Colorado Is Getting Its First Marijuana Drive-Thru Shop

The first drive-thru weed shop in the nation will soon let Colorado residents order their marijuana like fast food.

Officials in Parachute, a town in western Colorado, granted a license Thursday to a group that plans on turning an old carwash into a drive-thru marijuana business. The business, called Tumbleweed Express, plans to open their doors as soon as March to the community. Marijuana is a on contentious issue in the area, but the local economy strongly depends on revenue from legal sales, reports New York Daily News.

Tumbleweed Express, owned by Green Cross Colorado LLC, will still need to follow strict rules governing the substance, including barring anyone under 21-years-old from the premises, even if they are in the backseat of a car.

“As far as I can tell we are not aware of this business model ever coming up before,” Robert Goulding, spokesman for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, told Post Independent. “It will have to follow all the rules and regulations that apply to every dispensary.”

Parachute previously banned marijuana businesses in their community despite the liberal outlook on weed in the state. The marijuana industry in Colorado sold a record amount of weed in 2016, eclipsing $1 billion in sales for the first time. Officials repealed the ban in June 2015 to the ire of some, but marijuana sales are now a key part of the local economy.

Roughly 30 percent of Parachute’s sales tax revenue in 2016 came from legal marijuana sales.

“The really good news is that other businesses are benefiting from it,” Parachute Town Manager Stuart McArthur told Post Independent. “We think the drive-through is a very creative and innovative idea.”

Colorado is looked to as the trailblazer on easing marijuana laws, with Denver in particular being at the forefront of new legalization initiatives. A popular ballot in Denver will legalize social marijuana use in any business that attains a permit, ranging from cafes to yoga studios.