Pot Vending Machines Take Root in LA By DAISY NGUYENLOS ANGELES - 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."
New article coming out with this cool pic and more info about the new Indy film. You can check it out at 
Gene Simmons got fired on Celebrity Apprentice. What a joke. His presentation was a million times better than the other teams. He also saved the the Men's team (Hydra - which he named, by the way) from losing their butts the last two weeks. If it wasn't for him, they would have made close to no money at all. Whatever. I guarantee you that the show loses a ton of viewers because he got fired. KISS and Gene Simmons fans are very loyal and they will stop watching it. He was the only reason I was watching it. I don't give a crap about that show. I just wanted to watch him work his business magic and take the other contestants to school.
We watched Hot Rod the other night. It was pretty funny. I was surprised. I wasn't expecting much, but it was relatively entertaining. Watching a guy crash and burn and get hurt over and over again never stops being entertaining. And that fake moustache - you don't get any better than that.
So me and the kids strolled over to Dallas Comic Con 10 on Saturday and hung out. The kids both got a couple cool little toys. Ephraim got a Spider-man kid toy and an X-Men car. Everett got a Flash action figure (finally - he's been looking for one for a while) and something else I can't remember for some reason. I got some free passes to Studio Movie Grill, so that was cool.
I also made some cool contacts for my upcoming events and shot the proverbial bs about the upcoming Fright Night screening and cast reunion with the guys who put on Fearfest. Very excited about this event, since I'm a huge Fright Night and Fright Night 2 fan.
I also got my Ace Frehley tickets for his upcoming tour. He's playing at the House Of Blues on February 24th. I get to see 1/4 of the original line-up of KISS performing his material. His solo album is my favorite out of the group from the 78 albums. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this. I may even get to do an interview with him for HM. That would be a dream come true.
We finally got to the part in Dallas where Pam wakes up and finds Bobby in the shower - revealing that the entire last season (30 some episodes) had all been a dream. Lizz was less than impressed with this and watched the last two episodes in contempt, as I laughed because I knew it was going to happen.
I read Gene Simmons' book, "KISS and Make-up". It was great. There were things in there I never knew and some were shocking. I really do admire him as a businessman and musician. We have certain beliefs that we definitely do not agree upon, but overall he is an extremely smart individual who seems to be a pretty nice guy.
Hopefully, I'll be going to the Dallas Comic Con next weekend for a while to meet Steve Niles. I really love his 30 Days Of Night series and would love to get an autographed piece of work from him. I haven't read anything else he's done, but I definitely love those and the movie. It's a non-gothic pretty boy take on vampires.
We saw Underdog, which was a pretty cool movie. I'll watch anything that has Jason Lee in it. Both of my sons thought it was great. The effects were pretty cool. We also watched Meet The Robinsons, which I fell asleep watching. It seemed pretty cool. I'll have to attempt to watch it again sometime.
