Marijuana Vending Machines

Today the BBC reports that California will now be operating marijuana vending machines. The new vending machines will be accompanied by a security guard, and require a prescription, fingerprints, and will take your photo at the machine to make sure that it is actually the patient purchasing the medicine.

This is a great step in civil rights for those who need medicinal marijuana as a pain killer or hunger stimulant, like Angel Raich, who sued the federal government for the 1970 Controlled Substance Act, which outlaws marijuana (among other substances) in any medical. According to the BBC, Mrs. Raich's doctor, "testified that she could die if she stopped taking marijuana," but her trial, decided in March 2007, denied her the right guaranteed by California (not to mention as a human being) to medicinal marijuana.

My beef with the vending machines is the photo aspect. With prescriptions come doctor-patient confidentiality, but I doubt that the photo taken at the vending machine would be covered by such a protection. With the already established dominance of federal law on this issue (reasserted in Mrs. Raich's case), I fear that the feds have the power to obtain the photos and prosecute the customers.

It blows my mind that the American electorate continues to elect officials with a record of, and declaration to commit to future, human rights abuses. This usually takes the form of politicians opposed to medicinal marijuana use (any in general, but there no grounds to deny medicinal use), opposed to homosexual marriage, and those who want to make abortions criminal (though I usually classify that as more civil rights, most abortion discussion devolves into a winless argument).