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PAWTUCKET — On the way to Providence, the large billboards hugging the side of the highway might catch a driver’s eye.
In big block letters against a black backdrop, the signs read “Weed Drive Thru,” next to a neon green “Open” sign, perhaps prompting questions for the casual consumer or curious commuter.
For years, marijuana has been legal for recreational use in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and Vermont, for those 21 and older. But regulations around how cannabis products can be sold and dispensed still vary state to state.
So what are the rules with drive-thru weed?
“It’s like getting a cup of coffee,” said Joe Pakuris, owner of Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket, who is operating one of the only drive-thru cannabis services of its kind in New England.
What Pakuris is offering is technically “curbside” pickup, and it’s been in place since around mid-December. The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation and Office of Cannabis Regulation recently approved a revised bulletin allowing for curbside pickup with a “drive-thru” flair.
“I’m creating the feeling of a drive-thru,” Pakuris said, adding that because the building doesn’t have a window for the order to be passed through, the service isn’t technically considered a drive-thru.
Yet, as Pakuris said, the experience is very much like ordering a coffee.
Drivers pulling up to the Esten Avenue dispensary come to a stop at a booth by the entrance for the first of two ID checks. Customers who preordered go to the right, and those who didn’t keep left.
“What can I get for you today?” a muffled voice coming through the speaker said on a recent Friday afternoon.
A three-paneled digital menu board above the speaker illuminates options: Flower, vapes, pre-rolls, and edibles galore.
After placing an order, drivers roll through the line and park at a curbside pickup spot. A “budtender” completes a second ID check before retrieving the order and delivering it to customers through their driver-side window.
The whole experience clocked in at less than 2 and a half minutes.
Cannabis cannot be consumed on site. It’s against Rhode Island law to smoke or otherwise use it in public places.
“Security picks it up,” Pakuris said, adding that the dispensary has many security cameras stationed throughout the property to ensure compliance.
Pakuris said the business has the capacity to allow 100 vehicles in the queue, and the most he’s had lined up at once has been 70 to 80 cars.
“We’re very efficient,” Pakuris said, adding that the average time it takes to fill an order is between 1 and 3 minutes. Pakuris said he has a designated employee filling drive-thru and curbside orders, which helps the system to run smoothly.
The drive-thru model has a certain appeal for customers who might be anxious about going into a cannabis dispensary.
“They may have reservations about, ‘Is someone going to see me,’ or ‘I don’t know what to get,’” Pakuris said.
The drive-thru takes away that fear, “Because you don’t have to get out of your car.”
Mother Earth Wellness opened in 2022, and it’s considered one of the largest dispensaries in New England. The “drive-thru” service was always part of the plan.
“It was my dream to have this,” Pakuris said.
Part of what made it possible is the abutting property, also owned by Pakuris, affording the dispensary plenty of space where vehicles can line up. The city of Pawtucket was “instrumental” in helping make the business model happen, Pakuris said. Mother Earth Wellness employs 110 people — 20 percent are Pawtucket residents, he said.
In Rhode Island, several other dispensaries have been approved for curbside pickup services, including Greenleaf Compassion Center in Portsmouth, RISE Dispensary in Warwick, and the Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence, although ordering ahead of time is required at all of the locations, and at RISE, the pickup service is available only for medical marijuana card holders.
A cannabis drive-thru recently opened at Venu Flower Collective in Connecticut, but orders must be placed ahead of time to minimize traffic.
Slater, in Providence, which started its curbside pickup service four years ago, is working on a way to offer on-demand curbside pickup, similar to Mother Earth.
“That’s still in the planning stages,” said Laura Meade Kirk, one of the managers at Slater. “But this has proven to be very efficient.”
In Massachusetts, dispensaries aren’t permitted to offer curbside pickup. During COVID-19, the Cannabis Control Commission temporarily allowed some dispensaries to offer the service, and after several extensions, the policy expired on Dec. 31, 2023, according to a commission spokesperson.
“There are no retail marijuana establishments operating with drive-thrus at this time,” the spokesperson said.
But some Bay State dispensaries, like Green N’ Go in Uxbridge, have been pushing to keep drive-thru service around.
“Allowing customers to pick up their orders instead of leaving their car makes it convenient … reduces in-store traffic, and is all-around beneficial for everyone involved,” Green N’ Go said on its website. “We are working hard behind the scenes to support the proposal of a new bill that would allow window pickup for all dispensary customers.”
In Massachusetts, state laws are specific when it comes to cannabis and open containers in vehicles.
“Like alcohol, you may not have an open container of adult-use marijuana/marijuana products in the passenger area of your car while on the road or at a place where the public has access,” according to Massachusetts law.
An “open container” includes a package with its seal broken, or a package from which the contents have been partially removed. The “passenger area” does not include a trunk or a locked glove compartment, the state law said.
In Rhode Island, driving while under the influence of cannabis is strictly prohibited, but state cannabis laws don’t lay out open container regulations the way Massachusetts laws do.
“There is nothing in the RI Cannabis Act, or laws that were amended with the implementation of the RI Cannabis Act, that provides the equivalent of ‘open container’ for marijuana,” Lieutenant Colonel Robert Creamer of the Rhode Island State Police said via email. “For purposes of law enforcement, the RI law provides the legal weight limits for recreational possession and penalties for operating under the influence. There is nothing specific like Mass., CT and NY regarding the prohibition of open container of marijuana in a vehicle.”
According to Rhode Island law, it is prohibited for “any person to operate, navigate, or be in actual physical control of any motor vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat while under the influence of cannabis. However, a person shall not be considered to be under the influence solely for having cannabis metabolites in his or her system.”
Rhode Island law prohibits people from having more than one ounce of marijuana while driving, and violations result in license suspension for six months. Massachusetts law also prohibits individuals from carrying more than one ounce of cannabis.
Brittany Bowker can be reached at brittany.bowker@globe.com. Follow her @brittbowker and also on Instagram @brittbowker.
