Nelson Garcia

KUSA-TV, Denver

AVON, Colo. — A company has unveiled a vending machine for marijuana snacks that would allow an all-tech checkout for pot purchases.

But these machines won't debut on the street. They'll be inside licensed marijuana dispensaries in Colorado and other states that legalize weed for either medical or consumer use, the manufacturer said.

"This takes a little pressure off of the people monitoring the medicine area so they don't have to look over shoulders," said Greg Honan, owner of Herbal Elements dispensary here. His pot shop will be the first to house the vending machine. "There's no theft issue, There's no product disappearing."

Think of the ZaZZZ like an automated express checkout like at the grocery store, said Chief Operating Officer Stephen Shearin of Tranzbyte (OTC Pink: ERBB), the Tempe, Ariz.-based company that owns the vending machine manufacturer. They'll cut down the lines for people who already know what they want to buy.

A customer swipes his driver's license. The machine's cameras match biometrics to make sure the person making the transaction and the owner of the driver's license are the same person. The customer pays by credit or debit card and walks out.

Products inside the machine — which could be edibles or marijuana — will be tracked with radio frequency identification chips.

Since the machines will be inside dispensaries and require driver's license verification, people don't have to worry about marijuana getting into the wrong hands, Shearin said.

"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. If laws change to allow use outside of a licensed store, security on the machines would evolve.

The vending machine was unveiled here over the weekend to company investors who traveled from across the USA to see it and will be moved to Herbal Elements in a few weeks.

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