Cash payments are no longer the only options for Utah cannabis patients to pay with when they need to get their medicinal cannabis.

Utah’s medical cannabis patients are now allowed by the state to spend their money inside marijuana pharmacies.

In the last few weeks, Utah’s cannabis pharmacies have started to experiment with an app that caters to marijuana transactions and gives patients a payment option that doesn’t involve paper currency.

“People want a very similar experience to what they have with CVS or REI or anywhere else, where you do curbside pickup,” said Chris Jeffrey, managing partner and CEO of WholesomeCo Cannabis, which has a West Bountiful pharmacy. “Avoiding the whole need for cash is something that consumers want.”

According to Richard Oborn, who heads the Center for Medical Cannabis for the Utah Department of Health, WholesomeCo, Dragonfly Wellness in Salt Lake City and Deseret Wellness in Provo are all accepting electronic payments over the app, called Hypur.

Oborn is expecting more pharmacies will follow to satisfy a customer demand for cashless transactions.

“It just makes it so patients now don’t have to carry a bunch of cash with them, and that is a major public safety concern,” Oborn said. “I can understand why they wouldn’t want to be running around with $100 or $200.”

Narith Panh, chief strategy officer for Dragonfly Wellness in Salt Lake City said, “It’s no longer this back alley transaction. [Hypur] makes people feel like it’s OK what they’re doing.”

Hypur’s chief revenue officer, Tyler Beuerlein has said that through the Hypur system, funds move directly from the user’s bank account to the pharmacy. The app works because Hypur partners with financial institutions that are willing to operate in the cannabis industry and are capable of transferring money from a patient to a retailer, Beuerlein said.

The app is free for users, he added.


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