--- title: 'Coming Soon: Vending Machines That Scan Your Fingerprints and Sell You Pot' description: A company called American Green unveiled a vending machine prototype that will check ID and sell pot, guns, and alcohol without any human contact. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2017-05-12T16:30:33.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T05:51:42.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Marijuana - Pot - vending machines - Weed word_count: 399 canonical: https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Marijuana in bag](https://img.money.com/2017/05/vendingmachinepot-em-73259372.jpg) The long list of strange things you can buy from a vending machine already includes [cupcakes, raw meat, wine, gold, and underwear](https://money.com/unexpected-buys-vending-machines/). Up next: marijuana. [*USA Today*](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/05/11/vending-machines-sell-booze-pot/101514340/) reported that a Phoenix-based cannabis technology firm called [American Green](https://americangreen.com/) recently developed a vending machine prototype that will check a customer's ID using biometric verification and sell pot or other age-restricted items to anyone legally allowed to buy. which made its debut at a convention in Las Vegas last month and hasn't been approved for use anywhere yet, The option is being presented as ideal for consumers hoping to get their hands on marijuana while avoiding face-to-face contact with a seller, or perhaps someone they know. The technology should make "individuals who need it more comfortable," because it would presumably rule out the possibility buyers would "run into their pastor or kindergarten teacher," Erik Altieri, executive director of the pro-marijuana group NORML, said to *USA Today*. As surprising as it may sound, some [vending machines already do sell marijuana](https://money.com/unexpected-buys-vending-machines/). One machine, also operated by American Green, [popped up in Seattle](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/04/seattle-pot-vending-machine/22817375/) in 2015, and a marijuana dispensary in Vancouver introduced the [first pot vending machine in Canada](http://globalnews.ca/news/2666093/vancouver-dispensary-home-to-canadas-first-marijuana-vending-machine-vows-to-stay-open/) last year. But with these machines, there is always an employee on hand who will be checking ID before anyone can make a purchase. By contrast, no human contact is required when buying pot through the new American Green Machine, as it's called. To use the machine, a customer would first have to set up an account using a government-issued ID and, if required, a prescription from a doctor. The machine then uses a fingerprint scan to verify the buyer before allowing a purchase. Marijuana is only one of the many items that such a vending machine might sell. Casino chips, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and even guns are listed among the other possibilities. American Green foresees a time when customers can purchase age-restricted goods at machines all over the country. "A baseball fan could buy a beer at the game in New York and cannabis from a dispensary in California the next day through the same app utilizing their verified account," David Gwyther, chairman and acting president at American Green, [said in a press release](https://americangreen.com/american-green-smart-vending-system-unveiled-public-april-19th-las-vegas-largest-machine-industry-event-nama-america/) earlier this year. Now all we need is technology that will let you buy *pot and cupcakes* from the same vending machine. - **Related: [Inside the Confusing, Unregulated World of Legal Weed Prices](https://money.com/420-weed-prices-really-confusing/)** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Health and Wellness", "item": "https://money.com/health-and-wellness/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Coming Soon: Vending Machines That Scan Your Fingerprints and Sell You Pot" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/", "name": "Coming Soon: Vending Machines That Scan Your Fingerprints and Sell You Pot", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-05-12T16:30:33.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:51:42.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Coming Soon: Vending Machines That Scan Your Fingerprints and Sell You Pot", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/05/vendingmachinepot-em-73259372.jpg", "width": 4992, "height": 3328, "caption": "Marijuana in bag" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-05-12T16:30:33.000Z", "description": "A company called American Green unveiled a vending machine prototype that will check ID and sell pot, guns, and alcohol without any human contact.", "abstract": "A company called American Green unveiled a vending machine prototype that will check ID and sell pot, guns, and alcohol without any human contact.", "@id": "https://money.com/buy-pot-vending-machine-marijuana/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:51:42.000Z", "wordCount": 399, "keywords": [ "Marijuana", "Pot", "vending machines", "Weed" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Health", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health" ] } ] } ] } ```