Dispensaries are doing their part to help others to feel the true spirit of thankfulness this Thanksgiving with a round of free turkeys. In recent years, Green Wednesday, which falls on the day before Thanksgiving, has become the cannabis industry’s second-highest grossing day of sales, and a big day for promotional giveaways. Like last year, many cannabis companies are joining the holiday spirit and running their own turkey drives with free turkeys for people in need.

Thanksgiving is a holiday people in the New World have celebrated since 1621, with a feast, and dispensaries can help if you can’t afford it this year. High Times found a handful of dispensaries that are participating in turkey drives this year.

Puff Cannabis Company plans to give away hundreds of free turkeys this week. The Madison Heights, Michigan-based dispensary chain’s second annual Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway starts today and runs through Friday at Puff stores throughout the tri-county area.

Puff Cannabis founder Justin Elias said they plan to hand out over 2,500 turkeys to people in need—twice the amount of free turkeys distributed last year. “The goal of Puff Cannabis Company from the beginning has been to offer top- notch cannabis products while building a knowledgeable and customer- focused team,” Elias said in a statement. “We are honored to have grown to 12 dispensary locations throughout Michigan in only four years, with many locations on tap to open in 2024.”

There are Puff locations across Michigan including in Bay City, Traverse City, Oscoda, Sturgis, River Rouge, Kalamazoo, and Monroe.

Also in Michigan, former Detroit Red Wings Darren McCarthy’s Light’N Up Cannabis Company gave away the turkeys last weekend. Of the turkeys, 100 were planned to be given to Vet Life, a local nonprofit organization that serves veterans, and 20 turkeys went to the North End Soup Kitchen and several other Flint area churches and organizations.

“Once you get something like this started, it takes on a life of its own and is more fun and more rewarding each year. The gratitude people express is heartwarming,” said Kyle Cohee, store owner. “We’ve been through some tough times here in Flint, and people deserve every single break we can provide. Giving them the central part of a Thanksgiving meal is our honor and our way of thanking the people of Flint for supporting our store.”

MariMed is donating over 800 turkeys in the states where it currently operates, including Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, and Delaware. “Doing our part to support the communities we serve is an important part of MariMed’s mission to improve people’s lives every day,” said CEO Jon Levine. “This is the third consecutive year of our Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, which has become a wonderful tradition that our entire MariMed family rallies behind. We’re proud that we can help ease the financial burden for so many people at this time of year.”

Bulldog Cannabis in Thousand Palms, California is donating 100 turkeys for families in Thousand Palms to have for the Thanksgiving holiday, the dispensary’s annual holiday drive.

The turkeys will be given out from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22 to the first 100 families from Thousand Palms.

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, spoke on the support by the local business.

“We appreciate Bulldog Cannabis for supporting the community and local families and once again giving back in this way to our unincorporated community of Thousand Palms,” Perez said. “It is a wonderful donation and people are welcome to come by on Wednesday, November 22 and pick up a turkey for the holiday.”

Bulldog Cannabis is the first cannabis business within the unincorporated communities of the Fourth District, and is located in Thousand Palms, the heart of the valley.

Bulldog Cannabis Owner Sam Kapukchyan states, “Bulldog Cannabis is proud to continue the tradition of our turkey giveaway to local Thousand Palms residents. Here at Bulldog, we are all about family caring for others and giving back. Our local Thousand Palms customers have been very loving and supportive of our shop so, on November 22nd, we will be passing out 100 turkeys, one per household to our local Thousand Palms residents, no purchase necessary.”

The turkey giveaway will be a walk-up distribution outside Bulldog Cannabis in Thousand Palms, 72-242 Watt Court.

People who get a turkey should remember to never put a frozen turkey in the deep fryer. That’s why some of the turkey drives are requiring recipients to sign a waiver. They should also make sure that the turkey is completely thawed because oil and water do not mix, and the turkey should thaw in the refrigerator.

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Executives from a Massachusetts-based cannabis company dressed in colonial garb aboard a ship in Boston Harbor on Wednesday to protest an IRS rule that requires regulated marijuana companies to pay taxes that are significantly higher than businesses in other industries. The demonstration, which evoked the legendary Boston Tea Party at the same site 250 years ago, was orchestrated by licensed cannabis company MariMed to protest 280E, an IRS tax rule that is the bane of state-legal cannabis companies from coast to coast.

Lucas McCann, the chief science officer and a co-founder of cannabis compliance consulting firm CannDelta, explained how the IRS rule that prohibits most standard business tax deductions affects companies in the regulated cannabis industry.

“Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is a daunting hurdle for cannabis businesses, including retail dispensaries. In short, 280E is a code used to make cannabis businesses less profitable by making them pay more of their overall profits in taxes,” McCann, who was not involved in Wednesday’s protest, writes in an email. “Rooted in the 1980s, this outdated tax legislation was crafted to prevent drug dealers from claiming any business expenses on their taxes. In a modern twist of coincidence, today’s cannabis businesses operate legally under state law but are still treated as illicit businesses, federally speaking, because cannabis is still listed as a Schedule I substance.”

Protest Evokes The Boston Tea Party

Wednesday’s protest re-enacted the famed Boston Tea Party of 1773, when colonists protested high taxes levied by the British Crown on tea shipped to the New England colonies. In an act of independence-minded defiance, members of the group the Sons of Liberty, some disguised as Native Americans, boarded ships moored in Boston Harbor and dumped chests of tea into the water to protest the high taxes.

MariMed’s demonstration resurrected themes from the protest 250 years ago, this time featuring executives from the company dressed in period clothing aboard the Liberty Star, a schooner adorned with banners protesting 280E. Brandishing boxes emblazoned with the word “weed,” the costumed protesters shouted slogans as they boarded the ship and heaved the chests into Boston Harbor. In a statement, the company noted that the boxes were empty, made of natural wood and promptly retrieved from the water. 

“As a Boston-based multi-state cannabis operator, MariMed protested in a way that would make the company’s Patriot ancestors proud – by paying homage to the most famous tax protest in history during the year of the Boston Tea Party’s 250th anniversary,” the company wrote. “By shining a light on Section 280E’s negative financial impact on legal cannabis operators, MariMed hopes to effectuate policy change geared towards industry growth and advancement.”

Jon Levine, the CEO of MariMed, said that the demonstration was a way to draw attention to the tax rules, which negatively impact patients and consumers and threaten to cripple businesses in the regulated cannabis industry. He also called for an end to 280E for businesses operating in compliance with state law.

“Section 280E is unfair and hampers companies striving to make cannabis accessible for consumers and medical cannabis patients in all legal states,” Levine said in a statement from MariMed. “It should be repealed. Doing so would remove an obstacle to our mission to improve people’s lives every day through cannabis.” 

But eliminating the tax rule is easier said than done. A legislative repeal of the rule is required, but so far, bills to reform the federal government’s policy on cannabis have not specifically addressed 280E. The comprehensive legalization of cannabis would make the rule a moot point, but that solution is unlikely to come anytime soon.

“There are several bills that have been floated in D.C., but none to our knowledge that includes language about eliminating 280E,” Levine said in a statement to High Times. “The most likely path to the elimination of 280E is for cannabis to be rescheduled or de-scheduled altogether. President Biden has asked the Department of Health & Human Services for an opinion about that, but nothing’s happened yet. Just another example of the slog in D.C. as it pertains to federal cannabis reform.” 

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Cannabis has always paired well with Thanksgiving, both as a way to enjoy the holidays with the people we love, or a way to help increase our tolerance for certain skeptical, judgmental, or opinionated family members. In recent years Green Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), has become the cannabis industry’s second-highest grossing day of sales.

While the holidays are a great time to reflect on everything we have, it’s also an opportunity to look outside ourselves to help others. Some cannabis businesses have no shortage of altruism as they have created initiatives to aid those in need. Many businesses have made arrangements to give out free turkeys this year or reward customers who donate canned food for a good cause. This list is just a glimpse at the contributions that the cannabis industry brings year after year, but be sure to check out dispensaries near you to see what kind of efforts are underway.

In Michigan, there are a few cannabis businesses pulling out all the stops this year. Puff Cannabis will be giving out 1,700 birds on Nov. 18, and Nov. 21-22 at specific locations. Owner Nick Hannawa told CBS News how important it is to give back. “These things are tough, you know, with prices and inflation and all the things that are going on. Maybe people, you know, are lacking on jobs and different things, you know, might not do this,” Hannawa said. “It’s that feeling that you get, knowing that you did a good deed, that you put a smile on somebody’s face.”

Light’N Up Cannabis Company invited former Detroit Red Wings athlete Darren McCarty to help hand out 1,000 turkeys on Nov. 19. According to owner Kyle Cohee, who is also a veteran, he began this initiative in 2021 when he found out that he served 100 patients who were in need. “We’re just doing the right thing and taking care of people,” Cohee said. “Alpine Market in Linden said they will hook us up and got us the turkeys from Spartan Brand for cost.” Eighty of the turkeys will specifically be reserved for veteran patients, through a partnership with Genesee County Veterans Services.

Multiple Michigan dispensaries are working with Common Citizen and High Life Farms for the “Bring a Can, Get a Gram” campaign. The initiative is striving to collect 2,000 cans to donate to local food pantries, and any customer that brings in at least one can of food will receive one pre-roll. “We want to show people that cannabis isn’t just about consuming. It’s far more than just being a big name company that wants to make money or kind of things like that. We want to show people that as much as we love growing and producing and sharing our love for the product with other people, we want to show other people we care more about helping the community and helping others in need especially around the holidays,” said High Life Farms’s Marketing Manager Laura Bywalec.

MariMed (who you might remember as the company who made the world’s largest infused brownie in December 2021) is offering hundreds of turkeys in a giveaway at its locations in Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and Delaware. “MariMed is proud to do our part and help others in the communities where we operate. Helping to ease a bit of the financial burden on Thanksgiving and doing what we can to improve people’s lives through our actions, products, and values is core to our mission as a leading cannabis company,” said MariMed CEO Bob Fireman.

In Massachusetts, Terps Cannabis is working with Chip-in-Food-Pantry, asking customers to donate canned food. It’s also celebrating the opening of its third location in Charlton with an event Nov. 18-20, featuring free food from local food trucks.

In Thousand Palms, California, local dispensary Bulldog Cannabis is partnering with Riverside County to provide 100 turkeys to residents (1 per household). “We really appreciate Bulldog Cannabis for providing this generous donation to the community of Thousand Palms,” said Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez. “I look forward to helping in this distribution and thanking this local business for assisting the community with food for the Thanksgiving holiday.”

Oakland, California-based savory edibles company TSUMo is not only offering two new flavors of its savory chips (Turkey Dinner and Churro) but it’s partnering with Wunder (a local cannabis beverage company) and Nugg Club (a cannabis subscription service) to donate $2 for every bundle purchased, which will be given to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.

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There are 20,000 mg of THC buried in that boulder of chocolate. If we eat it in one sitting, is it free?

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