Partnership underscores importance for increased medical resources and safe access to cannabis, at a time when American's are seeking an alternative to opioids
SAN FRANCISCO, March 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — HelloMD, the leading digital healthcare platform for the cannabis industry, today announced a partnership with Potbox, the premium medicinal cannabis subscription club, to enable Potbox customers to obtain or renew their required annual physician's recommendation in real-time using HelloMD's telehealth service. As part of the agreement, both companies will be prominently featured on each other's sites to drive awareness, traffic and adoption.
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The partnership between HelloMD and Potbox was born in part from a mutual objective to provide patients suffering a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, anxiety, stress, and insomnia an alternative to existing opioid-based pharmaceuticals. HelloMD allows patients to consult with a physician from the privacy of their own home, while Potbox provides the highest quality, most ethically grown cannabis available to patients in San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA, delivered directly to their home or office. This combination of medical consultation and discreet delivery allows patients privacy, convenience and quality.
Opioids claim a life at the rate of 1 person every 12 minutes. That is almost 44,000 American's per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The use of prescription opioids doubled between 2000 and 2014 (CDC), despite statistics showing that in states with medical marijuana, painkiller deaths drop by 25%, (JAMA). HelloMD recently released results from the largest medical marijuana survey conducted to date, and found that over 35% of the 1,400 patients responding were using medical marijuana as the sole treatment for pain management, with 84% of respondents strongly agreeing that cannabis provides them with relief from their symptoms.
"HelloMD and Potbox share similar goals in raising general awareness around the topic of cannabis and how it can be of great help to folks that would otherwise rely on toxic, sometimes harmful, pharmaceuticals including those derived from opioids. Throughout the country, many are not aware that cannabis is an option for the treatment of pain, anxiety, insomnia, depression – and many other ailments where opioids are traditionally prescribed," said Mark Hadfield, CEO of HelloMD. "This partnership will allow patients to experience a physician consultation, receive a medicinal cannabis recommendation and then, via Potbox, have high quality product delivered directly to their home. This is especially important for patients who are seeking discretion or may be physically unable to leave the home."
"HelloMD addresses the needs of our discerning clientele, who desire convenience, privacy and an effortless user experience to accompany their premium medical cannabis," said Austin Heap, CEO of Potbox. "By integrating HelloMD's real-time telehealth services into Potbox, we are streamlining the approval and ordering process for our customers, and eliminating the need for them to ever set foot inside a cannabis clinic again – many of which are difficult to get to or are in undesirable parts of town."
HelloMD patients are responding favorably to the seamless access to qualified physicians as well as the medical marijuana treatment, itself. Earlier this year HelloMD completed a study on how their patients are using medical cannabis. The results clearly identified an emerging demographic while also indicating trends in efficacy. The full report can be found and downloaded from here: https://www.hellomd.com/medical-marijuana-patient-survey
"Cannabis is the only thing to give me complete relief from migraines. Doctors initially prescribed heavy narcotics in an attempt to reduce the intensity and the frequency of migraine. For years I tried different drug products. All toxic. All ineffective. At best, the drugs would just dull the pain and I'd be in a constant stupor. At worse I'd be suicidal. Cannabis, on the other hand, relieves me of the migraine almost immediately and almost entirely," according to a HelloMD patient and survey respondent.
Potbox takes all of the confusion, frustration and anxiety out of buying medicinal cannabis. Working closely with local small-batch farms, the company's cannabis experts carefully select only the best strains exclusively for Potbox's discerning customers. Patients receive two flavorful, aromatic and – most importantly – ethically-produced strains of premium medical cannabis, curated to meet the patient's desired experience and delivered by trusted employees in a well-appointed Potbox.
For a $49 annual fee, Potbox customers can connect with one of HelloMD's caring and experienced physicians to receive a free consultation. The entire process, from medical records to recommendation takes 20 minutes. If approved, the customer's physician's recommendation will be immediately available for use on Potbox. An original copy and a convenient ID card will be mailed the same day. The site offers 24/7 online verification of card legitimacy, and all medical records maintained in a secure, HIPAA- compliant system.
About HelloMD
HelloMD is the leading digital healthcare platform for medical cannabis patients. The service allows for easy, convenient online video access to physicians (daily, 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (PST)) for medical cannabis consultations, recommendations to qualifying patients, product advice and more. For more information about HelloMD, visit www.hellomd.com, or follow us on Facebook (@HelloMDcompany) and Twitter (@HelloMD_com).
About Potbox
Founded in 2015, Potbox delivers the highest quality, most ethically grown medical cannabis to registered patients in San Francisco and Los Angeles via a monthly subscription or an on-demand basis. For more information about Potbox, visit www.potbox.com or follow us on Facebook (@GetPotbox), Twitter (@GetPotbox), Instagram (@GetPotbox), Pinterest (@GetPotbox) and MassRoots (@GetPotbox).
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