The owner of one of Springfield’s nine licensed marijuana dispensaries wants to keep the drive-thru window open until 1:30 a.m. Currently, marijuana can only be sold from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. A bill submitted by V3 MO Vending 5, LLC that went before council Monday night would allow only drive-through windows to be open later.
Nicola Mattis co-owns Terrabis at 850 E. Kearney as well as other marijuana dispensaries in Missouri and Illinois. He said, initially, they wanted the drive-thru open 24-hours.
But he said they changed the request to instead allow their drive-thru to remain open until 1:30 a.m. after feedback that 24 hours "might be too much for Springfield."
Councilman Craig Hosmer questioned how many people would actually purchase after 10 p.m. Mattis told him one of their businesses in O’Fallon has a high number of sales overnight.
"It's proven to a be a successful model, a compliant model and a safe model," said Mattis. "We do approximately 4,000 transactions a week between 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. at that location just to frame that a little bit, to answer Councilman Hosmer's question about demand during that window. We pulled ourselves off the agenda because we want to be responsible stewards of the community."
Drive-thru liquor sales are allowed in Missouri until 1:30 a.m.
Hosmer questioned the need for the change, wondering whether or not there were people who have complained because they don't have sufficient opportunity to buy cannabis products.
Councilman Abe McGull pointed out that the marijuana tax in Springfield helps fund things like jail diversion at the city's municipal court, affordable housing and the Springfield Land Trust.
The Springfield Police Department had expressed concern with drive-thru windows being open 24 hours but did not comment on the current request.
Council will vote on the bill on July 27. If the bill is approved, all nine licensed comprehensive dispensaries in Springfield, six of which have drive-thru windows, will be allowed to sell until 1:30 a.m.
Springfield Planning and Zoning recommended approval.
