Damian Marley has announced that he, in partnership with Ocean Grown
Extracts, is converting a former 77,000 square foot California State
prison into a cannabis grow space that will cultivate medical marijuana
for state dispensaries.
"Many people sacrificed so much for the
herb over the years who got locked up," says Marley, 38, noting the
poetic justice of turning a prison that once housed non-violent drug
offenders into a cannabis cultivation facility. "If this [venture] helps
people and it's used for medicinal purposes and inspires people, it's a
success."
By
that measure, the prison-to-pot farm initiative is already a triumph.
With their purchase of the Claremont Custody Center in Coalinga, CA for
$4.1 million, Marley and his partners instantly relieved the
economically-challenged Central Valley town of its roughly $3.3 million
debt. The venture will also generate 100 jobs -- in an economically
stagnant region plagued by an ongoing, historic drought and
descending oil prices, both of which have damaged the region's
traditional farming and oil industries -- and will generate an estimated
million dollars in annual tax revenues for Coalinga.
The new
business began "in a very organic way," says Dan Dalton, Marley's
longtime manager. "Cannabis is something that's around Damian every day
with friends, family and with his Rastafarian faith. We've watched
people who have sacrificed their lives for it. That injustice has
motivated us to be advocates as well as knowing that there are healing
properties in cannabis."
Marley today also announced the
introduction of Speak Life, a proprietary strain of cannabis he created
with Ocean Grown. The strain is based on the company's lauded OG Kush,
but altered genetically with the help of a Ph.D trained chemist at who
helped cultivate the unique breed.
"The OG has always been my
favorite," says Marley, who met with the chemist while making Speak
Life. "When they introduced this strain of OG I really loved it and
loved its consistency." The bud is a hybrid made of 70 percent indica
and 30 percent sativa, and is hand-watered and trimmed.
Marley and
his partners are prepared for the "green rush" should California's
Proposition 64 -- which would legalize cannabis for adult recreational
use -- passes in November, as the polls seem to indicate. And California
isn't alone in reconsidering marijuana's legality, either. Voters in
seven other states will choose whether to legalize recreational and/or
medical marijuana -- Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada could
approve the use of recreational pot; Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota
will decide on legalizing medical marijuana, which a status the plant
has been assigned in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
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