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Editorial
Company invents pot vending machine; tobacco, booze next?
Monday, April 14, 2014
Remember cigarette machines?
They used to be a common sight in gas stations and restaurants, but they're about as rare as 45 juke boxes these days.
The problem is, they are legal only in establishments where people under 18 are not allowed.
A Colorado company is getting around that problem with modern technology, but it's not cigarettes they're dealing with.
American Green has unveiled the "Zazz," a green vending machine that will dispense marijuana edibles in Avon, Colorado.
But it won't give out a pot brownie to just anyone.
It's for medical marijuna only, and it will verify your ID, and take your photo to make sure they match, before dispensing the product.
"We're looking forward to using the Zazz machine to easily track all this inventory ... we're gonna eliminate the middle man," supplier Greg Honan of Herbal Elements said. "It'll go straight from the budtender right into our machine. There's no room for theft by patients, employees ... there's no way to lose track of the inventory," he told Denver TV station Fox31.
If the marijuana vending machine turns out to be a success, what's keeping the same technology from being applied to, yes, cigarettes, beer or other controlled substances?
We're sure it will be a while before state and federal laws catch up to modern possibilities.