Medical pot vending machine debuts in Seattle

American Green

04/02/2015 24:35

By Eric M. Johnson and Keith Coffman 
    SEATTLE/DENVER, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Vending machines selling 
medical marijuana opened for business in Seattle on Tuesday, in 
what the company providing them billed as a first-in-the-state 
innovation that it expects to expand to other cities and states 
where pot is legal as medicine. 
    The first purchase from a ZaZZZ, as the user-automated 
machines are called, was for one gram of a strain dubbed Girl 
Scout Cookies for $15, inside Seattle Caregivers medical 
marijuana dispensary. 
    "It's a way to take something that has proven itself as a 
viable business model throughout the last century, and bring it 
into the 21st century," said Stephen Shearin, president of 
technology company American Green Inc  ERBB.PK , which provides 
the machines. 
    Washington state voters joined Colorado in 2012 in 
legalizing recreational marijuana, ushering in retail shops 
carrying a range of pot products for adults. Voters in Alaska 
and Oregon adopted similar initiatives last year. 
    But in Washington state, a loosely regulated medical 
marijuana industry runs alongside the recreational pot system. 
    The Seattle vending machine debut comes as lawmakers in 
Olympia weigh numerous marijuana-related bills, including a 
wide-ranging proposal to align the medical and recreational 
industries by phasing out collective gardens and allowing 
medical dispensaries to transition to recreational-use shops. 
    Shearin said about five ZaZZZ vending machines are currently 
planned for Seattle and Washington state, with more slated for 
Colorado, California, Michigan, Rhode Island and Alaska, all 
among the 23 states where medical marijuana is legal. 
    Marijuana vending machines are also provided by other 
companies, such as California's Medbox Inc  MDBX.PK , but 
regulators in each state did not know how many vending machines 
were operating. 
    The machines are upgraded versions of the first ZaZZZ 
machine that opened last April in Colorado's Herbal Elements 
dispensary, which only carries edibles. 
    The Seattle machine was stocked with cannabis flower, 
vaporizer pens, hemp-oil energy drinks and other merchandise, 
Shearin said, adding that machines would carry unique products 
not available in the dispensaries where they are located. 
    A buyer's medical marijuana license is checked by a 
dispensary employee before that person can use the machine, 
which uses an ID-card scanner. 
    At a recreational-use pot shop, such a machine would have to 
be installed behind the counter and operated by an employee, 
under Washington state law. 
    "What is the purpose of having a vending machine if it's got 
to be manned?" said John Davis, who owns dispensaries in 
Seattle. "Why not just sell them the product?" 
 
 (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Keith Coffman in 
Denver; Additional reporting by David Ryder in Seattle; Editing 
by Eric Walsh) 
 ((Eric.m.johnson@thomsonreuters.com; +1 206 922 2907; Reuters 
Messaging: Eric.M.Johnson.reuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: 
ByEricJohnson)) 
 
Keywords: USA MARIJUANA/WASHINGTON