They're decades ahead of us. While the press on meat - especially that found at fast food restaurants – is getting worse and worse, marijuana is on the rise for its many health benefits. Put both these trends together, along with the paltry wages paid by a McDonald's franchise, and you have all the ingredients giving rise to the first McAuto serving up cannabis buds. Off the menu, that is.

Eight employees at a McDonald's in the town of Genay, near Lyon, were cutting, weighing and packing marijuana at the salad bar, according to the account a co-worker (the informer) gave a French newspaper. Customers placed their orders via SMS and got their grass at the pick-up window, in the classic McDonald's take-away paper bags. It seems that the side business began in 2013 when a new management team arrived.

The sale of marijuana at the restaurant can be traced back to deteriorating labour conditions for the employees, according to The Local. Employees would wind up their workdays with card games lasting late into the night, along with generous doses of alcohol and drugs.

Some of the employees not participating in these shenanigans decided to send a complaint to the owners, which led to the dismissal of the eight workers in March of this year. In a statement the company explained that it dismissed the "entrepreneurs" for "illegal use" of the facility outside working hours, in addition to smoking pot on the premises, and then cooking with unwashed hands, without observing the most basic standards of hygiene.

The franchise's statement, however, makes no reference to the sale of marijuana at the drive-thru window. Police are investigating the case to clear up the details of what happened.

France, though it is the European country with the most cannabis users (40.9% of the French ages 15 to 64 have tried marijuana, ahead of Denmark, with 35.6 % of the population, and Spain, with 30.4%) is also one of those with the toughest anti-narcotics legislation, banning the production, possession, sale, purchase and use of any amount of cannabis, which is sanctioned with sentences of varying severity depending on the nature of the offence or crime.

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Original story from Le Progress, seen in The Local France, with information from Ouest France.