Mint Dispensary pop-up offers edibles, joints in exchange for getting COVID-19 vaccine

Mint Dispensary pop-up offers gummies, prerolls in exchange for getting COVID-19 vaccine

FOX 10's Matt Galka reports.

PHOENIX - Incentive programs are aiming to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates, and in Arizona, one major marijuana dispensary has an offer that could push that number even higher.

Mint Dispensary spent June 1 offering free edibles and a pre-roll to people getting the shot at a local pop-up location.

Stephanie Rodriguez and her friend Ashley Blondin were walk-ins on Tuesday.

"We were actually looking it up online and saw they were doing vaccines here and we were looking to get it done and we said, ‘Let’s go get it done.’ "

Mint COO Raul Molina says its about trust, and noticed many customers had vaccine questions.

"Basically what they ended up telling us was we can have vaccines here on site if it’s something we chose to do," Molina explained. "We had so many patients ask us about it, we figured we should do something of the sort."

Pop-up vaccination programs with incentives could be one way to push vaccination rates higher.

"I saw they were doing the deal and I said, yeah let’s go get it, you know?" Blondin said.

Molina says it's all a matter of familiarity.

"You’re going somewhere you’re familiar," Molina said. "You go all the time anyways, where you go to get medication. You get to see how it works, how easy it is, you can check it off the list so we can start moving forward and forget about 2020."