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Free pot in exchange for registering to vote?

A medical marijuana shop's offer of free pot in exchange for registering to vote appears to have gone up in smoke.
Image: Homepage of medical pot clinic's website
The homepage of Your Healthy Choice Clinic's website on Thursday morning included voter registration information but nothing about an earlier offer of free marijuana in exchange.yourhealthychoiceclinic.com
/ Source: msnbc.com

A medical marijuana shop's offer of free pot in exchange for registering to vote appears to have gone up in smoke.

Your Healthy Choice Clinic of Lansing, Mich., had been offering a half gram on its website ahead of a vote for city council seats and after the council approved capping the number of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits and setting a $1,000 application fee.

Clinic owner Shekina Pena earlier said she wasn't trying to buy votes.

"We really got to fight to get the voters out there because the polls are showing there's 4-5,000 people in Lansing that are patients or caregivers," she told NBC affiliate WILX TV. "So we need those 4-5,000 people to come forth to the polls and vote for whomever they feel is in support of what they want for access."

"We let them know how we feel, we don't tell them who to vote for," she added. "We definitely want to support the ones (city council members) who are supporting us."

On Wednesday, the state's attorney general, at the prodding of a state senator, said he was looking into whether the clinic crossed a legal line.

Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope said if the clinic tied the offer to voting for or against a particular person then it would definitely have crossed the legal line.

Pena insisted that wasn't the case, but Swope still had concerns that a line might have been crossed, noting that a website tagline — "Vote for us and we'll vote for you." — suggested a close tie to candidates.

A clinic employee contacted by msnbc.com on Thursday had "no comment" on whether the website offer still stood, and Pena had not yet returned a call seeking clarification.