No More Drive-Thrus
Portland’s City Council voted yesterday to ban marijuana drive-thrus. The proposal passed easily, with the entire council voting in favor of it. There haven’t actually been any drive-thrus built in Portland yet. But the City Council apparently wanted to establish rules early on.
“We’re not aware of any medical dispensary in Portland that has drive-thrus or walk-up windows.” “But there has been expressed interest from some other local jurisdictions in Oregon,” said Theresa Marchetti.
Marchetti works with the Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement. City officials said the ban on drive-thrus is an attempt to update the laws that already exist. Currently, legal cannabis shops must tightly monitor and restrict who enters their buildings.
In order to eliminate any potential loopholes in these laws, city officials decided to outlaw drive-thrus right from the outset. Portland’s new rule is modeled on already existing laws that make it illegal to sell liquor in a drive-thru.
Those regulations are enforced by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. This organization also plays a key role in creating recreational marijuana laws in Oregon. Rules governing the use of medical marijuana are overseen by the Oregon Health Authority.
At this point, neither the Oregon Liquor Control Commission nor the Oregon Health Authority have made laws that would prohibit cannabis drive-thrus.
But apparently, Portland officials didn’t want to wait to see what the state would do. The city’s ban on cannabis drive-thrus goes into effect immediately.
That means that, at least for now, Portlanders can give up hopes of picking up their cannabis on the go. The idea of marijuana drive-thrus has been floating around for a while now.
Toward the end of last year, employees at a McDonald’s in France were accused of selling marijuana while at work. Officials said they had been selling marijuana to “customers” and delivering it to them using the restaurant’s drive-thru window.
But the idea is also taking the shape of fully legal ventures. Cannabis entrepreneurs in Gold Beach, Oregon recently announced plans to open a drive-thru dispensary on April 20. Many in the Gold Beach area have expressed support for the upcoming business, saying it could bring increased tourism to the small coastal town.
