Bob Marley’s youngest son, Damian, is putting together a business venture with Ocean Grown Extracts to buy the abandoned Claremont Custody Center in Coalinga, California, which they will transform into a marijuana farm. They are expected to use the facilities 77,000-square feet to grow a specific strain of cannabis so that it can be distributed to California’s dispensaries, of which there are currently an estimated 1,250. The legendary Bob Marley, a convert to Rastafarianism, many times spoke about how marijuana “opened a spiritual door” for him. The poetic actions that display a form of justice by turning a prison that once held non-violent drug offenders into a marijuana farm is lost on no one.
“Many people sacrificed so much for the herb over the years who got locked up. If this helps people and it’s used for medicinal purposes and inspires people, it’s a success,” Damian, 38, told Billboard magazine.
He emphasized that he plans to maintain firm criteria on the type of marijuana they will grow.
“A lot of things—integrity of the product, something that I myself would use personally; also, something that I don’t mind young people being involved in, that is a big thing for me,” Damian stated
The sale of the Claremont Custody Center to Marley and his associates at $4.1 million has already served to alleviate the struggling town in California’s Central Valley, which had a $3.3 million debt.
The farm is expected to produce an estimated million dollars in annual tax revenues, and from its start should provide 100 jobs, as well as create other income-generating activities for Coalinga’s approximately 14,000 inhabitants. Marley and his partners say they are prepared for the green rush if California’s Proposition 64 passes, which is a very likely possibility.
He recently entered into a partnership with Colorado-based dispensary TruCannabis and opened his own 3,000-square-foot dispensary, called Stony Hill, in downtown Denver. The Coalinga facility is expected to begin producing oil extracts in 60 days and hopes to harvest its first crop this January.
MAPH Enterprises, LLC | (305) 414-0128 | 1501 Venera Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | new@marijuanastocks.com
