Found this on USA Today: Hot button: Medical marijuana vending machines open in L.A.:

Americans who have traveled to Japan are no doubt familiar with the ubiquitous jidoohanbaiki: standalone vending machines that dispense soft drinks, coffee, food, comic books, paperbacks, clothing (including underwear and stockings), videos, CDs, jewelry, flowers — and booze (beer, whiskey, sake).

California went a big step further today: Vending machines that dispense medical marijuana.

The first two were activated today in Los Angeles at licensed cannabis clubs. State voters approved doctor-prescribed marijuana in 1996 for patients suffering serious pain or nausea who don’t get relief from other drugs.

It goes on from there. The best part is some of the comments at the bottom, which range from “Pot is bad for you and will kill you” to “It’s my body and I’ll do what I want”. For what it’s worth, I agree with both positions - marijuana is bad for you and you should be allowed to use it if you want. It’s certainly no worse than binge drinking alcohol, and, like most vices, if you use it regularly, you’re going to find yourself in a world of pain later in life. However, we leave most vices legal because the alternative is generally much worse than the vice itself - people will still do it, only now it’s the undesirable elements of society that are providing it. Personally, I’d rather starve gangs and criminals of their income, and the best way to do that is to minimize the number of products that they can offer to our citizens.

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