Pot Vending Machines

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Vending Machines Dispense Pot in LA

Los Angeles medical-cannabis dispensary owner Vincent Mehdizadeh poses with his new Mariju...
By DAISY NGUYEN, AP
Wed Jan 30, 8:47 AM EST
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.

But federal drug agents say the invention may need unplugging.

"Somebody owns (it), it's on a property and somebody fills it," said DEA Special Agent Jose Martinez. "Once we find out where it's at, we'll look into it and see if they're violating laws."

At least three dispensaries in the city, including two belonging to Mehdizadeh, have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use.

Mehdizadeh said he spent seven months to develop and patent the black, armored box, which he calls the "PVM," or prescription vending machine.

A sliding fence protects the tinted windows of his dispensary, barely distinguishing it from a busy thoroughfare of strip malls, automobile dealers and furniture shops. A box resembling a large refrigerator stands inside the nearly empty shop, near a few shelves stocked with vitamins and herbs.

A guard in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Security" on the front stands at the door. A poster of Bob Marley decorates a back room.

The computerized machine requires fingerprint identification and a prepaid card with a magnetic stripe. Once the card and fingerprint are verified, a bright green envelope with the pot drops down a slot.

Mehdizadeh says any user approved for medical marijuana and registered in a computer database at his dispensaries can pre-purchase the drug and then use the machine to pick up.

The process provides convenience and privacy for users who may otherwise feel uncomfortable about buying marijuana, Mehdizadeh said.

At the Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary in the San Fernando Valley, the vending machine is accessible only during business hours. An employee there said the machine was introduced about five months ago, and provides speedy service.

"It helps a lot of patients who are in a lot of pain and don't want to wait around to get help," Robert Schwartz said. "It's been working out great."

Mehdizadeh said he sought the advice of doctors, and decided to limit the amount of marijuana per user to an ounce per week. Each purchase from the machine yields 1/8th or 2/8th of an ounce. By eliminating a vendor behind the counter, he said, the machine offers users lower drug prices. The 1/8th ounce packet would cost about $40 — $20 lower than the average price at other dispensaries.

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.

Mehdizadeh said the Herbal Nutrition Center was the target of a federal raid in December. He said no arrests were made and no charges have been filed against him.

Kris Hermes, a spokesman for advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said the machine might benefit those who already know how much and what strain of marijuana they're looking for. But he said others will want to see and smell the drug before they buy it.

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

"You have kids that want to get high and that's not what marijuana is for," Robert Miko said. "It's to medicate."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

*sigh*

[Drinsic Darkwood]

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.

Yeah, that made me sigh, too.

[Funkmasterr]

Yeah that is absurd. The DEA, or DDEA as I like to think of it (drug dealer extortion agency) shouldn't be doing this. What is the fucking point in letting states have their own law if the feds are just going to come in and fuck it all up?

[Fash]

Yes, after having a valid presciption filled, the people get fingerprinted and provided a card. After hours they can swipe the card to get in, and prove it's them by fingerprinting in front of the security guard, before going to the machine and getting their medicine. It makes no difference what this thing is dispensing, and it will be dispensing more than pot.

Total non-issue. The war on drugs is another story.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

A $9/hr security guard? haha

A valid prescription? rofl

[Funkmasterr]

A $9/hr security guard? haha

Oh well.

Even if someone wanted to steal the machine, I have a feeling they would have about as much luck as people that steal/try to steal ATM's (very little).. You still need to be able to get into the thing without wrecking what is inside.

[Fash]

I'm not sure what you're concerned about. As it is right now, just anyone in the world could pick up your prescription if you call it in. I have never been asked for I.D. at a drug store.

Do you honestly think people are going to send their friends in to get pot? You know it's not never-ending, right?... You get a certain supply, just like other medicines. I do not see this being abused like you're implying.

[Aardor]

I assume he's implying that the abuse occurs in getting the prescription for marijuana. And he's right, it is very easy to get a medical marijuana card (hair loss is a valid reason), and thus it is abused. However, that should be the issue, not the vending machines, which won't allow any more abuse now than there already is.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

I assume he's implying that the abuse occurs in getting the prescription for marijuana. And he's right, it is very easy to get a medical marijuana card (hair loss is a valid reason), and thus it is abused. However, that should be the issue, not the vending machines, which won't allow any more abuse now than there already is.

Indeed. Putting it in vending machines and taking out the human element just opens it up for future fraud, hacking,etc. Just as I think the whole "medical" pot movement was a move toward just tryign to make it more accesible and acceptable, I think the machines is phase 2 of said cause. It makes no sense. Why aren't there other vending machines for more crucial and urgent drugs. Is it really a problem that medical pot heads are incapable of filling their prescriptions during the normal working hours like every other person? It's insane.

[Fash]

Lol... no... It's one pharmacy's play for publicity and customers. It is dispensing many drugs, but obviously pot is the newsworthy one.

You're god damn right it's phasing into normalcy. I still can't understand how you can look at Alcohol and Pot, and support Alcohol. It will be legal, and that's not too far off. There's nothing wrong with it, and as free Americans we deserve the right to choose for ourselves.

[Tyek]

Ok Midnyte, here is my issue. I have degenerative arthritis. It has eaten away the cartilage in my knees. I actually had my cartilage regrown and replanted in my right knee just over a year ago. I also had both legs broken and reangled to realign the knee and better balance the knee over the cartilage. I just had my left leg done and the cartilage damage was so bad that they could not do a microfracture.

I have severe pain at times to the point I thought about seeing a pain specialist. To help with the pain I have a couple basic choices. Aspirin, which is too weak or pain meds like Vicodan. Both aspiran and vicodan cauise severe damage to your body (liver or kidney, I forget). The only other option is Medical marijuana. I actually had a friend who had some last year and I can tell you, it helped the pain more then the vicodan ever did. I choose not to go the medical marijuana route because I do not want to encourage my kids to try it. At 12 and 9 they will not understand the benefits vs. Dad just wants to get high. I can also tell you that there are days when the pain is so bad I am a total asshole and either get very quiet and despondent, or yell when I should not. They know it is the pain, but it still sucks for them to see it, and I feel like shit about it after.

I have been on and off vicodan for about 7 years, imagine the damage that has done to my liver. I have also been on celebrex, Norco, percocet, vioxx and this new crap that never works. How is any of that any better then marijuana? Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can do to live a semi-normal life? I have played games with a broken leg, I played a full season with a torn ACL before it was diagnosed and I also spent a year walking around with a fractured shoulderblade and impinged shoulder, so it is not like I cannot handle pain, but daily constant pain wears on you, it wears on your soul and if these people need that help then I say let them have it. There are always going to be people who abuse the system, but if you advocate throwing it out so they cannot get the stuff, then you are no better then Jack Thompson wanting games to be taken off shelves so kids cannot see them or play them.

[Canelek]

Last year when I had a torn rotator cuff, impingement, bursitis and a torn labrum medical pot would have been great. Vicodin, et al help more with pain, but is a narcotic.

That pain can be intolerable. I am sure it was nothing next to what Tyek has gone through.

[Funkmasterr]

Lol... no... It's one pharmacy's play for publicity and customers. It is dispensing many drugs, but obviously pot is the newsworthy one.

You're god damn right it's phasing into normalcy. I still can't understand how you can look at Alcohol and Pot, and support Alcohol. It will be legal, and that's not too far off. There's nothing wrong with it, and as free Americans we deserve the right to choose for ourselves.

I'm with you, I don't understand but it is just one of those things. An example that confuses the hell out of me is my girlfriends mom (huge republican), she said she would smoke pot all the time if it was legal, but because it is not she won't go anywhere near it. I guess I don't obey all laws and rules just because, if they are absolutely ridiculous (like pot being illegal) I am going to do whatever the hell I damn well please. I will also assume responsibility if I get caught and deal with the consequences.

And tyek, I totally hear you. My mom has rheumatoid arthritis and she shoots herself with enbrel twice a week so that she can live (she couldn't even get herself dressed before she started taking this), problem is that drug she takes is also destroying her kidneys and she will eventually die because of it, she has actually already lived longer than the doctors said she would. If she was able to get medical pot (I don't know if she would want to or not) she would be able to dull the pain quite a bit without rapidly destroying her bodies filtration system.

I have psoriatic arthritis due to having very bad psoriasis on my elbows and knees ever since I was about 4. While I am nowhere near as bad as my mother is, it is, and will continue to get worse. The doctors have actually suggested that I use the same drug she uses because psoriatic arthritis is similar to rheumatoid arthritis. It is basically degenerating everything in its path, bones - nerves - tendons, etc. I refuse at my age to start taking any drug that would likely kill me before I lived to be 50.

So instead I just deal with it too, my wrists, lower arms, elbows, upper arms, shoulders and parts of my back hurt constantly every day, more depending on the day - but it's gotten to the point now that I can't even rest my elbows on a hard surface because it hurts more than I can deal with. I gotta say, I am super excited to see how I'm going to feel in another 10 years.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Ok Midnyte, here is my issue. I have degenerative arthritis. It has eaten away the cartilage in my knees. I actually had my cartilage regrown and replanted in my right knee just over a year ago. I also had both legs broken and reangled to realign the knee and better balance the knee over the cartilage. I just had my left leg done and the cartilage damage was so bad that they could not do a microfracture.

I have severe pain at times to the point I thought about seeing a pain specialist. To help with the pain I have a couple basic choices. Aspirin, which is too weak or pain meds like Vicodan. Both aspiran and vicodan cauise severe damage to your body (liver or kidney, I forget). The only other option is Medical marijuana. I actually had a friend who had some last year and I can tell you, it helped the pain more then the vicodan ever did. I choose not to go the medical marijuana route because I do not want to encourage my kids to try it. At 12 and 9 they will not understand the benefits vs. Dad just wants to get high. I can also tell you that there are days when the pain is so bad I am a total asshole and either get very quiet and despondent, or yell when I should not. They know it is the pain, but it still sucks for them to see it, and I feel like shit about it after.

I have been on and off vicodan for about 7 years, imagine the damage that has done to my liver. I have also been on celebrex, Norco, percocet, vioxx and this new crap that never works. How is any of that any better then marijuana? Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can do to live a semi-normal life? I have played games with a broken leg, I played a full season with a torn ACL before it was diagnosed and I also spent a year walking around with a fractured shoulderblade and impinged shoulder, so it is not like I cannot handle pain, but daily constant pain wears on you, it wears on your soul and if these people need that help then I say let them have it. There are always going to be people who abuse the system, but if you advocate throwing it out so they cannot get the stuff, then you are no better then Jack Thompson wanting games to be taken off shelves so kids cannot see them or play them.

Maybe you didn't read any of my comments on this issue in this thread. That really could be the only reason why you just wasted 10 minutes telling me your life story and arguing with me over something I didn't say.

[Tyek]

It must be nice to make statements, then claim you never said them. You seem to do that a lot on VV.

You stated that this was step 2 in a grandiose plan to get Marijuana mainstream. I explained that their are indeed benefits to it and that in concept and delivery it is no worse, and in fact, better then the current treatment plans out there.

You seem to think this is a plan to get pot out to everyone. I will agree with you in your statement that if the pain is bad enough, then the person should be able to identify they will be out of medicine. They should be smart enough to get said medicine during normal operating hours. If the machines are as regulated as they say, then I see no issue with this, seems a lot safer then driving into a bad part of town with cash and hoping to score some weed on the street.

No one forced you to read my life story. I am not asking for your sympathy, I was simply pointing out that if you were in pain daily you might have a different perspective on this. The only difference between my perscription for Norco and one for Marijuana is that the company that makes Norco made a big donation to the House, Senate and White House to avioid the stigma that marijuana gets from ignorant people.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

It must be nice to make statements, then claim you never said them. You seem to do that a lot on VV.

You stated that this was step 2 in a grandiose plan to get Marijuana mainstream. I explained that their are indeed benefits to it and that in concept and delivery it is no worse, and in fact, better then the current treatment plans out there.

You seem to think this is a plan to get pot out to everyone. I will agree with you in your statement that if the pain is bad enough, then the person should be able to identify they will be out of medicine. They should be smart enough to get said medicine during normal operating hours. If the machines are as regulated as they say, then I see no issue with this, seems a lot safer then driving into a bad part of town with cash and hoping to score some weed on the street.

No one forced you to read my life story. I am not asking for your sympathy, I was simply pointing out that if you were in pain daily you might have a different perspective on this. The only difference between my perscription for Norco and one for Marijuana is that the company that makes Norco made a big donation to the House, Senate and White House to avioid the stigma that marijuana gets from ignorant people.

Look dude. I happen to be in favor of the legalization of Marijuana. I just find the whole medical pot and now vending machines thing a complete ridiculous concept. The vending machine concept sounds like something a pot head would come up with...."wouldn't it be cool if you could get pot form a vending machine....*toke*......like we could get our pot and a Code Red at the same time...rofl...lol...haha....*cough*".

Answer this cutie, were you a pot smoker before your injury?

[Tyek]

No, and for the record I am not one now either. I did just take 2 more Norco though. I am heading to Pysical Therapy, so I need too.

I said I smoked one time last year, that was the first time in about 15 years. I have smoked pot maybe 5 times my entire life.

Thanks for thinking I am cute BTW. I am getting close to 40 and don't hear that as much anymore.

[Drinsic Darkwood]

Look dude. I happen to be in favor of the legalization of Marijuana. I just find the whole medical pot and now vending machines thing a complete ridiculous concept. The vending machine concept sounds like something a pot head would come up with...."wouldn't it be cool if you could get pot form a vending machine....*toke*......like we could get our pot and a Code Red at the same time...rofl...lol...haha....*cough*".

If you're in favor of the legalization of marijuana... why is the concept ridiculous? You don't believe legal products should be allowed into vending machines? Or are you only against it because marijuana is illegal, and not because it's marijuana being sold? Either one sounds ridiculous to me.

Furthermore, if you are in favor of the legalization of marijuana, why is it a bad thing for it to become more accessible / mainstream?

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

No, and for the record I am not one now either. I did just take 2 more Norco though. I am heading to Pysical Therapy, so I need too.

I said I smoked one time last year, that was the first time in about 15 years. I have smoked pot maybe 5 times my entire life.

Thanks for thinking I am cute BTW. I am getting close to 40 and don't hear that as much anymore.

I respect that totally.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Look dude. I happen to be in favor of the legalization of Marijuana. I just find the whole medical pot and now vending machines thing a complete ridiculous concept. The vending machine concept sounds like something a pot head would come up with...."wouldn't it be cool if you could get pot form a vending machine....*toke*......like we could get our pot and a Code Red at the same time...rofl...lol...haha....*cough*".

If you're in favor of the legalization of marijuana... why is the concept ridiculous? You don't believe legal products should be allowed into vending machines? Or are you only against it because marijuana is illegal, and not because it's marijuana being sold? Either one sounds ridiculous to me.

Furthermore, if you are in favor of the legalization of marijuana, why is it a bad thing for it to become more accessible / mainstream?

The ways they are getting around it I find funny. Like I said before, it sounds like shit a pot head would think of with their burnout friends. "You know what dude?....it would be awesome if I could get a doctor to tell me I had to smoke pot.....HAHA....yeah right man....that'll never happen."

[Deward]

I know of at least one hospital in my area that dispenses prescription meds through a vending machine. I haven't used it but it was right out in the emergency room lobby. I could see the value of it just in savings from fewer employees.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

I know of at least one hospital in my area that dispenses prescription meds through a vending machine. I haven't used it but it was right out in the emergency room lobby. I could see the value of it just in savings from fewer employees.

No shit? Hmmm, well maybe I over reacted. There's a first time for everything.......haha.

[Zaelath]

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.

Yeah, that made me sigh, too.

NO! It's unpossible! Noys was telling me you all have freedom just yesterday!

[Knarlz]

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

That pissed me off.

[Sueven]

The California statute permitting medical marijuana simply says that it ought to be prescribed for "(serious condition), (serious condition), or for any other condition for which marijuana is an effective treatment" or something along those lines. So if you go to a doctor and say "hey man, my big toe hurts, and smoking weed makes it not hurt so much," that's a totally legit reason to obtain a marijuana prescription according to the letter of the law. Doctors aren't investigators.

I think most of us can agree that this is stupid. I support both marijuana legalization AND medical marijuana, but I'd like to keep the two distinct. Clearly, the fault lies with the law-- it would be useful if the law had some language which restricted marijuana prescriptions to those with chronic pain, undergoing chemotherapy, glaucoma, and the other uses for which it is well-suited.

So why is the law written in such a broad, vague way? Because insufficient research has been done into the medical properties of marijuana, so we really don't know whether it helps with hair loss or not, whether it helps with a sore big toe or not, whether it helps with anger management or not. Instead, doctors are just taking their patients word that it does help, and they don't have any medical literature to turn to in order to refute those claims.

Why hasn't research been done into the medical properties of marijuana? A bunch of reasons: lots of medical research relies on government funding, which isn't possible for marijuana. Lots of medical research relies on private funding for drug companies, who don't fund marijuana research both because of legal issues and because weed already exists and it's unlikely that drug companies could make a real windfall off of it. Marijuana is illegal and thus it's legally dangerous to do research on it. The federal government classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, meaning that it has no accepted medical use (unlike, say, cocaine).

If we would all chill the fuck out about marijuana and allow professional scientific researchers to conduct scientific research in controlled settings, they could figure out what it works for and what it doesn't, reform the laws governing prescriptions, and limit Cali's medical marijuana system to a reasonable system which dispenses actual MEDICAL marijuana instead of the quasi-legalization that it currently is.

[Leonaerd]

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

That pissed me off.

I bet he's a much happier fellow when he's high. To me this seems like a step towards legalization. If some angry dude can toke, then MPP's doing their job.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

This link supports Sueven...

http://www.maps.org/mmj/

[Tyek]

Here comes a derail but this thread brought back a funny memory. Every now and then you will hear an athlete say he failed a test because his friends were smoking it but he did not. They claim the second hand smoke got into their system and that caused the fail.

When I played soccer in college they told us the day we would be tested. (LOL at the 1980's). The night before the test I went with friends to the Sisters of Mercy concert at the Universal Ampitheatre. The opening band was a reggae band called Steel Pulse and I realize the building is completely filling with smoke. Virtually everyone in the damn place is toking up, except me. I want to pass my test. So I stood there the whole show holding my breath as much as possible while my friends and everyone else in the place is getting wasted.

I ended up passing the drug test, so when I hear that someone's friends smoking caused a failure I think back to that night. There is NO possible way I would have passed if you could fail over contact only.

ok back to your regularly scheduled thread and thanks for heping me relive the great memory.

[Ashur]

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

Never send someone with anger management issues to use a vending machine!