With the increasing number of states approving marijuana use for medical purposes (and the recent proposed legislation to legalize the drug entirely in California), it’s no surprise that startups are popping up looking to capitalize on the growing number of patients looking for legal marijuana dispensaries. One of these is WeedMaps, a site that aspires to be a Yelp for cannabis dispensaries in California and other states. The site offers a Google Maps mashup that pinpoints the locations of the closest dispensaries in a user’s vicinity. At this point the vast majority of clubs on WeedMaps are located in California, but the site is slowly adding locations in other states.
Aside from the proximity map, WeedMaps also offers reviews for some clubs, though it looks like many of them haven’t seen any submissions yet. Co-founder Justin Hartfield says that the site has been seeing an average of 48% growth per month since launching in July 2008, with several thousand registered patients. Hartfield also notes that since Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would no longer raid dispensaries, traffic has seen a 35% boost. To monetize, WeedMaps is using standard advertising along with a list of featured dispensaries, using a vistors’ IP address to recommend sponsored locations within a 10 mile raidus. Hartfield says that the site is also considering a buyers’ club, offering discounts at partner clubs in exchange for a low monthly or annual membership fee.
One of the issues that will face WeedMaps is that Yelp apparently already does offer reviews of these Cannabis Clubs (in fact, it has an entire category dedicated to the topic, which you can find here). That said, users may well be interested in getting their reviews from a more specialized site, and employing the aforementioned membership deal could also help differentiate WeedMaps.
Marijuana is big business, worth as much as 14 billion dollars a year in California (some have called it the state’s largest cash crop). But it’s also illegal at the federal level, has a relatively small legal market outside of California, and comes with a myriad of social taboos. Hartfield says that the startup is on the lookout for venture funding, but that it will “take a special kind of VC”. I suspect that most VCs won’t go near the site with a 10-foot pole, but we’ve seen startups like the Zivity (an adult-oriented photography site) overcome social taboos in the past to land major funding rounds.
Wow this is a pretty cool site and I suspect there’s at least one entrepreneurial minded VC that might take a chance, esp. since they already seem to have a user base of a couple thousand patients…
“Hartfield says that the startup is on the lookout for venture funding, but that it will “take a special kind of VC”.” – yeah … like one that doesn’t mind if their investment goes up in smoke – right, dude?
i thought pot locator already does this?
DrugLocator.com – find substance
Looked in your comment for substance, found none.
LameCommentLocator.com
i looked up DorkLocator, and found you
I can’t get to their website. Seems to be down.
TechCrunch brings down yet another startups website. The cost of fame
Their stats are going to be waaaaaay off! Users being that they are high, will move around the site very slowly and make it seem like they love the site more than they do.
When is the iPhone app coming out?
iSmoke?
whois on the domain = ted dibiase
wonder if it’s the same ted dibiase as
http://en.wikip...iki/Ted_DiBiase
???
Isn’t more likely that’s it his son? The DUI:ing Ted Dibiase. \o/
wow brilliant!
When will the mashup include places to get munchies?
Weedmaps offers a directory of legal marijuana dispensaries, most of which are located in California.
Nice Post! Check out my similar site at http://macmaniapodcast.com
If California really goes through with the proposal to legalize marijuana do you know how many potheads are going to move there? California will be the Amsterdam of the US.
Is this legal? Why not heroinmaps or hookersmaps or anythingillegalmaps.com?
What’s the business model? Ads by drug dealers looking to recruit? (I hear the Mexican cartels are in a good hiring mode!)
WTF?!
Crazy.
Hehe, would love to be a fly on the wall when they’re pitching to VC’s.
I’d just go here: http://www.arti...tsforaccess.org
Artists Collective
Medical Marijuana for the Arts
Sure you can find the weed on this site but once you have.. This is the site to look at~
girlsgoneweed dot com
The Cannabis Club Network has been doing this for years.
Cannabis Club Network