First Ever Age Verifying Marijuana Vending Machine

VON – Stephen Shearin believes his company is evolving the marijuana industry by creating a vending machine for pot and pot products.

"It's extremely cool this is the first one," Shearin said.

Shearin is the chief operating officer for Tranzbyte, a company that owns American Green. American Green is the manufacturer of a vending machine called the ZaZZZ, which starts by verifying a person's age through their driver's license.

"They would swipe their driver's license at which point multiple cameras would allow us to use some advanced biometrics to make absolutely certain that the person who swiped the card is the owner of that card," Shearin said.

The ZaZZZ machine could contain marijuana, pot edibles, and other pot-related products. But, it will not be located in the open public.

"These are designed at this point legally to go inside dispensaries," Shearin said.

He compares the machines to automated express checkouts at the grocery store. He says the point of vending machine is help business move fasters inside marijuana dispensaries.

Greg Honan is the owner of Herbal Elements, a dispensary in Eagle-Vail. His store will be the first to house the ZaZZZ vending machine. Honan says the pot vending machine actually makes his product more secure.

"You can really stack inventory in a safe manner in a concentrated area," Honan said.

He says the products sold inside will all be tracked by radio frequency identification chips.

"This takes a little pressure off of the people monitoring the medicine area so they don't have to look over shoulders. You can fit a lot more choices in a small area," Honan said. "There's no theft issue, There's no product disappearing."

Since the machines will be located inside dispensaries with a necessary driver's license verification, Shearin says people do not have to worry about marijuana getting into the wrong hands.

"I'm a father of a 12-year-old daughter and I wouldn't want her having access to it, so we paid close attention to that," Shearin said.

The vending machine was unveiled in Avon to the company's investors who travelled from around the country to see it take pictures with the Zazzz.

"Almost like it's a part of history," Jerry Skinner, an investor from Massachusetts, said. "If it works out, it could be a big thing."

Right now, the vending machine will not be in the open public, but Shearin says that could change.

"As time and laws evolve, who knows where it will be," Shearin said. "At that point, we'll have higher security. But, at this point, it's not something we have to address because versions one, two will never be in the town square."