Ask a Stoner: What Happened to To-Go Dispensary Sales?

Westword

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Dear Stoner: What happened to dispensary to-go windows? Now I have to go back inside.
Papi

Dear Papi: Walk-up and drive-thru windows at dispensaries were products of executive orders enacted by Governor Jared Polis at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in the spring of 2020. After those executive orders ended last summer, many of those windows closed across the state, because dispensaries could only accept cash inside at the register again. But don’t slam your hopes shut just yet.

click to enlarge

Customers wait to pick up a purchase at a walk-up window at Higher Grade, a Denver dispensary, in 2020.

Thomas Mitchell

Permanent to-go and drive-thru marijuana sales were actually allowed by the state Marijuana Enforcement Division in 2021, but those temporary windows didn’t slide open right away. First, local governments have to approve to-go windows at dispensaries, and then any pot shop that wants to operate to-go windows has to follow stricter security and surveillance rules that weren’t required during the executive-order period. Denver City Council approved to-go windows last April, but most of the dispensaries that had them when the rules were looser haven’t gone through the permitting process to reintroduce walk-up or drive-thru sales.

Some might, though, and I’ll be waiting — because getting my weed without entering the store was a major convenience during rush hour.

Send questions to [email protected].