Anchorage Assembly to consider allowing drive-thrus, free samples at marijuana retailers

Anchorage residents over the age of 21 may soon be able to get marijuana products via drive-thru windows and free samples from some local pot retailers.

The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday is considering a pair of ordinances that would change city regulations on marijuana retailers, allowing drive-thru and walk-up windows, internet and phone sales and samples for customers.

The proposal follows similar changes at the state level. In August, the state’s Marijuana Control Board changed its rules to permanently allow drive-thru service and internet sales, after first loosening regulations in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then in October, the state board also revoked its prohibition on stores giving free samples to customers.

But current city code bans weed shops from running drive-thrus and from selling product using websites or internet applications.

“The gist of these elements are to bring municipal code in line with state changes,” Assembly member George Martinez said of the proposed ordinances at a Community and Economic Development Committee meeting last month. Martinez is co-chair of the committee.

Some local retailers have already applied for city permits to open windows, according to a memorandum.

But others have raised concerns about the revisions.

Lloyd Stiassny, owner of Uncle Herb’s, told the committee that he sees the proposed changes as a potential public safety issue that could make access to marijuana easier for underage consumers.

Stiassny said his store has been “pestered” for free samples since the state changed its regulations, and samples could potentially be abused by someone going from store to store.

“Those samples are going to find their way right into the underage” client, he said.

Store workers would be forced to check IDs for everyone in a vehicle, he said

“I think we’re creating a burden for the industry that’s unnecessary. And that’s my biggest concern,” Stiassny said.

Will Schneider of Catalyst Cannabis Co. disagreed. Underage customers could not go through a drive-thru, he said. Employees have to ensure that everyone in a vehicle is of age and that provides a better check, he said.

“Those people could be sitting in your parking lot and none of their ages being checked,” when just one person goes into the store to make a purchase, he said.

And many pharmacies sell prescribed narcotics at drive-thrus, which also have the potential for abuse or impaired driving, Schneider said.

Samples can help with business promotion and drive-thrus would be convenient to customers, helping to attract business, he said.

Assembly members said they are weighing the potential for public safety concerns with the potential benefits.

“That it’s beneficial to the industry is less of a concern of what is in the best interest of the public safety, and is this a reasonable ask?” Assembly member Kevin Cross, co-chair of the committee, said. “And is it not necessarily creating a public health issue or is it not detrimental to the public?”