Pot vending machines take root in L.A. – Health care- msnbc.com Thanks to marquise de sade who sent me this article from MSNBC on the new pot vending machines that they are putting in place in Los Angeles.
“LOS ANGELES – The city that popularized the fast food drive-thru has a new innovation: 24-hour medical marijuana vending machines.
Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience at the Herbal Nutrition Center, where a large machine will dole out the drug around the clock.
“Convenient access, lower prices, safety, anonymity,” inventor and owner Vincent Mehdizadeh said, extolling the benefits of the machine.”
The nice added benefit to the machines is that they don’t require a human employee to dole out the pot who might get caught up in a Federal drug raid.
Even though the voters of the state of California have legalized medicinal marijuana, the Federal Government still carries a law that any possession by anyone (including medicinal users) can result in arrest and prosecution. So much for states rights.
“A spokesman for a marijuana advocacy group said the machine also benefits dispensary owners.
“It limits the number of workers in the store in the event of a raid, and it’ll make it harder for theft,” said Nathan Sands, of The Compassionate Coalition.
Marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.
The Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state over the last two years and charging their operators with felony distribution charges.”
The other nice thing about these vending machines is that they are much less likely to be involved in a drive by shooting than your local dealer down on the corner.
The machines use card and fingerprint technology to confirm that a recipient is legally entitled to use the machine.
Personally I think that they ought to modify the machines to sell both medicinal marijuana *and* Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Now that would be a hit.