A dispensary owner in Maine offered cannabis to volunteers who pitched in to help clean up trash throughout the community over the weekend, according to a WUMR-9 report. Dennis Meehan, owner of Summit Medical Marijuana in Gardiner, posted the call on Facebook, which was shared hundreds of times.
Meehan offered volunteers 21-and-older 2 grams of flower per trash bag they filled and, because of the support on Facebook, he wasn’t sure he would have enough product to meet the demand. While recreational sales are not expected in Maine for about another 11 months, gifting cannabis became legal on January 1.
“The night before I was up all night putting together the bags. I hardly slept,” Meehan said in the report. “We had people not just from Gardiner, but as far away as Bangor, Waterville, and across Southern Maine. It was incredible.”
Volunteers filled more than 100 bags with trash, which equates to hundreds of dollars of donated cannabis; however, Meehan said he didn’t track the exact amount because “gifting” cannabis is something his family “has been doing for years as caregivers.”
“A big part of Maine’s marijuana program is making medicine available to people who otherwise may not have been able to afford it,” he said. “At the end of the day it isn’t about money. It’s about the need. It’s about the community.”
According to a Facebook post, Meehan hopes to expand the program statewide “in [a] month or so.”