Now that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use, businesses are clamoring to get a piece of the action, and coming up with some entertaining ways to do it. For example, a pot vending machine already exists for medical use, so why not introduce the same kind of devices for anyone in those states looking to buy some legal bud? One company is working on adapting its vending machines for just that purpose.
The founder of the company says he’s working on tweaking his business to make sure the machines would comply with each state’s laws. The machines currently require fingerprint identification to ensure that a patient really does have a medical marijuana prescription and isn’t just trying to score on the sly, reports NBC News.
It might not happen tomorrow or next week, but the company seems confident that eventually, buying pot from a machine just like you would a candy bar will be a reality.
“One day we envision these machines to be accessed, when it’s allowed, 24 hours a day,” the founder and chief consultant of a subsidiary of Medbox that makes the machines and consults on the vending business said. “One day in the future that may happen, but for now these machines sit behind the counter as an inventory control and compliance tool.”
Medbox is in talks with officials in Washington and Colorado as the states try to figure out how to organize the marijuana industry and of course, collect taxes on the stuff. Because if you can’t make money off a product, it probably won’t be allowed to be sold in the first place.
Currently state law in Washington requires marijuana to be sold from inside a retail outlet, adds an official from the state’s Liquor Control Board, which means you likely won’t ever be able to hit up a pot machine on your average street corner.
Maybe they’ll be like Redbox at the grocery store or even those fancy vending machines that sell electronics at the airport? Although since it’s only legal for adults to consume the stuff recreationally, there would have to be some way to ensure customers are of age before the machine shoots out its green wares. It’s a whole new world, people.