Dr. Green launches new digital platform to drop ship cannabis from Portugal

Under a newly-unveiled business concept from Dr. Green, customers get to become cannabis dealers without ever touching the product or applying for a license, all courtesy of a new blockchain-based model. Drop shipping is a standard retail model where a seller doesn’t hold inventory and the product sold is sent directly to the customer from the product manufacturer.

The new digital platform from Dr. Green seeks to combine the world of blockchain technology to facilitate a wholesale trading platform and then intertwine it with gaming. The way into the platform requires the user to buy a key. Dr. Green began minting keys Thursday to allow 5,145 buyers to trade cannabis globally and a standard key will cost $10,000. However, it looks like the website went down during the morning giving error messages.

The pitch is that for $10,000 you can create a digital cannabis store, which is cheaper than spending millions for a real store and all the licensing and headaches that go with it.

The website says that once customers get a key and establish an account, they will have access to various cannabis strains to stock their digital stores. They will be able to purchase cannabis at wholesale prices, which comes from the cannabis farm in Portugal that the CEO of the company founded. They can then enter their customers’ names, which Dr. Green will verify as a valid buyer. Once approved, operators can sell the cannabis at retail to their customers, and pocket the price difference.

The blockchain model only works with buyers operating in states and countries with legal cannabis markets, and it manages inventory, shipping, licensing and logistics. While it supposedly caters to a global market, it isn’t clear how the company could work with the largest market being the U.S., which doesn’t allow for importing and exporting of cannabis. The site insists it maintains compliance with all the various countries it will ship to.

Dr. Green’s CEO, Maximillian White, made a name for himself as the youngest pub licensee ever in the United Kingdom, having received a license at 17. He moved on to a career in music production and property investing. White also created the largest cannabis farm in Portugal that will supply the cannabis in these deals.

“Max envisions the Dr. Green NFT as ‘Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, but for weed,’” according to the company website. The NFT would provide exclusive access to his cannabis empire and the opportunity for holders to build thriving cannabis businesses. White will give entrepreneurs the same advantages he’s had, and encourages them all to “Show him what they have got.”

The company also leans heavily on celebrity marketing and said the keys could potentially be resold in a secondary market.

Key universe

In order to begin selling on the platform the user buys a key. There are three levels of keys for the Dr. Green “Universe,” including standard, gold and platinum, with the potential to be elevated to “god status.” The cost of the gold and platinum keys have not yet been revealed, and “god status” has also not yet been defined.

The standard key provides access to individual worlds within the digital universe and each key corresponds to a specific planet. Each planet will have access to specific strains that can be sold. Standard key holders receive a “high-quality unique collectible of their minted character” as part of the package, along with the opportunity to grow their business using Dr. Green’s infrastructure.

A gold digital key – of which there are 75 – gives the holder access to 250 unique characters across 20 diverse planets, with each planet offering exclusive access to 10 distinctive cannabis strains that can be traded globally. Each character has its own trading card and will be a part of the gamification of the universe.

The platinum keyholders – of which there are 70 – get VIP access to the distribution network and open access to all of Dr. Green’s cannabis strains. They can trade strains from any planet and there will be one platinum key hidden on each plant for one lucky person to discover. They also receive a custom Jacob & Co. watch.

Characters

Each key is associated with characters which are unique artistic NFTs that become the user’s avatar. This is where the blending of cannabis trading and gaming comes in. The characters that identify the specific store will also be able to be used in an upcoming game. The company said it is working on the launch of this role-playing style game. The game is billed as a Web3 game and connected to the Digital Key. In the game, the user will be able to battle other planets and win access to those strains.

“A word of warning, the strength of your Avatar will be determined by your Digital Keys metadata. The more customers you have, transactions you’ve made and the volume of revenue you’ve earned will see you win the battles. Work hard, Play hard. In that order!” the website states.

Blockchain for cannabis?

Blockchains are been suggested as trading platforms for cannabis for several years and have never gained any traction. Some of the earliest versions have also been involved in some high-level scams such as the Juicyfields scandal.

Cryptocurrencies have also been offered as a way around banking issues in the cannabis industry, but it has also fallen victim to scams like the Paragon Coin. Dispensaries have also been reluctant to pursue bitcoin as a form of payment and instead typically rely on cash and debit card workarounds.

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