L.A. MMJ Delivery Forced to Close, Others to Follow

Los Angeles Attorney Mike Feuer has officially filed a suit against a new Android app, which connects qualified patients with legal dispensaries throughout the city. Nestdrop, nicknamed as “The Uber of Weed,” originally began as an application for alcohol delivery. However, the company decided to expand their service to include medical marijuana.

The app is simple enough to use: just upload a picture of the prescription and select the dispensary closest to you. Next, select the cannabis products that you wish to order and the products are delivered to the patient’s home. Nestdrop even guarantees that the prescription will be delivered to your door within an hour.

These new features to the Nestdrop app allows easy access to cannabis for patients that are unable leave their homes due to their illnesses. The company has stressed that their decision to include marijuana in their services was made in order to provide for the wellness of medical patients. However, their continuance to provide alcohol delivery services seems to undermine this message of health and physical wellness.

Due to an injunction passed by local Judge Robert H. O’Brien claiming the company to be in violation of Proposition D, Nestdrop has been forced to temporarily shut down its delivery service. The initiative is meant to regulate dispensaries within the city limits and bans any form of medical marijuana delivery service. It also places a number of regulations on where dispensaries can be built in regards to residential areas, restricting the number to 135 within the city limits.

After filing the lawsuit against Nestdrop, Feuer stated that “This app is a flagrant attempt to circumvent the will of the voters who passed Prop D and we are pleased the court ordered Nestdrop to stop facilitating medical marijuana delivery.”

In a statement, the Co-Founder of Nestdrop, Michael Pycher, said that his company didn’t agree with the ruling.

“From day one, we’ve made it clear that Nestdrop does not grow, cultivate or deliver any medical marijuana and that our qualified partners manage each of these activities. Today’s ruling does not stop the delivery of medical marijuana in Los Angeles by the dozens of delivery services in the city; it only restricts Nestdrop from communicating information between a patient and a dispensary,” he said.

Unfortunately, Nestdrop isn’t the only app under scrutiny for similar allegations. Feuer claims that Speed Weed, Nestdrop’s biggest competitor in the medical marijuana delivery business, is also undergoing investigation for possible violation of Proposition D.

“If a new business opens, we target them with the appropriate action,” Feuer said.

However, despite Feuer’s threat against other companies, a number of medical marijuana delivery services continue to exist in Los Angeles. Nestdrop is the first company that Feuer is targeting with legal action, despite Speed Weed being established in 2012 specifically as a marijuana delivery business. And while Nestdrop isn’t legally listed as a medical dispensary, as Speed Weed and other cannabis delivery companies are, they are being targeted with the initial injunction of the legal issue.

Despite the allegations against the company, Nestdrop is still continuing its medical marijuana delivery services outside the city of Los Angeles, and looks to expand its business to Oregon in 2015.

What do you think? Should medical marijuana delivery services be banned? Let us know what you think in the comments below.