Fingerprint pot-dispensing machines big news in Massachusetts

A secure stop for pot? (MetroWest Daily News)

After voters this month legalized medical marijuana, an Arizona businessman is opening an office in Natick, hoping his biometric dispensing system becomes the standard used in Bay State dispensaries.

Bruce Bedrick, CEO of consulting firm Kind Clinics LLC and manufacturer Medbox Inc., said it prevents people from obtaining marijuana fraudulently.

Medbox was also in the news lately when investors looking to cash in on medical marijuana referendums in the United States drove Medbox shares from $3.14 per share before the election to $215.00 per share on November 15.

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Biometrics for Patient ID Program Aims to Curb Prescription Drug Abuse

Gallia first to enroll in Rx pilot program (Daily Tribune – Gallipolis, OH)

The program, being launched through a public-private partnership between regional health care provider Holzer Health System and CrossChx, a company based in Gallipolis, is known as the Biometric Enrollment and Verification Prescription System and will allow doctors to compare health records from multiple sources to help determine the eligibility of a patient to receive a prescription for medication.

CrossChx (pronounced “cross checks”) will provide the technology to track health information and will, specifically, use biometrics, or the identification of an individual through his or her inherit traits — in this case, fingerprints — to allow prescribers to receive real-time patient information.

The article goes on to note that, locally, 30% of the infants in the neo-natal intensive care unit are addicted to opiates.