He famously smoked about a pound of pot a week and referred to it as a holy sacrament. Now the family of Bob Marley have launched a 'global marijuana brand' named after the reggae king, which is being hailed as the first recreational cannabis brand in an industry that is on the cusp of a major boom. dailymail reports Marley Natural will cater to both medical and recreational use, selling
'loose-packed' marijuana, vaporizers, pot-infused creams and oils, and will hit the market at the end of next year. The company is a partnership between the late singer's widow, Rita Marley, his children and grandchildren, and Seattle-based, marijuana-focused private
equity firm Privateer Holdings.
The announcement was made Tuesday on TODAY.
'This is what the end of prohibition looks like,' the CEO of Privateer Holdings, Brendan Kennedy, said. 'Bob Marley started to push for legalization more than 50 years ago. We’re going to help him finish it.' Legal marijuana sales are expected to grow to almost $2.5 billion this year. By 2018 that number is expect to hit $10 billion, according to Marketplace. Kennedy said the global market is worth about $150 billion. 'People are thinking, ‘I was too late for Facebook. I was too late for Microsoft. I was too late for Amazon and Starbucks. I am not too late for (cannabis),' Kennedy said. Marley's eldest daughter, Cedella Marley, 47, said it was a cause her father had always stood behind. 'It just seems natural that Daddy should be part of this conversation,' she told NBC. 'As Daddy would say, ''make way for the positive day''.'
Marley converted to Rastafarianism from Christianity in the mid-1960s, long before finding musical fame.
He viewed 'ganja' as a holy rite and believed it was something that opened up a spiritual door that allowed him to be a better artist. 'It make you stimulate your mind, and make you sit down and meditate,' he once said in an interview, according to The LA Times. 'Instead a get foolish, you sit down and you can meditate and be someone. Rum teach to you be a drunkard, and herb teach you to be someone.' Rita Marley said her husband would have been proud to see marijuana become legal. 'He’s 100 percent behind what is happening,' she told TODAY. 'He’s happy because this is what we dreamed of.'The Marley family are said to have contacted Privateer Holdings and initiated the partnership. They have been working on the project for 18 months. The two have signed a 30-year worldwide exclusive licensing agreement.
Privateer Holdings has bought a 60,000 square-foot facility in British Columbia to grow their product, Fortune reported.
They say they are committed to developing strands of marijuana that Marley would have smoked himself.
The Marley Natural headquarters will be based in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
However news of the company's launch has not sat well with anti-marijuana campaigners.
Kevin Sabet, a professor at the University of Florida, told TODAY, said it is nothing but a money-making exercise and goes against the anti-establishment views of Marley himself.m'Legalization is not about allowing millions of people some personal freedom,' Sabet said. 'It’s about a allowing a select few people to make millions of dollars.'
Marley died on 11 May 1981 in Miami at the age of 36. A malignant melanoma that developed under his toe spread to his lungs and brain. Since his death, Marley's legend has only increased. Marley’s estate brought in $20 million in the past year, putting him at number five on Forbes’ annual list of top-earning deceased celebrities, according to The Financial Times. The figures put his posthumous earnings ahead of Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon.
In September, Marley's greatest hits album, Legend, which was first released in 1984, hit number five on the Billboard Sales chart. His family have used his name to launch other companies, including House of Marley, which sells headphones and audio accessories, and Marley Coffee. Recreational marijuana use is now legal in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. At least six more U.S. states are expected to regulate cannabis by 2016.
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