Vending Machine as Pot Dealer? Yep, Not Legal

Cops seize machine from pro-legalization HQ
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2012 2:16 AM CDT
Pot Vending Machine Opens, Closes in NZ
It would have taken quite a few quarters to get this much out of the machine.   (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Can laws against drug dealing be sidestepped by making a machine the dealer? The answer is no, a group of drug law reform activists in New Zealand discovered this week. Police raided the group's Auckland headquarters and confiscated a vending machine that was selling one-gram bags of marijuana instead of cans, TVNZ reports. Four people were arrested and around a pound of pre-packaged pot was seized.

The campaigners called the machine "an example of how things could be" if the drug was legalized and said the machine made a few hundred sales on busy nights. "It's basically anonymous, it's a way for people who don't want to have to associate with gangs or criminals to buy cannabis in a safe environment," the group's leader says. The police raid came several days after media in New Zealand first reported the machine. (More marijuana stories.)

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