The cannabis industry comes together to offer free turkey and canning promotions for Thanksgiving

Cannabis has always paired well with Thanksgiving, both to enjoy the holidays with the people we love and to 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 busiest day.

While the holidays are a great time to reflect on all we have, it’s also an opportunity to look out to help others. Some cannabis companies have no shortage of altruism, having launched initiatives to help those in need. Many companies have made arrangements to give out free turkeys this year or to reward customers who donate canned goods to a good cause. This list is just a small glimpse of the contributions the cannabis industry makes year after year, but be sure to check out the dispensaries in your area to see what kind of efforts are underway.

Michigan has some cannabis companies pulling out all the stops this year. Puff Cannabis will be distributing 1,700 birds at designated locations on November 18th and November 21st-22nd. 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 that stuff that’s going on. Maybe people are missing jobs and other things maybe aren’t,” Hannawa said. “It’s that feeling you get when you know you’ve done something good, that you put a smile on someone’s face.”

The Light’N Up Cannabis Company invited former Detroit Red Wings athlete Darren McCarty to help distribute 1,000 turkeys on November 19th. According to owner Kyle Cohee, who is also a veteran, he started this initiative in 2021 when he found out he was serving 100 patients in need. “We’re just doing the right thing and caring about people,” Cohee said. “Alpine Market in Linden said they would set us up and get us the Spartan Brand turkeys at cost.” Eighty of the turkeys are reserved specifically for experienced patients through a partnership with Genesee County Veterans Services.

Several Michigan pharmacies are partnering with Common Citizen and High Life Farms for the Bring a Can, Get a Gram campaign. The initiative aims to raise 2,000 cans to donate to local food supplies, and every customer who brings at least one can of food will get a pre-roll. “We want to show people that cannabis is not just about consumption. It’s far more than just being a well-known company that wants to make money or something like that. We want to show people that as much as we love to grow and produce and share our love for the product with other people, we want to show other people that we care more about helping the community and to help others in need, especially around the holidays,” said Laura Bywalec, High Life Farms Marketing Manager.

MariMed (who you may remember as the company that made the world’s largest infused brownie in December 2021) is offering hundreds of turkeys as giveaways 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. Taking the financial burden of Thanksgiving a little bit and doing what we can to improve people’s lives through our actions, products and values ​​is core to our mission as a cannabis leader,” said Bob Fireman, CEO of MariMed.

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

In Thousand Palms, California, local Bulldog Cannabis dispensary is working with Riverside County to provide residents with 100 turkeys (1 per household). “We appreciate Bulldog Cannabis for this generous donation to the community of Thousand Palms,” said Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez. “I look forward to helping with this distribution and thank this local business for supporting 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 is also partnering with Wunder (a local cannabis beverage company) and Nugg Club (a Cannabis Subscription Service) to donate $2 for every bundle purchased given to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.