The Senate unanimously voted to stamp out marijuana vending machines and drive-throughs in Washington Monday afternoon — currently allowed under a sales loophole under Initiative 502.
SB 5903, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, passed off the Senate floor Monday and heads to the House for hearings.
The bill would make it a misdemeanor to sell marijuana from a vending machine or through a drive-through window, and would bar the Liquor Control Board from issuing or renewing a license to a retailer using those methods. The current marijuana laws don’t disallow those methods of sale.
At least one marijuana vending machine exists in Washington — a self-service, ID verifying machine issuing medical cannabis products at Seattle Caregivers, a dispensary in South Seattle. According to vending machine company American Green, several marijuana stores in Colorado also have vending machines.
“Part of making the recreational-marijuana market work is keeping tight regulations on the sale and distribution and ensuring responsible use,” Bailey said in a prepared statement. “We don’t sell alcohol from drive-throughs and we should treat marijuana the same way.”