Las Vegas City Council approves drive-thru marijuana dispensaries
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LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — The city council on Wednesday voted to remove the prohibition on marijuana dispensary drive-thrus in Las Vegas.
It was a 6-0 vote on the bill sponsored by Councilwoman Michele Fiore of Ward 6.
The move is similar to that made by the Clark County Commission in August 2020 to allow for drive-thru cannabis operations in that jurisdiction.
A rep for local dispensary Thrive Cannabis Marketplace says they’re elated that they will now be allowed to look into adding drive-thru windows at their City of Las Vegas locations.
“We’ve currently been operating a drive-thru cannabis dispensary in North Las Vegas, as the regulations are little bit different there. We’ve been operating that since July of 2020. And it has been a great way for us to process more customers and patients throughout the day due to the capacity restrictions,” said Ashley Blackwood, director of compliance at Thrive Cannabis Marketplace.
She said their North Las Vegas drive-thru has been a huge success, and added that 40 percent of their sales traffic has since shifted to drive-thru.
She also said the drive-thru makes for a more contactless experience during the pandemic.
“We are going to do everything we can to try and implement a drive-thru process at both of those [Las Vegas] city locations as soon as we’re able to do so,” said Blackwood.
She also said it adds security for their employees, who might otherwise have to frequent the parking lot to deliver curbside pickup orders.
Blackwood said customers seem to love drive-thrus.
“Basically everyone who tries the drive-thru at our North Las Vegas location decides to never go back to purchasing any other way,” said Blackwood.
Blackwood said everyone in the car has to be 21 or older.
The lifted ban won’t be without its provisions, however.
“The effect will be to allow a dispensary to propose and operate a drive-through facility as a conditional use,” according to the language of the bill. “The drive-through use will be subject to conditional use procedures, limitations and requirements. In addition, for existing dispensaries, other approval processes might be necessary to entitle a drive-through. Security issues would be addressed through the licensing process.”
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