Food Drive for Free Pot Nets 12,000 Pounds of Food from Medical Marijuana Dispensary

By Kevin Hayes |  Published on CBSnews.com

The Second Harvest Food Bank in Santa Cruz County had a successful holiday food drive, thanks in part to an amazing number of donations from a small business.

No, not a car dealership or a restaurant.

The Granny Purps Marijuana Dispensary.

The food collection barrels were pretty empty at the dispensary in Soquel, until they got the bright idea to offer joints for food, reports CBS affiliate KCBS.

“We originally didn’t have a limit and people could bring in as many cans as they wanted,” said dispensary co-owner Phil Hicks. “And for every four cans, we would give them a free, pre-rolled joint. They had to be a legal medical marijuana patient and a part of our collective to participate in the promotion.”

Each patient was also limited to a maximum of three (joints) a day.

Hicks said the next thing they knew, they were inundated with cans of food.

“The response blew away anything we expected. We started in November. I was hoping we could fill five barrels before Thanksgiving, but we had seven filled by Thanksgiving,” he said. “I said at this rate, I think we can get 10,000 pounds by Christmas.”

Hicks said they ended up collecting close to 12,000 pounds of food.