Vending Machine as Pot Dealer? Yep, Not Legal

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.)