Global Ganja Report

Residents of Lansing, Mich., who register to vote could get free cannabis from the city's Your Healthy Choice Clinic. The dispensary is offering half a gram or a free "medible" as a thank you for registering—a move that has generated much controversy. "It wasn't ever to lure patients or try to buy their votes—no, not at all," said dispensary owner Shekina Pena. "We let them know how we feel, we don't tell them who to vote for."

But Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope says the dispensary is treading on a very fine line because the give-away seems to be too closely tied to which candidates the clinic supports. The tag line on their website is: "Vote for us and we'll vote for you."

"There are very clear prohibitions in the law about giving someone any type of consideration for voting or voting a certain way or you can't give someone an enticement for not voting," said Swope.

Pena counters that that isn't what the clinic is doing. "We really got to fight to get the voters out there because the polls are showing there's 4-5,000 people in Lansing that are patients or caregivers so we need those 4-5,000 people to come forth to the polls and vote for whomever they feel is in support of what they want for access," she said. "It gets their attention and like the Medical Marijuana Acts says, you can't sell it so what's wrong with giving it away?"

State Senator Rick Jones says he believes the clinic is using marijuana to influence voting and has contacted the attorney general's office to look into the case. (WILX, Lansing, July 30)

 Photo by Barbara Doduk