dIf you want to ensure your weed is not Fresh, you should buy weed from vending machines.

If you want to ensure your weed is Fresh…you should buy it at Fresh Dispensary.

Turns out buying mystery weed from a vending machine next to the claw game and ATM wasn’t the business model New Jersey regulators had in mind.

Last week, authorities announced they seized roughly 80 marijuana vending machines operating across the state as part of a 26-month investigation into a company called “Barbwire,” allegedly owned by a Toms River man.

According to prosecutors, the machines were placed inside businesses that weren’t licensed to sell cannabis products. Multiple agencies executed search warrants at more than 80 locations, ultimately hauling away the machines and the products inside.

Look, we’re all for convenience. But if your cannabis shopping experience feels one step away from buying a stale bag of pretzels at a rest stop, it might be worth asking a few questions.

For starters: How old was the flower? When was it packaged? Was anyone checking inventory rotation, or were those eighths just hanging out in a metal box since the Eagles were in the Super Bowl? Nobody knows.

The whole thing serves as a reminder that not every weed deal with flashing lights and a touchscreen is a legitimate cannabis retailer. If you’re trusting a vending machine with your cannabis purchases, you’re basically putting the same faith in it that you put into a gas station sushi roll.

The owner now faces multiple drug-related charges, including possession with intent to distribute more than 25 pounds of marijuana. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s unofficial experiment in “insert cash, receive questionable weed” appears to have officially come to an end.

The lesson here is simple: Cannabis should come from licensed dispensaries, not from a machine that looks like it used to sell energy drinks and expired headphones.