John Lee of PlainView has built a great way for medical marijuana vendors to find customers. Just don’t call it Amazon.PlainView Systems is a California-based company that describes itself as a “business-to-business exchange for licensed providers of compassionate care medical marijuana products and services.” MBA jargon which the press — with assistance from PlainView founder John Lee — has helpfully translated into the “Amazon.com of pot.”CNN Money dropped the Amazon line. As did CNET and the Los Angeles Times.But whereas Seattle-based Amazon actually has warehouses filled with stuff (books, shoes, Pokemon cards, etc.) that it sells to customers, PlainView doesn’t hold so much as an ounce of it’s product. Which makes it less like the retail behemoth, and more like another, less flashy, online heavyweight.Right now, PlainView is taking advantage of California’s confusing restrictions on pot use by offering licensed growers, co-ops and customers a place to legally buy and sell medical marijuana. In short, PlainView saw an overcrowded, chaotic marketplace and built a functioning market. Which makes them less like Amazon, and a whole lot more like Craigslist.Of course, the “Amazon.com of pot” moniker may still one day find a proper, more literal, use. As soon as Jeff Bezos finds a way to sell the sticky-icky.
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