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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