The dreams of a million late-night dorm room jam sessions, once dissipated into the ether like smoke into so many blow tubes, have come true as Bob Marley has become the face of the world’s first celebrity marijuana brand.
Called Marley Naturals, the brand will include hemp-based lotions and pot paraphernalia as well as six strains of “heirloom” weed like “Pineapple Skunk” and “Lamb’s Bread”, each supposedly a favorite of the late reggae legend himself. Investors at the marijuana-investment firm Privateer Holdings have raised over $50 million to launch Marley Naturals globally, complete with a Rastafarian-inspired logo designed by the same people who made the Starbucks mermaid, according to NBC News.
Marley Naturals has been launched with the blessing of the Marley family, which has secured a 30-year licensing deal with the brand. In interviews, the Marleys stress the spiritual and therapeutic properties of marijuana—as Marley’s widow Rita Marley tells Fortune, “My husband believed ‘the herb’ was a natural and positive part of life and he felt it was important to the world. He looked forward to this day.” (Marley also apparently felt that headphones, speakers, watches, backpacks, and “Mellow Mood” herbal beverages—all of which are currently being marketed under his name—were important to the world.)
Besides the whole Jah consciousness thing, Marley Naturals stands to make a whole bunch of the other kind of green, as Marketplace estimates that legal marijuana sales worldwide are expected to grow from $2.4 billion in 2014 to $10 billion by 2018. Sales are expected begin late next year in territories where recreational marijuana is legal, although the company may experience significant roadblocks distributing Marley Naturals from its grow house in British Columbia. (Interstate and international shipping of pot is still illegal, even between states where it has been legalized.)
Snoop Dogg/Seth Rogen and Cannabis Corpse marijuana brands are presumably forthcoming.