I n recent years, apps have worked their way into nearly every aspect of our lives. From listening to music and getting around to working out and dating, (say it with me now) there's an app for that.
It's no surprise, then, that marijuana-related apps have increased in popularity.
Marijuana Handbook is a comprehensive guide to all things weed. The app, the "Lite" version of which is free, features information about more than 175 strains, maps to local clinics and dispensaries, a dealer etiquette dictionary and recipes for homemade edibles.
PotSnob, Stoner's Handbook and Weedmaps also are worth a download.
Releaf was created with medical marijuana patients in mind.
A patient downloads the app and records "feels" with each puff. A "feel" is a way to track the user's experience, and includes everything from pain relief to whether the strain makes the user feel energized or sluggish and the intensity of the high.
Releaf then creates personalized reports to help patients figure out what strains, in which doses, are most effective.
The creators of Releaf also hope that the combined, anonymized user information will add to data on how medical marijuana is used as well.
Releaf is currently in beta form, but look for the free app to be available in full this summer.
On the more entertaining side of marijuana apps, Hemp Inc. is doing for weed what Farmville did for farming.
In this game, players create a character who moves through each stage of the marijuana growing and selling process, from growing and producing to marketing and selling the cannabis in a dispensary.
The game, which is being developed by HKA Digital Studio, doesn't have a release date yet, but a teaser video on the Green Rush Daily YouTube channel shows a character choosing the strains he wants to grow, waiting until the cannabis is ready to be collected, then selling said cannabis to customers who bounce around a store.
There are also scenes of the city in which the shop is set, perhaps foreshadowing interactions with fellow growers in other parts of the town.
For smokers looking for like-minded friends, there's Social High, an app created by Spokane's Marsh Sutherland, which was featured here in Green Zone last September.
The app combines aspects of Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Tinder, allowing users to create profiles, post content through a "weedcast" (users can "puff," or like, content, or "pass" to unsubscribe), send direct messages, and search for strains and users.
Social High is available for both iPhone and Android users at socialhigh.com. ♦
