Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s widow, Anita Thompson, plans to develop “Gonzo” brand cannabis using six strains that the late author actually smoked, according to an Aspen Times report. The decision comes after Thompson bought the Owl Farm property in Aspen, Colorado, granting her exclusive rights to the counter culture icon’s likeness and the “Gonzo” two-thumbed fist logo.
Thompson is working with an unnamed Colorado cannabis company to grow the strains, which were favored by the Godfather of Gonzo.
“Since it became legal I get approached probably once a month by cannabis growers, dispensaries,” Thompson said in the report. “I’ve had probably 10 meetings in the last three years and I always ended up saying ‘No’ because it’s the same story every time: somebody wants to slap Hunter’s name on their strain.”
She indicated that she was also worried about getting into the cannabis industry because her main focus was preserving and promoting the author’s literary legacy, rather than his hard-partying lifestyle. Thompson is famously quoted saying, “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”
“For 10 years we were always careful to steer the conversation back to Hunter’s work,” she said. “Because it was never guaranteed that Hunter’s work would be appreciated into this generation.”