Illinois Dispensaries Begin Offering Drive-Thru Sales Under New State Law

A law signed by Gov. Pritzker in June is letting operators like Terrabis convert former fast-food drive-thru lanes into cannabis pickup windows.

FILE — statehouse · B.D. Gilfry / CC BY-SA 2.0

Cannabis dispensaries in Illinois can now legally operate drive-thru windows, a change enabled by a state law signed earlier this year, according to Shaw Local and MMJDaily.

Terrabis, which operates a Woodstock dispensary inside a former Burger King, is among the first operators moving to use the option, Shaw Local reported.

A Former Burger King Gets Its Drive-Thru Back

Terrabis opened its Woodstock location at 601 S. Eastwood Drive on March 22, 2025, in a building that still had its old Burger King drive-thru lane, according to Shaw Local. At the time, the lane sat unused because state rules barred dispensaries from drive-thru sales, the outlet reported.

That changed with a law update, and the Woodstock City Council approved Terrabis's request to use the lane on Tuesday, passing it without discussion as part of a consent agenda, Shaw Local reported. CEO Dan Ambrosino told the outlet the drive-thru is expected to open later this month, with hours set for 6 a.m. to midnight Sunday and Monday and 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday; orders would be placed online ahead of pickup.

"Opening a drive-thru in Illinois is something our customers have been asking for, and we're pleased to provide the added convenience," Ambrosino said, according to Shaw Local.

Company-Wide Rollout Planned

Ambrosino told Shaw Local that Terrabis is working with state and local regulators and hopes to have drive-thrus running at all five of its Illinois locations — Woodstock, Dixon, Mundelein, Plainfield and Grayville — by year's end. The Grayville site could open its drive-thru this month pending state inspection, he said. Ambrosino noted Terrabis already operates drive-thrus at two Missouri locations, opened in 2021, and expanded 24/7 drive-thru hours at its O'Fallon, Missouri, store earlier this year, according to Shaw Local. He said the Woodstock location is not the first Illinois dispensary to add a drive-thru but is among the earliest; a Godfrey, Illinois, dispensary also opened a drive-through lane in late August, according to related coverage from the Alton Telegraph in our database.

The Underlying Law

The drive-thru allowance stems from SB 3222, signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in June, according to MMJDaily. The law also doubled adult possession limits, expanded expungement eligibility to convictions involving up to 60 grams, and added several conditions — including female orgasmic disorder, endometriosis, ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids — to the state's qualifying medical cannabis list, MMJDaily reported. Separately, the same regulatory package let the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation begin accepting, as of Sept. 10, applications from adult-use dispensaries seeking to add medical sales at the lower medical tax rate, for a $5,000 non-refundable fee plus a $10,000 increase to renewal costs, according to MMJDaily.

Market Snapshot

State licensing records show Illinois currently has 321 open retail dispensary licenses, 106 cultivation licenses and 55 manufacturing licenses. Official sales filings in our database list several distinct monthly sales figures for Illinois in May and June 2026, in the range of roughly $26 million to $267 million depending on the category, but the filings do not clearly label what each figure represents — whether adult-use, medical or another breakdown — so a precise comparison to prior months cannot be drawn from the available data.

What to Watch

Whether drive-thru service meaningfully shifts sales volume remains unclear from available reporting; Ambrosino's comments to Shaw Local suggest the change is being framed primarily as a customer-convenience feature rather than a stated sales driver. Separately, a Northwest Indiana Times analysis found marijuana-related arrests in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties fell from 5,472 in 2021 to 2,614 in 2024 before rising slightly to 3,594 in 2025, a trend officials interviewed by the outlet linked to legal purchasing in neighboring Illinois and Michigan, though law enforcement sources cited in that report said interstate transport of dispensary products remains a persistent enforcement issue along the I-80/94 corridor.