You can now get a medicinal marijuana card in California from an app

Eaze, a cannabisdelivery startup often calledthe "Uber of weed," launched an app on Mondaythat allowsusers in California to connect with physicians for medicinal marijuana evaluations via video chat. It'sthe first app of its kind to hit both Apple and Google's app stores.Thelaunch of EazeMD, which previously operated as a desktop-onlysite, brings even more convenience to a process that wasbefore the recent growthof internet-based marijuana startupsquite arduous."Eaze's core mission is to provide the easiest, quickest, most professional way for qualified patients to get access to medicine, in this case, cannabis," Keith McCarty, CEO and founder of Eaze, tells Tech Insider.Under California Prop 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act, patients may possessand use marijuana for medicinal treatment if they have a letter of recommendation from a physician.In order to get thatletter, a patient typicallyvisits a doctor who specializes in medical marijuana and coughs up close to $100 for the evaluation.The wait for an appointmentcan take a long time possibly hours if you get there at a busy time of day.Here's how EazeMD's appworks: Users create an account, fill out a patient information form,and start a video chat with an available third-party physician. If the doc finds medicinal marijuana appropriate for the patient's ailment, aletter of recommendationuploads to their EazeMD profile almost immediately.The EazeMD app then routes the user to Eaze's mobile site, where they can begin shopping for weed.WhileApple's App Store and the Google Play store are home to hundreds of cannabis-related apps, EazeMD is the firstto offer a medicinal marijuana evaluation service. The two tech giants have a reputation for beingunfriendly toward pot-tech.Apple, for example,only accepts apps that comply with legal requirements "in any location where [the apps]are made available to users."Seeing that only 23 states have legalized medicinal marijuanamakes it difficultfor a developer to get thegreen-light.In the last twoyears, Apple banned a popular game called Weed Farm and social networking app MassRoots, among others, from its store. Google's done the same, yanking Loud Cannabis last year.The companies' policies presentchallenges, but they're not impossible to overcome.EazeMDbuilt the app technology from the ground up, McCarty says, on a HIPAA-compliantplatform. Patient sessions are private andencrypted.The app alsouses geofencing technology to detect theuser's location. If the personisin a state that hasn't legalized medicinal marijuana, EazeMDdoesn't work.Some weed entrepreneurssayApple and Google'spolicies are still too restrictive, stunting the industry's growth. McCarty hopes EazeMDpavesthe way for a cannabis-friendly app store."We can set a precedent in terms of being a good operator, a goodtechnology developer, and doing it right," he says. "I think that puts a positive taste in Apple's mouth."Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Here's why marijuana gives you the munchies
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