Seattle getting its first marijuana vending machine
Feb 2, 2015, 5:32 AM | Updated: 5:35 am
(Image courtesy ZaZZZ)
Seattle is getting it’s first marijuana vending machine. The ZaZZZ, as it’s called, isn’t your average chips and candy dispenser.
Stephen Shearin with American Green, the company behind the device, says it will verify a user’s age and identity using an ID scanner.
“It will be dispensing flower products, bud products, so I believe the first time in the world that a consumer-operated machine has done this and we’re pretty excited about that,” says Shearin.
Pot vending machines have been operating in Colorado since last year. But American Green says those machines were dispensing edible THC-infused products only.
They say the Seattle machine will have a wide range of medicinal and recreational marijuana flowers, edibles and pot-related merchandise.
Unlike some other vending machines, this one can’t take any credit or debit cards because pot is still not legal at the federal level.
“Banking laws haven’t relaxed yet and because every time you swipe a card it has to run back and forth across state lines for verification, we don’t use or support any kind of credit card or debit card yet,” says Shearin. “So at this point, the machine is actually designed to take cash and bitcoin.”
The ZaZZ will make its Seattle debut on February 3 inside Seattle Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary on South Jackson Street.