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Los Angeles To Provide Authorized Users With 24-Hour Access
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.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/30/health/main3770460.shtml |
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