High Goods: Celebrities in the Weed Business
Cannabis legalization is rippling across the country — just in the last month, New York, Virginia, and New Mexico all passed marijuana reform bills. A total of 17 states (plus D.C.) have legalized cannabis for adult use. As marijuana goes mainstream, plenty of famous folks are getting into the cannabis business. Athletes, actors, rappers and rockers are openly embracing getting high, whether it’s as an alternative to opioids, or just because they really love weed. Here are 21 notable names behind cannabis ventures of all kinds.
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Trixie Garcia – Garcia Handpicked
Image Credit: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP Right in time for 4/20, Jerry Garcia’s daughter Trixie is launching a line of cannabis flower, pre-rolls and gummies under the name Garcia Handpicked. A letter from Trixie and her family on the website starts out, “Dear Jerry — we hope we did you proud!” It goes on to promise Deadheads that Garcia Handpicked products are eco-friendly and high-quality, and announces that an Airstream named Bertha will be a traveling ambassador for the brand with merch, music, and “a bit of magic and bliss.” (There are already tours booked in California and Massachusetts, the first two markets that will be getting the brand.) Strains include Super Lemon Haze, Sour Bubble OG, and Chemdawg, which, legend has it, originated from a bag of weed bought at a 1991 Grateful Dead show.
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Jim Belushi – Belushi’s Farm
Image Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images Jim Belushi isn’t just lending his name to a brand — he’s cultivating cannabis on 93 acres on the banks of the Rogue River in Southern Oregon’s Banana Belt. The actor-turned-weed farmer takes his new role seriously, he tells Rolling Stone: “I’ve done an in-depth study to learn the heart of the plant. You have to grow it to know it. I’ve studied the values, the science, the medicine, the agriculture, and the context of the pathway to healing that cannabis offers. This is personal for me and so many others around the world. Danny Aykroyd always said, ‘You know, if your brother John was a pothead, he’d still be alive today.’ Everyone is dealing with traumas and honoring this plant is a pathway to healing — to reverse stigma, to unite people.” Belushi’s Farm is home to a range of offerings, including a strain called Captain Jack’s Gulzar Afghanica that became known in the 1970s as “The Smell of SNL.” Belushi’s Farm products are currently available in Oregon, Colorado and Illinois.
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Seth Rogen – Houseplant
Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP When Seth Rogen premiered Houseplant in California in March 2021, the website experienced so much traffic that it crashed. The comedic actor and stoner icon founded Houseplant with his creative partner Evan Goldberg, launching the line in their native Canada two years ago. Now for sale at 17 dispensaries in California, there are three strains of top-shelf flower available, each named for a weather phenomenon: Diablo Wind, Pancake Ice, and Pink Moon. The weed is packed in dandy stackable tins, and each strain is accompanied by a reference card with terpene info and a caution that “It’s strong!” As the Houseplant tagline says, this cannabis is “For people who love weed, by people who love weed.”
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Jay-Z – Monogram
Image Credit: Quasar/STAR MAX/IPx/AP In July 2019, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, started working with California cannabis licensee Caliva. Last fall, as Chief Visionary Officer (and reported 50 percent stakeholder) at The Parent Company, he dropped a luxury weed line of flower, pre-rolls and a 1.5 “OG Handroll” under the brand Monogram, where he is the founder. The price point of Monogram ticked some folks off, with the hand-roll going for more than $50 after California’s exorbitant weed taxes, but reviews were decent — Leafly said that the flower “earns the title of ‘luxury,’ and you pay for it.” An ad campaign for Monogram shot by Hype Williams is currently dominating billboards in Los Angeles with sun-soaked images of Curren$y, Chika,and other beautiful folks puffing poolside in Palm Springs.
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Snoop Dogg – Leafs by Snoop
Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Snoop Dogg unveiled his line Leafs by Snoop in Colorado in 2015. Since then, the rapper — whose name is synonymous with weed — has elevated his cannabis game considerably. His media company Merry Jane has a CBD e-commerce platform. He co-founded Casa Verde Capital, an investment fund that has managed to build a portfolio that is now worth at least $200 million, Tech Crunch reported last December. And Politico recently reported that Snoop, also known as Calvin Broadus, convinced right-wing billionaire Charles Koch to back a coalition for federal marijuana legalization.
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Tommy Chong – Tommy Chong’s
Image Credit: Faye Sadou/MediaPunch/IPX/AP One of the first-ever celebrity cannabis brands, Tommy Chong’s Cannabis is available in just about every state with legal weed. The trademarked line from one of the world’s most famous stoners includes The Chonger — a full eighth (3.5g) of flower in one big fat joint — as well as vape pens, topicals, elixirs and 10mg THC-infused breath strips in blueberry, chocolate mint and strawnana flavors. Chong has also loaned his name to a limited-edition line of Birthjays; starting on April 20th, 10 percent of proceeds from the sale of the specialty birthday-candle-joints will go to The Cal Asian Foundation.
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System of a Down’s Shavo Odadjian – 22Red
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian likes to stay busy. Since SOAD’s last album 15 years ago, he’s collaborated with Wu-Tang mastermind RZA, started a new band called North Kingsley, and launched a weed company. His brand 22Red is dropping two new strains, DC22 and LA Punk, on April 20th. Both are super strong indica-dominant hybrids: according to lab results, DC22 tests at 34.9 percent and LA Punk at 30.2 percent THC. Odadjian launched his company two years ago in California, and has since expanded operations to Nevada and Arizona with cannabis flower, pre-rolls, and vape pens. The name 22Red was inspired by Odadjian’s affinity for numerology. He was born on April 22nd, and System Of A Down was picked up when he was 22. “Twenty-two years after that, I founded 22Red,” he tells Rolling Stone. “If you’re born with the number 22, you can manifest with the number. Even my two sons are two years and 22 days apart.”
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Bob Marley – Marley Natural
Image Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage Marley Natural, which was started by the reggae legend’s family, pays homage to Bob Marley’s love for the healing herb with a line of pipes, rolling trays, grinders, and four categories of sungrown cannabis flower: Green (hybrid), Gold (sativa), Black (indica) and Red (CBD-rich). There’s also an indoor-grown line of flower, pre-rolls and vape cartridges labeled Studio Sessions. Marley believed “a healthy, sustainable relationship with nature not only benefits us as individuals, but also is essential for global well-being and happiness,” the website says, noting that Marley Natural cannabis is cultivated by independent California growers using responsible farming practices, and that the company is “dedicated to environmental responsibility.”
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The Game – Trees by Game
Image Credit: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images West Coast rapper The Game’s cannabis venture Trees By Game reportedly raked in over $1 million dollars in its first year, with products including a clothing line, rolling trays, tobacco wraps, cannabis flower, and pre-rolls. “Our goal is to make the entire smoking experience more enjoyable by providing the finest and highest-grade flower in the industry,” The Game told High Times when launching the brand in 2017. The packaging for Trees is almost understated: white-on-blue and red-on-black for jars of premium indoor flower, and simple mylar bags containing eighths of lower-priced outdoor flower, a.k.a. “Blunt Weed.” Trees By Game is available in California dispensaries.
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Jaleel White – itsPurpl
Image Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images Actor Jaleel White, known by most as Steve Urkel from the beloved Nineties sitcom Family Matters, has very recently jumped into the weed biz, partnering with 710 Labs to introduce itsPurpl, which launches in California this April 20th. “The thing that always stood out to me was there no clear brand leader for fire purple weed,” White told Forbes. “It made no sense to me no company of significance had claimed this lane, so why not me?” Products will include live-resin THC vape pods, “Noodle Doinks,” which are pre-rolls with fusilli pasta filters, and eighths of flower — and yes, Purple Urkle is one of the strains.
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Wiz Khalifa – Khalifa Kush Enterprises Oil
Image Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Khalifa Kush was bred specially for the esteemed rapper’s personal taste from a phenotype of OG Kush, which is the genetic backbone for a ton of potent West Coast weed strains. “When I smoked it, I was like, ‘this is my Kush,’” Wiz told Fader. He kept the flower for his private stash for years before bringing it to market in Colorado in 2016. Now a full line of Khalifa Kush products including flower, vapes, pre-rolls, edibles, and concentrates is available at Reef Dispensaries, which has stores in Nevada and Arizona. The company motto: “Smoke better weed.”
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Method Man – Tical Official
Image Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP Method Man coined the term Tical in 1993 on the Wu-Tang Clan album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). It’s the title of his 1994 debut studio album. Now it’s also a cannabis company, which launched in black-owned California dispensaries last June with four strains of flower. In a 2017 appearance on Desus and Mero, the rapper said that Tical stands for “taking into consideration all lives.” The company’s mission is to work with minority-owned businesses and socially conscious dispensaries. Method Man said in a statement, “It is essential that we use our brand to help bring awareness to the social, systemic and economic justice in communities that have struggled with oppressive mass incarceration and racially biased policing policies.” Tical is available in dispensaries throughout California.
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Jason Gann – Wilfred
Image Credit: GP/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images Jason Gann is hands-on with his weed company as the founder and CEO of Wilfred Cannabis. The Australian comic actor and producer is also the face of the line of pre-rolls as Wilfred, the central character of the TV series he co-created that ran on FX for four seasons from 2011-2014. Starring Elijah Wood as a depressed ex-lawyer who bonds with his neighbor’s dog (played by Gann in a dog suit), the show was full of 420 storylines; in the very first episode, the duo breaks into a hated neighbor’s home and steals his homegrown plants. Wilfred Cannabis is available in dispensaries throughout California.
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Lil Wayne – GKUA Ultra Premium
Image Credit: imageSPACE/MediaPunch/IPx/AP Lil Wayne’s weed line is all about having a good time getting high. GKUA Ultra Premium products are high-potency and “designed to provide consumers with the best high of their lives,” the website says. The budding business, which launched in California in 2019, recently expanded to Colorado and Michigan, and promotes private VIP parties with Weezy in addition to the line of cannabis products, which includes vapes, concentrates, pre-rolls and flower. For a full list of GKUA retailers, use the Weezy Weed Finder on GKUA.com — maybe you’ll be able to get your hands on the limited-edition Sex Panther strain.
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Mickey Hart – Mind Your Head
Image Credit: mpi04/MediaPunch/IPx/AP Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s cannabis line offers two pre-roll options: Magic Minis, and the Space Ticket. The 0.3 gram Chemdog Magic Mini joints invite you to “beckon the muse, and find your groove.” The one-gram Space Ticket, which may “admit one or more to another dimension,” contains ice-water hash blended with two indica-dominant hybrids (Trinity Star and D.O.G. Chem) rolled up in a hemp leaf. Hart’s cannabis line was inspired by “his belief in elevated exploration, and a focus on celebrating creativity, mindfulness and health.” Mind Your Head is available in California.
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Carlos Santana – Mirayo by Santana
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images Guitar god Carlos Santana’s cannabis line Mirayo encourages consumers to “enhance your mind-body flow” and tap into higher consciousness with three categories of weed: Radiance (sativa), Symmetry (hybrid), and Centered (indica). (A fourth CBD-rich offering called Essence is in the works.) Mirayo’s pre-rolls and jars of flower are packaged with richly colored designs inspired by Santana’s Latino heritage. “I’m a flame-keeper for the spiritual revolution that made a happening like Woodstock possible, the striving of universal love,” Santana says, advocating for cannabis use as a “door to divine wisdom.” Mirayo products are available at cannabis retailers across California.
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Al Harrington – Viola
Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP NBA star Al Harrington was ahead of the curve with legal weed, founding Viola in 2011 after seeing his grandmother, for whom his company is named, find relief from glaucoma with medical marijuana. He is adamant that Viola isn’t just another celebrity brand. “It’s not a money grab,” he told Rolling Stone. “We want to talk about impacting people affected by the War on Drugs.” Last year Harrington launched a philanthropic initiative called Viola Cares, which aims to help formerly incarcerated people transition back into society. Cannabis products include concentrates, pre-rolls and flower strains like Calabasas Kush, Super Lemon Haze and Sex on the Peach. Viola Brands are available in California, Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, and Oklahoma.
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Juicy J – Asterisk*
Image Credit: Andrew Chin/Getty Images Juicy J’s cannabis line Asterisk* launched with three strains and an accompanying drum and loop kit for music producers with sounds that helped Juicy produce classics like “Stay Fly” by Three 6 Mafia. The Memphis rapper partnered with Los Angeles creative agency Green Street and serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk to announce the brand with a track titled “Gah Damn High.” Since then, Asterisk* has dropped two strains dubbed Chronic Fog and Mystic Potion in limited release at MMD Dispensaries in Los Angeles, along with a clothing and accessories line and a drum and loop kit. Juicy tells Rolling Stone, “I can’t wait to get into new cities, states, and drop some new strains as the world starts to open back up.”
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B-Real – Dr. Greenthumb’s
Image Credit: Rudy Torres/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA/AP Since launching in 2018, B-Real’s chain of dispensaries Dr. Greenthumb’s has expanded to include six locations in California, with a seventh possibly coming soon. The Cypress Hill rapper was already a respected as a successful businessman with roots in the cannabis community. The voice of stoner classics like “Hits from the Bong” is serious about legal weed; he can often be found speaking at industry events about how to build a cannabis brand while navigating tricky state regulations, and he appeared in the recent BET documentary SMOKE: Marijuana + Black America. B-Real’s weed line, Insane, can be found at Dr. Greenthumb’s dispensaries. He also has a line of reusable glass tips for joints and blunts called Phuncky Feel Tips.
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Melissa Etheridge – Etheridge Botanicals
Image Credit: Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2004, rocker Melissa Etheridge found relief with medical marijuana. “It opened my mind to a new way of thinking about my body, my health and the future,” she wrote in a 2013 CNN opinion piece. After her son’s death from an opioid overdose last year, Etheridge started an eponymous foundation with a mission to support new scientific research into the causes and effects of opioid addiction. Her cannabis line Etheridge Botanicals stems from a desire to offer an alternative to pharmaceuticals. “I’ve got a keen direction toward middle-aged women who are discovering, ‘Hey, I don’t want to take an Ambien every night. I don’t want to have to drink wine every night to relax, because I know those things aren’t good for my body,’” Etheridge says. The company supports The Last Prisoner Project cannabis reform non-profit, The Santa Cruz Diversity Center, and WAMM Phytotherapies, a group that provides low-cost or free cannabis to those in need. Etheridge Botanicals currently sells three types of flower and pre-rolls, branded as Morning, Noon and Night, with the tag “It’s cool to be kind,” at a range of California dispensaries.
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Willie Nelson – Willie’s Reserve
Image Credit: Wyatt Counts/AP Willie Nelson may be the only celebrity to have smoked a joint on the roof of the White House. The red-headed stranger sparked up with President Jimmy Carter’s son Chip in 1980; Carter confirmed the sesh in the 2020 documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President. Nelson’s affinity for cannabis has been celebrated for decades. Years before weed became legal, Nelson spoke about the medical benefits and economic potential of weed. “It’s nice to watch it being accepted — knowing you were right all the time about it: that it was not a killer drug,” Nelson told Rolling Stone in 2019. “It’s a medicine.” Willie’s Reserve pre-rolls, vape cartridges and flower are available in Colorado, Washington, Nevada, Oregon and California.