Illegal weed delivery start-up Dispenseroo sees meteoric growth in the UK

[GKH]

"An illegal cannabis delivery start-up in the UK is generating millions of pounds in revenue less than a year after it was created, according to its founder.

Dispenseroo, which unlike other online drug markets operates on the open web, has attracted thousands of customers in recent months through guerilla advertising campaigns and word-of-mouth.

The unorthodox approach of shunning the dark web means the site is easily found through popular search engines like Google and DuckDuckGo, allowing it to grow tenfold in recent months.

The founder, who goes by the name “S”, told The Independent that he had never sold drugs before starting Dispenseroo, and only created the service out of frustration with “archaic” cannabis laws in the UK.

“There is a huge difference between hard drugs and weed,” he said. “There is a lot of misinformation and negative images to those that are ill-informed. But many of our customers use cannabis for medical reasons and to treat complex illnesses like depression.”

A spokesperson for the National Crime Agency said it was a policing matter while the Met Police was unable to confirm whether there is an ongoing investigation into the start-up. The Independent has approached the Home Office for comment.

S refused to say exactly how much the site is currently making due to security concerns, but said it was shipping thousands of orders each week, suggesting that monthly revenue has surpassed £1m.

Deliveries come in vacuum-sealed bags to hide the smell and are delivered through traditional postal services like Royal Mail. Dispenseroo customers that The Independent spoke to described the service as convenient, though slightly overpriced compared to street dealers.

Not only does it operate on the open web, it offers many of the same services as legitimate businesses. There are next-day delivery options, live-chat customer support – with the same Monday to Friday operating hours as other retailers – as well as regular giveaways and promotions.

Dispenseroo is intent on being “as revolutionary as the food delivery service” that helped inspire it. But Deliveroo has launched legal action against the start-up, in a battle S describes as a “David vs Goliath” contest.

A Deliveroo spokesperson told The Independent that a complaint has been lodged with Dispenseroo’s website registrar and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, citing the “obvious and substantive mimicking” of its brand.

S said that Dispenseroo sees “our fight with Deliveroo is just another hurdle we must overcome”. But the company also announced on its website that it would be rebranding to “Dispenseree” in future.

Dispenseroo is also being investigated by Transport for London after an unauthorised stunt saw ads for the site posted on the London Underground.

TfL said in a statement that it took the issue of flyposting “extremely seriously” and all adverts have since been removed.

Dispenseroo is planning to take its advertising “to the next level” in 2023, according to S, while also advocating for more favourable cannabis laws.

“I never expected it to grow this quickly,” he said. “I’d never sold drugs ever in my life before Dispenseroo was created… I am also a very normal person, regardless of my choice of profession.

“All I am trying to show is that a platform can exist to sell weed in a clean and safe manner. If the archaic laws in the UK were reformed we would potentially be a fully legal, tax-generating business that could help repair economies like the one we live in.”": Illegal weed delivery start-up Dispenseroo sees meteoric growth in the UK | The Independent

[RhisiartGwilym]

I get a similar seed-delivering service from an outfit called Discount Seeds, also operating in the grey area created by the current ridiculous legal limbo in which cannabis is held, for the time being. They keep a lower profile, though. But operating as a straightforward mail-order business.

[GKH]

Check this reactionary rubbish from the cannibal crew out guys! https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1672858431.html I offer a forthright defence backed up by good journalism and evidence. They offer prejudice…

[KarenEliot]

Yes, a very spirited defence of the right side of the War On Some Drugs.

Maybe not to everyone’s taste but Bill Hicks was on the same side though.

[GKH]

Pls. see today’s comment on the lifeboat news thread (above), … further to; "Minneapolis, MN: Residents of states where cannabis is legal do not possess elevated rates of psychosis, and they are also less likely to exhibit symptoms of alcohol abuse, according to longitudinal data published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

A team of researchers affiliated with the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado assessed the relationship between adult-use cannabis legalization and psychosocial functioning in a cohort of 240 pairs of identical twins. One twin resided in a jurisdiction where adult-use cannabis sales were legally permitted, while the other lived in a state where marijuana was criminally prohibited.

Investigators reported that legalization was associated with a slight uptick in the frequency with which subjects reported consuming cannabis – a finding consistent with prior studies. However, they also reported that those in legalization states were less likely to engage in behaviors associated with problematic alcohol use. That finding is consistent with prior data indicating the use of cannabis is associated with a decrease in the amount of alcohol consumed by individuals seeking alcohol treatment.

Authors further reported that legalization was not positively correlated with increased incidences of psychosis, substance abuse disorder, or other adverse outcomes.

They concluded: “Recreational cannabis legalization causes increases in mean cannabis frequency and residents of recreational states have fewer recent symptoms of AUD [alcohol use disorder]. Broadly speaking, our co-twin control and differential vulnerability results suggest that the impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes are otherwise minimal. … Both sets of results are reassuring with respect to public health concerns around recreational cannabis legalization.”

Although the use of cannabis and other controlled substances tends to be more common among those with psychotic illnesses, studies indicate that lifetime incidences of marijuana-induced psychosis are relatively rare among those who do not already have a prior diagnosis of a psychiatric disease. According to one recently published study, fewer than one-half of one percent of cannabis consumers had ever reported experiencing psychotic symptoms requiring medical intervention – a percentage that is lower than the rate associated with alcohol.

Full text of the study, “Recreational cannabis legalization has had limited effects on a wide range of adult psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes,” appears in Psychological Medicine." https://norml.org/news/2023/01/12/analysis-adult-use-legalization-associated-with-less-alcohol-abuse-no-increase-in-psychosis

One would usefully surmise that less alcohol consumption contributes significantly to the decrease in violent crime I reported on my last thread on this subject.

“Although the use of cannabis and other controlled substances tends to be more common among those with psychotic illnesses” Self-medicating going on…much more of a problem with the pharmaceuticals, however, I will say here that badly bred marijuana that expresses with imbalance in its cannabinoids is in-excusable and that I detest the modern seed industry (not all of it but you’d better know what you are doing when you “shop-around”), for its clear ignorance of the “permissions” necessary to breed the scared herb…this has been a function of the market where “bigger (and stronger), is always better” and is a disgrace, especially so because of the negative propaganda it inevitably generates… #sometimesyouvejustgottodotherightthingyouknow? #SkunkStinks": https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1673700012.html

[KarenEliot]

Thanks for the update Gerard.

Because dose is only controllable by individual experiment that does make provenance very important. I’ve no direct experience of stuff like skunk but would be skeptical of any claimed benefits. My older son and his partner are very regular users. It doesn’t do much for the work ethic and very probably heightens paranoia (not something I personally would want to amplify).

I’m doing some research into salvia at the moment. On one of his album sleeves, Julian Cope says he took a large dose all at once and was essentially psychically immobilized for several months. He has a tendency to hyperbole but from what I can gather the effective dose varies fairly widely and the only sensible way forward is to start small and see what happens.

He mentions it in this interview:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/rock-star-touch-his-writers-side-1832906

The book he was promoting, One Three One, was a bit of a stinker to be honest.

EDITED to add a P.S. - the outfit mentioned in the thread’s title have slightly changed the name to dispenseree or something like that, to try and head off the threats from Deliveroo.

[GKH]

…and do it with a “ground control” I’ve heard…not done Salvia…had an interesting experience with Hawaiian Woodrose though… Oh and these guys have done some interesting stuff (NB. no testimonial I’ve not tried their stuff -yet-), check this out (esp. Rhis); "Continuing the old traditions of our ancestors we sell dried Amanita Muscaria collected in Lithuanian forests.

Amanita muscaria caps were used for special recipes in the making of medicine, ingredients for magic, shamanic rituals & other mysterious things. Our customers make a lot of other Amanita Muscaria ( Fly Agaric ) products such as creams, compresses, elixirs, tinctures, various health promoting remedies, or even art and decorations.

We spent many years of studying various literature and made tons of experiments to reach the best quality in our production processes. We know when to pick and how to clean Amanita Muscaria caps which prevent us from errors such as dark color, bad smell or worms. We know how to dry Amanita Muscaria mushrooms to make the product with excellent color and good smell.

Due to the right drying method, Amanita Muscaria keeps its best physical and chemical qualities. When the mushrooms are gathered they are being sorted out and cleaned up, then we put them into a special dryer for 2-3 days (drying by heated airflow at the temperature of around +40…45 degrees Celsius in professional stainless steel dehydrators).

We then pack dried mushrooms into a vacuum sealed packages of various sizes. We store our production in a cool, dry and dark place no longer than one year.

Amanita muscaria has a lot of variations! The light yellow to yellow ones are – guessowii, Silvery white with white warts – alba, liver brown with yellowish warts – regalis, pinkish to orangish “melom colored” – persicina, red with yellow to yellowish – whitish warts – flavivolvata, – all of these are variants of amanita muscaria and contain ibotenic acid and muscimol. The chemical compounds in A. Muscaria could be very different and it depends on many factors like: location, soil, meteorological factors, etc. Mushrooms picked in the same forest showed the consist of extremely wide ranges according to laboratory tests.": https://amanita.lt/

I found the oak/beech growing variety in W.Sussex many years ago (mid eighties), in the late summer-early autumn (supposedly the most sacred and strongest -tree sugars from broadleaf tees early in the season-), beautiful big red slabs of flesh the size of small dinner plates with no spots at all…I didn’t take them (although I picked some ). What I’d give to do that again #rarities