As an incentive to support coronavirus vaccinations, that state of Washington’s liquor and cannabis board recently announced it would temporarily allow state-licensed cannabis dispensaries to give a free joint to adults who get their first or second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at one of the state’s retail locations. There are other vaccine incentives out there including lottery prizes, sports ticket giveaways, free beer, and other games.
Colorado has implemented the Colorado Comeback Cash lottery. The Colorado Lottery will conduct a random weekly drawing on behalf of the Colorado Department of Health & Environment to identify one vaccinated Colorado resident each week to win a million-dollar cash prize.
As an additional incentive for students, Coloradans age 12 to 17 can now win $50,000 toward college tuition or other postsecondary education in the Comeback Cash Scholarship lottery. Each week for five weeks, five eligible Coloradans will each be selected to win a $50,000 scholarship. Teens who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine may be eligible for the scholarship drawing.
With the average daily number of people receiving the coronavirus vaccinations dropping throughout the country, including Colorado, why not include Colorado in a “Free Joint for a Vax” program?
Colorado’s adult population is approximately 4,497,572 people. Based on recent data, approximately 25% or 1,124,393 of the adult population in Colorado are millennials, ages 25-40. Recent cannabis studies have shown that 26.2% of adults in Colorado use cannabis. That would mean that 294,591 millennials use cannabis. Currently the percentage of millennials that have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 is approximately 46.86%. So that would mean that 53.14% of millennials that use cannabis, approximately 156,546 people, have not been vaccinated.
156,546 pot smoking, cannabis using millennials, deserve an incentive. We can call it a true “Rocky Mountain High Comeback!”