LOS ANGELES – Higher Ground media and Saints Joints have created The Ballot Box, a high-end box of cannabis joints designed to smash stoner stereotypes by registering people to vote. In addition to five premium pre-rolls, the Ballot Box contains a QR code that immediately registers voters, a mini version of the Bill of Rights, and non-partisan information about voting and elections.
“The cliche, obviously, is that pot smokers are lazy and couch-locked, when – in fact – we’re as active and involved as any community,” notes Higher Ground Editor-in-Chief Michael A. Stusser. “With the Ballot Box, we’re using a new platform as an entry point to spark engagement, and register new voters.”
Higher Ground TV has been using hilarious viral videos and parodies to elevate the dialogue on cannabis culture, including Comedians in Cars Smoking Cannabis, and Profiles in Legal Cannabis. Their latest project is a joint effort with Saints Joints, an innovative marijuana company based in Seattle.
Saints Joints is one of the most successful cannabis brands in the country, collaborating with a variety of artists and musicians. Their hard-cased luxury boxes have highlighted artists such as the Bay Area’s Jeremy Fish in their Artist’s Series packs, a Tattoo Art Series featuring Jimbo Phillips , and a Limited Edition Pride Pack with proceeds benefiting Equal Rights organizations. Each specialty box is a limited edition similar to album covers, and creating a rock n’roll collect-‘em-all incentive.
“We see ourselves as leaders not only in the arena of legal cannabis, but as members of the mainstream community,” said Lawrence Perrigo, founder of Saints. “The collaboration with Higher Ground is our latest joint effort to raise awareness, and show how cannabis brands – and consumers – are doing more than getting high. We’re also highly engaged in the democratic process.”
The Saints Joints/Higher Ground Ballot Boxes launched on July 4th, and will be available in California, Washington and Oklahoma. Included in each Ballot Box is a mini-Bill of Rights, a QR Code that directs buyers to the Cannabis Voter Project, and, of course, five high quality, all flower pre-rolled joints.
“We thought it was important to include the Bill of Rights in our Ballot Box,” said Stusser, “because these individual rights weren’t originally included in the Constitution. Like the legalization of marijuana, the people had to push the government to allow it.” The Bill of Rights, of course, includes the first 10 amendments in the Constitution, including freedom of speech, religion and the press, the right to assemble, States rights, and due process.
“These amendments – like cannabis – were controversial at first,” notes Saint’s Perrigo. “Today, over 70% of the population supports legalization – but we have a long way to go at the national level. So adding the Bill of Rights is a nod to weed smokers that our democracy is still evolving – and we need to be involved to make lasting change.”
Thirty-three states have legalized marijuana for medical use, and another eleven, plus the District of Columbia, have authorized recreational sales and consumption for adults. Thomas Jefferson argued in 1787 for the right to be free from warrantless search and seizures: “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.” While the Father of the Declaration wasn’t speaking of cannabis legalization at the time, his words ring true for activists supporting the movement.
The Ballot Box includes a special QR code that directs to the Cannabis Voter Project – and immediately registers individuals to vote. Established in 2018 as an initiative from HeadCount, the nonprofit and non-partisan Cannabis Voter Project is focused on educating, registering and turning out voters. HeadCount has registered half a million voters since 2004 at concerts and events. The Ballot Box link includes an easy-to-use online registration page and news to keep voters informed on election deadlines and voting locations.
Higher Ground explores and celebrates the elevated aspects of getting high. Founded during a revolutionary time of economic and spiritual transformation in the legalization movement, the brand documents and chronicles this incredible era in our history, and advocates for the legalization of cannabis (along with civil rights, gay rights, and human rights), and embraces the end of – yet another – prohibition.
Members of the abolitionist press, Higher Ground combines advocacy journalism with a sense of humor to bring the cannabis culture to the masses.
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