Marijuana Vending Machines in Colorado Unveiled: ZaZZZ Gives Pot to Avon Buyers With High Security Precautions

Colorado has unveiled its first marijuana dispensing vending machine in Avon.

Tranzbyte, the company that owns the vending machine manufacturer, installed the ZaZZZ machine over the weekend in the central city, according to Chief Operating Officer Stephen Shearin.

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

The machine works much like any other machine selling candy or soda with the exception of age verification, which must first be confirmed before any sale goes through.

"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 explained.

The machine keeps marijuana goods in a climate-controlled case, and will only be installed in licensed stores. Valid medical marijuana patients are the only people who can pick up pot from the machines, SF Gate reported on Monday.

"These are designed at this point legally to go inside dispensaries," Shearin said, stressing that the machines were not available to the public.

For the owner of Eagle-Vail dispensary Herbal Elements, this new creation better protects the product he's selling.

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

Each of the products in the vending machine will come equipped with radio frequency ID chips, KTVB reported.

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

Shearin also added that the safety benefits were two-fold - youngsters looking to snag some pot illegally wouldn't be able to get their weed from these kinds of well-guarded machines.

"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," he said.

This is the first marijuana vending machine in the state of Colorado, where recreational marijuana is now legal for of-age citizens.

Both California and Arizona are home to similar vending machines - the Medbox and Endexx, respectively.