I'd Like One Large Joint Please

Now I have seen it all.... those were some famous words that I can still hear my grandmother saying on occasion... I actually think I blogged about that very subject a while back last year. Well today, I found an article on MSN that just blew my mind! I think the article's title, "Pot Vending Machines Take Root In Los Angeles" says it all... from the get-go... Wow! Imagine that... the freedom to walk up to a machine and get marijuana! Excuse me, medical marijuana.... I wonder how "medical" marijuana is even packaged. Do they issue it in government labeled baggies? Or maybe in a pill bottle with a no-spill spout? Does it come with rolling papers? Or maybe a pharmacy issued pipe? These are all valid questions from someone like me that just cannot comprehend the very idea of smoking weed to relieve ailments or pain caused by those ailments. Smoking weed is for ex-hippies, college students, single 20 and 30-something year olds that just never grow up, rockers, athletes, etc.... but, my grandmother? Or the little ol' ladies or men from the Church? There has to be another way to help the pain...
The article states, "Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience at the Herbal Nutrition Center, where a large machine will dole out the drug around the clock." It is like an all night hook-up! When in pain, go meet your connection and get the hook-up! How classic is that?
Another problem I see with this vending machine is of course, security precautions... surely this machine is armored and protected with 12" of perimeter steel and concrete so the non-patients craving some hooter won't break their way into the stash? Let's hope this never happens... but, I am sure some drug hungry teenagers craving the big high might show-up with sledge hammers in hand... Of course, there goes my imagination again...
And finally, it only seems fitting for this contraption to show up first in LA of all places... having visited there myself this past September and experiencing that city first hand, I fully understand WHY those folks NEED this around-the-clock pain relieving miracle maker... Go figure.