With the ever-growing capabilities of modern technology, it’s no surprise that businesses in the marijuana industry would want to utilize them to make a somewhat controversial form of business more palatable to the customer.
One new marijuana delivery startup is hoping to not only to make purchasing and receiving prescription marijuana easier for patients, but also dreams of using the most modern of delivery methods: drones.
The new startup, Trees Delivery, claims to have put together a service that will allow card-holding medical marijuana patients to order their medication from their laptops and never have to speak to anyone in the process. In addition, the company will accept Bitcoin, a form of peer-to-peer online currency, as a viable payment option. Bitcoins are surprisingly simple to use because they avoid going through any central authorities or banks; this makes purchasing items as simple as clicking a button.
Currently based and exclusively catering to San Francisco, Trees Delivery explained to The Independent that they plan to be able to send out the packages via drone immediately after the order is placed, guaranteeing delivery the same day. They also plan to deliver seven days a week during normal business hours.
With weed as easily accessible as ordering a pizza, this may seem like a dream come true to San Francisco smokers. However, the project is currently still in the development phase, as the startup is still awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow them to begin deliver packages by drone.
According to CEO Marshall Hayner, the company is already to begin the drone delivery service pending the FAA’s approval. “We have a fleet of three drones that have mechanical arms,” heexplained. “We tested them, we’re ready, the only thing that holds us back is the FAA.”
And while Trees Delivery is novel in bringing this form of delivery to the medical marijuana industry, they are not the first company to think of using drones to deliver packages. Back in 2013, the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, made a public announcement regarding plans for a new service known asPrime Air. This service would allow the option for packages purchased by Amazon Prime members to be delivered via drone.
Amazon joins NASA and Verizon in battling for the FAA’s approval to green-light a drone delivery service. According to the conditions that the FAA requires for drone delivery, “small unmanned aircraft may not operate over any persons not directly involved in the operation.”
With the legal issues that stand in the way, Hayner is being quite realistic about the possibility of delivering Trees’ packages by drone. In a statement to Mashable, Hayner explained that it is more likely that “we may see a vending machine attached to a self-driving car before we see a drone.”
Until the FAA allows for San Francisco’s medical patients to receive their boxes via airmail, Trees Delivery is stuck delivering them the old-fashioned way. But with the idea already planted and preparations taken care of, it may not be long before drones will be the preferred form of delivery for almost anything.
By Ben Miller
