Shine your wheels, pull the top down, get those hydraulics warmed up – times are changing, and you can pick up legal cannabis without feeling like the police helicopters are hovering above.
It doesn’t seem that long-ago that Ogden residents, and many around Utah, saw legal cannabis as a far-off west coast fad that never had a chance of reaching our isolated desert state.
Now that the green wave has crept over our stateliness, and Proposition 2 is Utah law, it might be harder still for people to believe that buying medical cannabis can be as simple as making a deposit at the bank drive-thru.
On Tuesday, May 26, Perfect Earth and Modern Apothecary will be the first Utah medical cannabis pharmacy to provide drive-thru services for their patients.
The pharmacy located at 3775 South Wall Avenue, in South Ogden was the third to open its doors.
The first Utah cannabis pharmacy was Dragonfly Wellness, who opened their doors March 2. They are located at 711 South State Street in downtown Salt Lake City and, according to pharmacy employees, they expect to have drive-thru service starting in the coming months.
Eleven more pharmacies are expected to open around the state by the end of the year, but according to officials at the Utah Department of Health, no opening days have been scheduled yet.
Although cannabis businesses are still left out of coronavirus protections, Utah patients’ voices have been heard by Legislators, somewhat, and dispensaries are considered an “essential” service during the COVID-19 lock-down.
Three state pharmacies keeping the doors open and their lobbies available to their patients pharmacies wasn’t enough. Many patients found excessive lines waiting to get into the lobby, and had difficulty following registration processes.
“It’s not a perfect system by any means; it’s tough and we’re trying to do some things to make it easier, smoother, and quicker for patients,” said Tim Pearl, Director of Operations at Perfect Earth.
Although drive-thru service is making it much easier for Utah patients, there are just a few guidelines pharmacy works would like those utilizing their locations to be conscientious of before visiting.
Salt Baked City was able to talk with Mario Enriquez. He is also known as “Mariojuana,” to his companions in the Utah Patients Coalition, and also a bud-tender at Perfect Earth Apothecary in South Ogden.
He wants to make sure those visiting the pharmacy are happy and well taken care of. Here are a few tips he suggests before you roll through the drive-thru next week:
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He stresses that the drive-thru service is not available for first-time pharmacy visitors. Those who haven’t had a first-time consultation with a pharmacist must still go through the lobby like usual.
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Registration rules and guidelines are available at Perfect Earth’s website for defense letters and Utah registered card holders.
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According to Enriquez, it is still taking about a week to register defense letters because of the demand. After registration is complete, and you’re visiting the pharmacy for at least the second time, you can access drive-thru services.
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Patients can now pre-order products, and pick them up themselves through the pharmacy drive-up window, or have a caregiver or legal guardian can do so after registering beforehand.
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Don’t forget it is still cash only.
Enriquez also cautions that since this is a new service, issues can be expected while launching this for patients.
“We’re excited to be the first in Utah to offer this service to patients and expect Tuesday to be a great day,” Enriquez said. “Nicole McGarry (Ogden medical cannabis patient Salt Baked City featured earlier this week) is going to be the first patient to use the drive-thru. She and I go way back in this fight together and I can’t be more excited to see her next week. She’s somebody that can really benefit from having this.”
Dragonfly Wellness and Perfect Earth have both claimed home to old banks with drive-thru facilities built into the buildings already, making it an easy transition for pharmacies.
Although evolving, many Utah medical patients are still wondering about home delivery. Home delivery was the other half of the negotiation (coupled with drive-thru services) that was swapped out for the original home grow option.
“The earliest that’s going to happen is July, and I emphasis ‘the earliest’,” said Rich Oborn, Director of the Center for Medical Cannabis at the Utah Department of Health. “Right now we’re working through some of the details on how we want that to operate, and there are some connections between software that need to happen, because it’s all the tracking is electronic.”
The first edition of Proposition 2 that voters agreed upon during the November 2016 elections allowed those living 100-miles or further from a pharmacy to cultivate four medical cannabis plants on their property if they were a registered patient.
After negotiations with legislators and leaders at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, home grow options were replaced with home delivery and drive-thru options to provide medical cannabis for those living in rural areas, or those who were unable to travel to local pharmacies because of illness.
“If I’m having a bad day, I can’t get up and go out to the pharmacy and I need to rely on my caregiver, which just makes it even more expensive,” said Nicole McGarry, Ogden medical cannabis patient.
With COVID-19 still sweeping the country, patients like McGarry, who already have a weakened immune system, are at high-risk for the infection to lead to more serious conditions, and even death.
“I don’t feel comfortable going out where other people are right now because I know I’m at risk, but sometimes you’re left with no choice,” McGarry said. “When I visited Perfect Earth for the first time recently, I was surprised how many people were there without masks and acting like everything was normal. I’d much rather have home delivery, but having drive-thru service is a big step forward.”
According to Oborn, the DOH is still working on some of the software that will be needed for tracking deliveries, and expects the services to be available this summer, July being the earliest.
“It’s possible delivery will happen later in the summer because there are just some things right now that I’m not sure how long they’re going to take, but I’m hopeful about it,” Oborn said.
