Marcella Baietto

The Arizona Republic

SUN CITY, Ariz. — A dispensary about 30 minutes outside of Phoenix has opened Arizona's first medical marijuana drive-thru.

All Greens in Sun City originally opened its doors on May 2, but introduced the drive-thru on Friday. By Friday evening, dozens of cars lined up outside of the dispensary.

Bret Idaspe, All Greens' sales manager, said the dispensary had been working with the state for nearly five months to allow the use of a drive-thru, becoming the first to open the service.

One of their biggest obstacles was making sure the person receiving the marijuana product from inside the vehicle was the medical marijuana card holder.

"You have to be able and reach in there and grab it," said Idaspe. "That was the stipulation that the state had so we met it."

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The dispensary attracts an older crowd, and All Greens kept that in mind when thinking about introducing a drive-thru.

"Our average age is about 40 years old which doesn't sound that old, but to an average dispensary, that is old," said Idaspe. "That is one of the reasons that drove us to get the drive-thru because we have so many people on walkers and wheelchairs."

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First-time customers will not be able to use the drive through because All Greens wants to be able to create a relationship with them before they use the service, said Idaspe.

The very first person to try out the new drive-thru service was Christopher Blount, an army veteran who uses medicinal marijuana.

"For me, this is history in a way since this is the first in the entire state," said Blount.

Blount, 39, said the drive-thru service will assist with customer privacy.

"For me personally, it gives people the ability to be private and not let everyone know that they have a card because they don't want to be seen as someone who is a card holder."