The first US state to pilot the plan has chosen a conspicuous date on which to start: 4/20, the annual celebration of cannabis culture.

Social media is abuzz over 4/20, the unofficial holiday celebrating all things marijuana, including its consumption. As pot fans across the country commemorate National Weed Day, restaurants in states such as California and Colorado and even in the nation’s capital are promoting 4/20 specials and deals in hopes of luring hungry smokers with cheaper eats. Some dispensaries in those states and others with legal weed are offering discounts or even freebies to certain customers.

Starting at 4:20 p.m. Monday, patients in Los Angeles and Orange counties will be able to order medical marijuana and schedule deliveries or pickups through a new app called Nugg.

The Web-based app was developed by a trio of USC students who raised $100,000 not from friends and family, the usual way to get a business started, but by referring riders to the ride-hailing service Lyft. Lyft pays a commission of $10 to $20 each for rider referrals; Alex Milligan and two friends created a network of referral hunters, mostly on college campuses, and split the proceeds earned through signing up 30,000 riders.

For patients who need a medical marijuana card, they have to book an appointment with a clinic and see a doctor to get that green card. New startup HelloMD wants to take that process and move it entirely online.

Launching four weeks ago and currently available only in California, HelloMD has plans to expand to 23 states where medical marijuana is legal, including Washington.

Marijuana is not just for getting baked anymore. As it becomes legal in more states, the wacky tobacky also is leaving its leafy green mark on American marketing.

From backpacks and bed sheets to toilet seats and thong underwear, cannabis culture is inspiring pot-themed products faster than Wiz Khalifa can burn through a dime bag.

And in advance of 420 — a kind of Stoner’s New Year celebrated on April 20 — plenty of people have been shopping for legal ganja goods, even where the drug is still vilified and against the law.

On a recent day, Kerry Baker (yes, that’s her real name) browsed the marijuana-themed products at Spencer’s Gifts in Oak Park Mall.

One of California’s largest marijuana-related apps is donating $2 million toward the drive to legalize weed in the state — a move that not only would vastly expand its customer base but also foreshadows an expected increase in political activity from the cannabis industry.

A San Francisco company is hoping to expand into Vancouver and the rest of Canada to help medical marijuana patients get their medicine more easily.

Eaze is a mobile app that allows people to order cannabis products and have them delivered by drivers in only minutes.

"We are definitely interested in bringing Eaze to Vancouver and Canada overall," said Eaze spokesperson Caroline Vespi in an email. "We don't have a time frame yet." 

The company, which partners with dispensaries and recruits drivers to hand-deliver marijuana to patients, says it's asking potential customers to sign up on its website so it can "prioritize expansion based on customer needs."

Growing up on New York’s Long Island, Jim Hagedorn would watch TV and see reports of marijuana busts. In the background, he’d sometimes spot bags of Miracle-Gro, the garden fertilizer invented by his father, Horace.

That recollection is particularly apt as the younger Hagedorn, now 59, considers plans for the company his father helped found, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., the world’s largest maker of lawn-care products. This month, Scotts bought a leading supplier of hydroponics, a technology that allows indoor cultivation of everything from tomatoes to pot without soil.