Let's be real here, what could come from a URL like www.thedispensingsolution.com BUT a vending machine for pot? Medbox, the company that produces the $50,000 units, is ramping up and attempting to place them in dispensaries around the country. Consumers can't walk up to a Medbox and feed it their cash, but they can tell the clerk in a state-licensed dispensary what they want.
We first heard from the makers of one of the world’s first marijuana vending machines, Medbox, back in January. Back then we could only imagine what such a thing could look like, how it would work or what exactly, it would hold. And now due to the ever-churning news cycle, we’re getting a glimpse of what could be the future in states like Colorado and Washington.
The result? Kind of like a DVD dispenser from say, Redbox, but it’s black, refrigerated, and armored, notes Businessweek.
The company’s founder (who told possible investors that his company is “planning to literally dominate the industry”) doesn’t like the term vending machine, however. It’s not like you’ll be able to stick cash in, press A1 and leave with an ounce of marijuana.
Instead, the device would sit behind counters at state-licensed marijuana dispensaries, and use biometric technology to identify patients’ fingerprints. The clerks would then hand over plastic vials of pot. Or in some machines, medical marijuana patients could choose from an array of edible — or “medible” — options like pot brownies and lozenges.
Everything a patient buys goes into a database, which is to ensure that they’re not buying more than they should legally, and that clerks aren’t having their way with the goods. Oh yes, and so taxes can be collected on that tasty cake.
“If you’re going to allow people to have marijuana, then let’s organize it, regulate it, tax it,” Medbox’s CEO says. “It has to work for everybody.”