Campaigners for the legalisation of cannabis in New Zealand have filled a vending machine with the illegal drug in a stunt to promote decriminalisation.

According to Stuff.co.nz, The National Organisation for Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) bought the machine for its headquarters in West Auckland, replacing the usual sweets and fizzy drinks with single gram bags of marijuana.

The HQ was previously a club called The Daktory, which was shut down in 2011 after its owner, Dakta Green, was imprisoned for allowing the sale of drugs within the club's premises.

Norml reopened the club, with the vending machine proving a popular feature.

Each bag costs $20 (£10) and, on the busiest nights, the club can raise hundreds of dollars.

While the machine mostly serves as a method of distributing cannabis without anyone being culpable for dealing, Norml hope that the vending machine will also serve as a model for how legalising and regulating the drug could work

Julian Crawford, president of Norml, said that he hoped the machine could be "an example of how things could be," were the drug to be legalised.

Crawford hopes the club could educate visitors on drug reform: "We want to grow the number of activists we've got, not just be like a tinnie house."

Meanwhile, the local police are remaining cautious of the machine. Police revealed that a checkpoint would be set up outside the club to keep tabs on those entering and leaving.