Cannabis smokers in the United States will be able to make new friends using a new stoner-focused dating app recently launched.

The app, called High There!, is only available in US states that have either decriminalised the drug or made it available for medical use. The app’s creator says he started the service because he found it difficult maintain relationship kindled on mainstream dating websites.

“I hated dating on other sites and apps because as soon as the idea of my cannabis consumption came up—date over. I actually walked out of a date (after paying of course) and said to myself, that’s it,” the company’s CEO Todd Mitchem told the Fast Company blog Co.Exist.

High There! is similar to the popular dating app Tinder in that it attempts to match two people based on their preferences and location. It also includes filters for levels of cannabis consumption and drug preferences, however.

But the app is not just for dating: Mr Mitchem told the website that it could be helpful for “that cancer patient who needs friends and support, the guy who lands in Denver and does not know where people to buy great products legally”.

“Just the other day I connected with a dude and talked back and forth for a while about life, weed, and built a friendship,” he added.

The app is currently only available on the Google Play app store for Android phones, and does not yet have an iOS version for iPhones.

Cannabis is legal for at least medical use in 23 of the 50 US states plus Washington DC.

The US state of Colorado was the first to completely legalise the consumption and sale of marijuana last year.

There is scientific evidence that cannabis consumption can be helpful for certain medical conditions, the British-born US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy, said this week.

Cannabis is illegal in the United Kingdom and possession can be punished by up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.