Last year, recreational cannabis was fully legalized in the US state of Maine.

The law was narrowly passed, much to the dismay of drug warrior politicians, including Jeff Sessions (the Trump Administration leader who wants to take steps backwards and continue locking people in cages for weed).

Now, we can finally see some signs of people treating cannabis like any other plant.

Summit Medical Marijuana in Gardiner, Maine is offering free weed to anyone who picks up trash on the streets of their city.

“Bring us back the full trash bag, and we give them a gift of cannabis,” said the owner of Summit Medical Marijuana, Dennis Meehan.

“[I heard of it in] Colorado – there was a town that did this,” he continued. “They had a great response to this. So I was hoping to do the same thing in Maine.”

According to KHOU, a Houston, Texas based mainstream media outlet:

“How it works: grab a trash bag, fill it with trash from around town, return it to the store, and get your bag of marijuana free of charge.

Meehan says he knows it’s not a great business model to give away free things, but says he’s helping people. For Meehan and his family – this day of service isn’t only about cleaning up the town, but educating people about what he says is a life-changing substance.”

Meehan continued:

“Something that caregivers do all across Maine that very few people know about is that they make huge sacrifices every week to help others live a better quality of life.

It’s profound. The research. There’s a whole world of science out there. If you started the research today, 10 years from now you’d still be doing the research…

When you see this plant have an incredibly life changing impact on somebody that has given up on life, or somebody that has been given up on by modern medicine – and you can bring them back to life and give them a quality of life. It doesn’t just affect that patient, it affects every single person in the family.”

Hopefully the re-normalization of cannabis will continue, and other countries will follow suit.

(Image credit: the Cannabist)