Pot vending machines to start rolling into Canada after firm partners with U.S. company

As a pioneer supplier in the potentially huge medical-cannabis industry, Medbox , of West Hollywood, Calif., has caused a stir among American investors, despite the somewhat checkered past of one of its co-founders.Vincent Mehdizadeh was convicted of defrauding more than a dozen people seeking immigration-law help, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.He paid $450,000 and was put on probation to avoid a four-year prison term after pleading no-contest — meaning he did not expressly admit his guilt All Terrain Crane QAY-400 manufacturers and exporters— to two counts of grand theft, the district attorney said in a news release.In Canada, the machines will be set up in cultivation centres, said Mr. Mehdizadeh. Employees will scan their own fingerprints before entering the patient's identification and prescription information into the machine, he said.

Mr. Mehdizadeh stressed Wednesday that the case has absolutely nothing to do with Medbox, and that, regardless, he committed no crime. He said several years ago he recruited customers for an L.A. lawyer, who then failed to provide the promised legal services. The Medbox chief operations officer said he is actually planning to sue the Los Angeles consumers-affair department, which laid the charges."The attorney in question received all the funds," he said. "I just reimbursed the clients because I could. … Fortunately, I'm fairly wealthy, so it was a drop in the bucket for me and I saw it as a sort of charitable endeavour."

Regardless, his new company has become a rising star in an uncertain industry. Though federal law in the U.S. continues to outlaw all cannabis, 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes and two have done so for recreational use, and federal law enforcement often turns a blind eye.The prospect of more legal openness — and a potentially massive market — has taken publicly traded Medbox to surprising highs in the last year. It has fallen back to about $21 a share, making for a $300-million market capitalization.The company has sold about 160 of the machines All Terrain Crane QAY500 manufacturers and exporters— which go for up to $25,000 — to medical-marijuana dispensaries in the United States, said Mr. Bedrick. Patients are typically admitted to a secure room where an employee operates the machine after the patient's fingerprint is scanned.