Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, and even happens before an entire industry can get off the ground. Three local students are preemptively innovating the budding medical marijuana industry here in Massachusetts by altering the way we interact with the herbal remedy.
Metaväp was created by Haiden Goggin, Tony Travaglini and Paramveer Pabla when they realized that people could be utilizing vaporizers in a more efficient and intimate manner. Designers and engineers by training, the trio decided that the traditional vaporizing devices were simply counterintuitive. So, in the spirit of innovation, they set out to create a next-generation inhalation device that offers quality and dexterity.
BostInno caught up with Goggin via email about how their portable vape, dubbed VUE (Vaporization User Experience), is shaping up. He likens VUE to contemporary gadgets like smartphones and tablets, noting "people have higher expectations for their devices now more than ever." VUE is a device, after all, and not just some makeshift pipe that'll get you baked out of your mind.
"We wanted to take a truly holistic approach and address the main concerns we found throughout our research of patient and user habits alike," added Goggin. "This is what we have focused on primarily, in congruence with creating a much higher level of functionality that hasn’t been seen in the market yet."
Goggin and his partners are envisioning VUE to boast two chambers in a single portable and rechargeable package. How exactly it will look aesthetically, though, has yet to be determined. In fact, they're conducting a public survey to solicit ideas for how best to apply VUE most effectively and also incorporate aesthetics.
The medical marijuana industry in Massachusetts is still in its planning phase, though the first dispensaries in the Commonwealth could open their doors as early as this fall, pending final reviews and inspections.
The entire process has been painstakingly slow. You might remember Bay Staters voted to allow for the medicinal use of marijuana about a year and a half ago. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts medical marijuana's governing body, has come under fire for a questionable licensing process.
Perhaps, too, moving forward at such a sluggish pace is due to some of the state's more conservative thinkers. Marijuana is still accompanied by a stigma in many circles, as it's still not recreationally legal (at least here) yet.
It's because of this that you won't see the words marijuana, pot, weed, bud, ganja, grass, dope, doobage, sticky icky, chronic, reefer, Mary Jane or any other slang terms for cannabis anywhere on the Metaväp website.
"We prefer Cannabis as a representative term, just due to its scientific roots and legitimacy," continued Goggin. "The word marijuana has some negative connotations connected to the past and if we really want to move forward in creating a really positive public acceptance towards the plant, we need to start with changing the nomenclature of the herb with terms that don’t necessarily carry the same stigma."
There's also a law-abiding aspect, however antiquated this aspect of the legal system may be.
"Legally, while we can’t promote the use of cannabis with our device or claim any medical basis of our product due to the current scheduling of Cannabis by our federal government, we can support the patients and users of herbs as a whole in their daily lives," he added.
In the meantime, the crew will be working on finalizing the design specs before asking you to help them bring their renderings into fruition. In the next few months they'll be working to secure outside investments for production, and will also take to crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo. Once they've raised the necessary capital, they plan on launching VUE sometime in 2015.
Image via VUE Facebook
