US marijuana advocacy group handing out cannabis at COVID vaccine centres

A group in the US has come up with a unique way of thanking people for getting vaccinated and to “celebrate the end of the pandemic”.

Get stuck and take a puff – cannabis activist group DC Marijuana Justice plans to offer weed gift bags to those who get the COVID-19 vaccine in the nation’s capital, the organisation has announced.

“We are looking for ways to safely celebrate the end of the pandemic and we know nothing brings people together like cannabis,” wrote DCMJ co-founder Nikolas Schiller in a press release for the initiative, dubbed “Joints for Jabs.”

The group plans to hand out free weed baggies at Washington, D.C., vaccination sites, both to commemorate what is hopefully the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic and as advocacy for both reefer and vaccinations.

A doctor vaccinates a hospital staff member with an injection of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Picture: Ina Fassbender/AFP

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“To celebrate this momentous occasion and thank people for getting vaccinated, dozens of DC homegrowers will lawfully distribute free bags of cannabis outside vaccination centres as soon as the general public is able to get vaccinated,” the release quoted Mr Schiller as saying.

“When enough adults are inoculated with the coronavirus vaccine, it will be time to celebrate – not just the end of the pandemic, but the beginning of the end of cannabis prohibition in the United States.”

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Cannabis advocates are handing out free bags of weed at some COVID vaccination centres in Washington D.C. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

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D.C.’s Department of Health has not yet named the public vaccination sites, but DCMJ says they will release further details once those addresses and hours of operation have been made public.

In the meantime, local growers have already pledged 1.36kg of cannabis for the giveaway, and DCMJ hopes to have a total of 2.26kg by the time they begin offering them to freshly vaccinated members of the public, DCist reported.

In Australia we prefer our bags of cannabis be in evidence lockers than the hands of the recently vaccinated.

The organisers plan to distribute loose cannabis, as opposed to pre-rolled joints. Handing out free joints, they learned after doing as much during President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, leads to people smoking them on site and violating city law, in addition to being problematic to pandemic health protocol.

“Four years ago, we handed out over 10,000 joints – and we licked those joints,” DCMJ co-founder Adam Eidinger told DCist. “Today, we think that’s an issue.”

A look inside the facilities of the Australian Natural Therapeutic Group, the first company in NSW to be approved to manufacture medicinal cannabis products.

Baggie recipients might consider passing off their freebie to those currently suffering from the coronavirus, as a recent study found that cannabis extracts could possibly reduce the risk of dying from COVID-19.

Researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Canada reported the human body’s often fatal “cytokine storm” – during which the malfunctioning immune system attacks itself – was calmed by using three promising strains of sativa plants.

In Australia, the coronavirus vaccine is yet-to-be approved, and cannabis yet-to-be recreationally legalised.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission