Marley’s prison-turned-pot-farm became an overnight success pretty much as soon as the sale went through in the fall of 2016.
By the time the city of Coalinga decided to sell the former prison – closed in 2011 – it had already accumulated over $3 million in debt.
Photo Credit: EZRA DAVID ROMERO / VALLEY PUBLIC RADIO
The sale to Damian Marley and his partner Ocean Grown Extracts not only wiped that debt out, it also left the town with over a million in the coffers before anyone even planted a single seed.
The new farm is sure to turn a profit; pot is bug business, and the city paved the way for the large scale operation by voting to allow commercial cultivation, delivery, and distribution in the jurisdiction.
Plus, the compound is surrounded by fence and barbed wire, so the crop will be as well protected as any in the country.
California also voted to legalize recreational marijuana about a month after the sale, which is expected to lead to exponential growth in demand throughout the state for the new farm’s product.
Marley told Billboard:
“Many people sacrificed so much for the herb over the years who got locked up… I was optimistic that it would one day be legal — and now it is here.”
Less than a month before Marley announced the venture in northern California, he was in Denver, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2012, to open a new marijuana dispensary (which has his name right on it) directly across the street from Mile High Stadium.
Photo Credit: Stony Hill
Stony Hill is also the name of his 2017 album, because of course Damian Marley hasn’t given up on the family business.
Stony Hill will mark the long awaited return of “Jr. Gong” Marley, whose 2005 album Welcome to Jamrock, peaked at #1 on the US reggae charts and #7 overall before netting two Grammy Awards in 2006.
Photo Credit: Tidal
He’s also done a ton of collaborations over the last decade with the likes of Nas, Skrillex, Gwen Stefani, Sean Paul, Bruno Mars, Cypress Hill, and even Bobby Brown, who appeared on Jamrock’s “Beautiful.”
If you’d like to see more on the story, including a local sheriff near the NorCal venture who fears that it will become a hub of illegal trafficking, check out this video:
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