizzu
Is it legal?

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jlgreco
Barring the possibility that you are in a jurisdiction with unusually
draconian drug laws, sure it's legal. This site is just telling you how much
different strains cost at different businesses where you can legally buy them
_(currently, if you have a prescription)_. The site itself isn't selling weed.

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justbaker
Love it. justbaker

