Las Vegas gets a marijuana drive-thru, touted as first of its kind in the country

Marijuana shoppers in the Las Vegas Valley will now be able to order their weed like they do fast food, thanks to Nevada's first pot drive-thru set to open today.

Nuwu Cannabis Marketplace, located on tribal land on 1235 Paiute Circle near downtown Las Vegas, planned to open the one-lane drive-thru to the public at noon. Designed for elderly and handicapped customers who’d prefer not to leave their vehicles, the drive-thru service will offer about 15 popular flower, edible and concentrate products.

“We want all customers to have that same experience of being able to get in and get out,” said Benny Tso, chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. “It’s about speed and convenience.”

The drive-thru, a converted $30,000 bank teller window shipped from Washington state last week, is made of bullet-proof glass and framed with bullet-proof Kevlar material. At least two surveillance cameras line both the inside and outside of the window.

Store representatives said they hope to serve customers in less than a minute after the customer’s order is placed. Ethan Lucas, Nuwu’s product manager, said drive-thru managers have been hired away from fast-food chains to handle expected vehicle traffic and take orders while drive-thru customers are in line.

The new window is designed after a similar model used at the tribe’s popular smoke shop, located about 100 feet away from the nearly 16,000-square-foot mega dispensary, which opened last month. Tso estimated that nearly 300 vehicles pass through the smoke shop drive-thru on a given day.

“We just wanted to be able to play with the big dogs up here,” Tso said, referring to the expanding marijuana industry in Las Vegas.

Kevin Clock, president of Cascade Strategic Investments who partners with Nuwu, said the new drive-thru is the first fast food-style drive-thru for recreational marijuana in the country.

A car wash-style drive-thru with opening and closing garage-style doors for Tumbleweed Dispensary in Parachute, Colo., opened on April 20. All Greens Dispensary in Sun City, Ariz., opened a fast food-style drive-thru for their medical marijuana-only facility on Oct. 27.