TheCable

In a bid to encourage vaccination against COVID-19, free pre-rolled marijuana joints were offered to residents who have received the vaccine by the state of Washington, United states.

Officials of the Washington state Liquor and Cannabis board (LCB), said they had “received multiple requests from cannabis retail licensees to engage in promotions to support state vaccination efforts”.

The board on June 7, therefore, gave state licensed cannabis retailers permission to offer free ‘weed’ to “adult consumers who receive a vaccination at an in-store vaccination clinic”.

According to the LCB, the promotion, which it called “Joint for Jabs” was aimed at supporting the state’s vaccination efforts.

The board ran the promotion from June 7 through June 12 for adults 21 and older but said consumers could only claim the complimentary joint from the retail location on the same day they received the jab.

This offer came just a few weeks after the LCB offered free beer, wine and cocktails to those who got vaccinated.

Washington is not the only state to offer marijuana to people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

An Arizona dispensary in its “Snax for Vaxx” programme, offered vaccine recipients age 21 and up with a free edible and a free pre-roll.

Many states across the US have been offering incentives from free donuts to lottery prizes to encourage people to get vaccinated as the states try to reach their vaccination goal.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 64 percent of adults in the US have received at least on dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Since the start of the pandemic, over 33 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across the US, and almost 600,000 have died of the infection.