Drive-thru pharmacies have made picking up your prescription meds more convenient for decades. In Sun City, Ariz., shopping for marijuana will now be just as easy.
All Greens Dispensary opened Arizona’s the first marijuana drive-thru window on Friday. The medical marijuana outlet retrofitted a former bank — complete with a drive-thru bank teller window — and transformed it to suit its unique need.
“Some [patients] are coming in, have wheelchairs, have walkers, this is a lot more convenient atmosphere,” said Anthony Harrington, CEO of All Greens. “First-time patients will have to come in our store to register, but once you’re a registered patient you can go through the drive-thru,” Harrington told AZFamily.com.
“We are going to kind of incorporate a Dutch Bros philosophy,” Harrington added. “We’ll have our budtenders out there facilitating the sale, engaging with the patient, taking the order, confirming the order.”
Sun City is about 30 miles northwest of Phoenix and is home to a large population of “snowbirds” and retirees. Out of the 23,490 households, only 0.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them. So clearly, the consumer demographic is older. According to the U.S. census, 15.4 percent of people living in the state Arizona are 65 years or older. The city, and adjoining community of Sun City West, have attracted flocks of the Baby Boomer’s first wave of retirees.
In Arizona, the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana patients are:
- Cancer
- Glaucoma
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
- Hepatitis C
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Crohn’s Disease
- Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease
- A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or the treatment for a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition that causes:
- Cachexia or wasting syndrome;
- Severe and chronic pain;
- Severe nausea;
- Seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy;
- Severe or persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis
