Medbox Positions Itself as the Leader on Wall Street in the Legalized Marijuana Industry

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Medbox, Inc. (OTC Markets: MDBX) (www.medboxinc.com), a leader in providing industry specific consulting services and patented systems to various medical and retail related industries worldwide, seeks to be the standard bearer of corporate governance and transparency in the mushrooming legal marijuana industry and has issued a progress report to its shareholders concerning the status of past, present, and future projects.

Company CEO, Dr. Bruce Bedrick, added, "Without a doubt the filing of our Form 10 is the most significant milestone for the company since its acquisition of Medicine Dispensing Systems and its related patent. In less than 60 days, our filing will be deemed effective and Medbox, Inc. will be a fully reporting company, subject to both the burdens and benefits thereof." Bedrick added, "Management welcomes the increased scrutiny and accountability that comes with our share registration. Doing so sets us apart from some of the more questionable groups in our industry, both in the minds of the investment community and the public at large."

The company has generated considerable public goodwill from hosting free educational seminars to discuss community concerns about marijuana dispensaries, to meeting with state legislators and regulators on how best to achieve legal compliance in new medical marijuana territories, to being an outspoken opponent of other companies offering consumer accessed marijuana vending machines, which Medbox feels is not a proper use of the medicine dispensing technology the company has developed. The company has compared its technology as the equivalent of the equipment hospitals use to track sensitive medications. In addition, Medbox has achieved its success and leadership role in the legal marijuana industry while deriving no direct revenue from the cultivation or sale of marijuana.

Dr. Bruce Bedrick explained, "The very same capacity for creating transparency that has made Medbox the gold standard in terms of tracking inventory from seed-to-sale and dispensing in real time is the same level of transparency that will now be implemented internally. Going forward, Medbox will literally be an open book, with verifiable contracts, revenue, and share count information, in stark contrast to other companies in our sector.

"Our new status as the sole fully-reporting company in the 'Green Rush' solidifies our role as an industry leader. Medbox investors now have the security of knowing management has voluntarily put the company in the position of demonstrating the highest level of transparency in the industry. Moving to fully-reporting status was a natural step in our evolution as a company. It will afford us access to the capital we need to grow Medbox to the next level. Wall Street wisely wants in on the legal marijuana boom, through a safe and reliable conduit. As a fully-reporting SEC-registered company, we will be in a unique position to fill that role."

The company also has issued a progress report on any and all outstanding matters. The following is a summary as reported by the company:

• Medbox has resolved, to its satisfaction, the federal patent infringement case against Dispense Labs LLC that the company believes was violating its federal patent. In a "Statement of Facts" prepared by a lawyer for the Defendant, it stated that Dispense Labs "has only one (1) machine that has been placed into service anywhere and that machine is a beta-test machine that has been placed into service in Santa Ana, California." The Founder of Dispense Labs, Joe DeRobbio, also said in a statement signed under penalty of perjury that "[n]o other Autospense machine or other product of Dispense Labs has been sold or distributed." 
  Medbox has reserved the right to re-engage litigation if Dispense Labs overcomes the barriers to entry in the marketplace and/or adopts Medbox's business model, before refilling, as is Medbox's legal right to do. The discovery was in stark contrast to the promotional materials Dispense Labs had distributed to media outlets and advertised in consumer periodicals. Seeing as Dispense Labs has failed to gain any type of acceptance for their machine due to social intolerance of customer-accessed and/or 24-hour accessible marijuana vending machines, Medbox feels that it says it would be a waste of company capital to pursue the matter any further given the circumstances.
• Medbox has engaged consultants in Nevada, Oregon, and California regarding SB374, HB3460, and AB473, respectively. These bills are all aimed at finally creating a regulatory framework for a legal dispensary system in those states that have existing medical marijuana laws with no distribution system in place. Medbox has engaged the help of consultants to establish a rapport with lawmakers in the jurisdictions and to ensure that Medbox clients are given access to information and licensing requirements as soon as the same is available. Medbox anticipates being a first-mover in these new states.
• Hiring of full-time CFO, Thomas Iwanski, as of April 15, 2013. Mr. Iwanski is a CPA with over 10 years of public company accounting experience. According to Iwanski and backed by his impeccable resume, he is well versed in accounting, auditing, forecasting, corporate strategic development, legal, HR, and IT disciplines. Accordingly, his diverse background touches virtually every aspect of business.
• The company has furnished and begun operations in an additional office within its headquarters in Hollywood, CA. The office is 3,000 square feet in addition to the company's current office and will accommodate some existing employees, the newly appointed CFO, as well as additional marketing and sales staff.
• Medbox is developing a dispensary management division aimed at allowing new and existing dispensary operators to engage Medbox to handle all aspects of day-to-day dispensary operations at a monthly rate of $10,000 per location. Services to include all phases of personnel, security, accounting, legal compliance, and management functions. Medbox has had interest from many of its new and existing clientele with regards to this service and believes it is a viable and perpetual revenue stream for the future.
• Medbox is proud to report that Q1 2013 was its highest revenue quarter in the company's history at more than $2 million booked as revenue and over $1.5 million booked as deferred revenue. The company paid down existing debts from $869,038 to $415,000. The company also reduced its receivables of $2,052,000 million dollars at year end 2012 and collected on $1,867,000, leaving a balance of $185,000 as of 4/15/2013. The company also reported that although aggressively targeting and executing on 3 acquisitions during Q1 2013, cash on hand remained at over $1 million dollars at 4/1/13.

About Medbox, Inc.: 

Medbox is a leader in the development, sales and service of automated, biometrically controlled dispensing and storage systems for medicine and merchandise. Medbox has offices throughout the world, including New York, Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Tokyo, London and Toronto, and has their corporate headquarters in Los Angeles.

Medbox provides their patented systems, software and consulting services to pharmacies, dispensaries, urgent care centers, drug rehab clinics, hospitals, prison systems, hospice facilities, and medical groups worldwide.

Medbox, Inc. is a publicly traded company, and is quoted on the OTC Markets, ticker symbol MDBX.

For more information on Medbox, please contact the Medbox Investor Relations Department at (800) 762-1452 or go online to www.medboxinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: The statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws.  Such statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control.  In addition, such forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change.  Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, technical advances in the industry, political conditions and economic conditions in the states considering such legislation.  We do not take any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or developments after a forward-looking statement was made.

SOURCE Medbox, Inc.