Back in February, on Bob Marley’s 71st birthday, the Marley Natural brand was announced. The Seattle based brand acquired the family’s permission to use the cannabis icon’s image and name on a number of different cannabis and lifestyle products – which have finally launched in Nectar and Serra dispensaries in the Portland and Eugene areas of Oregon. However, that’s not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything that the Marley Natural brand is working to accomplish over the next several months.
“We are fortunate to be living during a promising time of positive change, especially with regard to cannabis and how people understand it. My father would be so happy to see so many people appreciating the natural, healing power of the herb,” said Cedella Marley, Bob’s daughter.
Products available in dispensaries include four different labels of local, sun-grown cannabis: Marley Green (hybrid strains), Marley Gold (sativa strains), Marley Red (high CBD) and Marley Black (indica strains) as well as a number of oils and lotions infused with hemp seed and Jamaican botanicals. They also sell smoking accessories made of Black Walnut wood and heat-resistant hand-blown glass; overall, the majority of their products don’t even have THC in them.
Along with setting up shop in the Portland metro area, the brand has also just been awarded the first permits in Santa Rosa, Oregon to operate their testing and extraction facility, which will end up being their main headquarters as they look at expanding into the California market. Whether or not California passes Proposition 64 this November, Marley Natural is optimistic that the medical market in the state is more than enough to sustain their current goals – and as Oregon is situated between California and the company’s origin state of Washington, it makes for a perfect centralized location.
“This is kind of historic,” said David Guhin, director of the Permit and Economic Development department.
On top of all that, the company also has a side gig going as a nonprofit called Rise Up, which works here in the U.S. and abroad in Jamaica. In the U.S. the group accomplishes things like Expungement Day, which is the group’s’ newest goal, which will help people with nonviolent cannabis convictions to get their record expunged now that cannabis is legal. In Jamaica, Rise Up focuses on empowering fishers, farmers and entrepreneurs as well as classes for entrepreneurship, employment and character development for the formerly incarcerated.
All in all, there is a lot that Marley Natural is working to accomplish in the next year or so. The company has already got their line of products hitting the shelves – some of which can be ordered online and shipped anywhere in the U.S. (anything made from hemp, smoking accessories, etc.), which is a great advantage. Plus, they are using some of their efforts towards helping those who have been hurt due to prohibition – they really trying to do their part to help grow the industry and give back to the community.
