Country music star and legalization advocate Willie Nelson is taking his relationship with cannabis to the next level. The musician and his family have announced plans for the next retail marijuana brand to be tied to a major celebrity: Willie’s Reserve.
Hemp and marijuana lobbyist Michael Bowman, a representative of the new brand, spoke on the subject in a recent interview with The Daily Beast:
Willie has spent a lifetime in support of cannabis, both the industrial hemp side and the marijuana side. He wants it [the brand] to be something that’s reflective of his passion. Ultimately, it’s his. But it was developed by his family, and their focus on environmental and social issues, and in particular this crazy war on drugs.
The company plans to open stores in states that have legalized marijuana, with the first stores coming as early as 2016. Stores will offer Willie’s Reserve brand cannabis, as well as products from other producers that have met the brand’s quality requirements.
Bowman calls this the “anti-Walmart model,” and says there will be “a certain standard by which growers have to account for carbon and such, in a way that empowers small growers who are doing the right thing…. It’ll all fall under that umbrella of ‘here’s our core beliefs, and here’s our mission statement,’ and they will be a part of that, to be a part of us.
Willie’s Reserve is not the first marijuana brand announced with a celebrity’s name and reputation behind it: Privateer Holdings and the family of Bob Marley unveiled plans earlier this year for Marley Natural, which is expected to be shipping out products by the end of the year.
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Photo Credit: Vladimir