Marijuana Legalization 2016: Drive-Thru Cannabis Windows Banned In Portland

Portland, Oregon, residents are going to have to get our of their car if they want to purchase pot.

Portland’s city council voted unanimously Wednesday to ban recreational marijuana drive-thru dispensaries. The ban went into effect immediately. In Oregon, there are laws that ban drive-thrus for alcohol, and the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the state’s marijuana industry, does not provide any guidelines on the subject.

The move was a preemptive measure, as no weed drive-thru windows exist in the city. However, there are drive-thru dispensaries planned for other corners of the state.

“We’ re not aware of any medical dispensary in Portland that has drive-thrus or walk-up windows,” Theresa Marchetti, a spokeswoman for the Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement, told radio station OPB-FM. “But there has been expressed interest from some other local jurisdictions in Oregon.”

In Gold Beach, 45 miles from the California border, a cannabis drive-thru shop is slated to open in April. The dispensary is expected to attract tourists to the coastal town. “I believe this venture is going to be quite an asset to the area,” Curry County Economic Development Director Julie Schmelzer told Oregon Live, adding it could “help Gold Beach and the southwestern coast become a destination for those interested in the new green tourism.”

California does allow recreational marijuana, but Oregon is one of four states, in addition to Washington, D.C., that have legalized marijuana entirely.