Damian Marley was born into two worlds – reggae and marijuana. So the singer understandably laughs as I sit with him at L.A.’s storied Sunset Marquis and ask him about his collaboration with Ocean Grown Extracts, a company whose about page declares, “Ocean Grown Extracts produces cannabis concentrates with the same integrity and attention to detail as cultivating our award-winning flowers. We grow our cannabis under local compliance free of pesticides, molds, or other contaminants.”
“It goes without saying that for marijuana the attraction is very natural,” he chuckles.
As part of their joint venture Marley is turning a vacant Coalinga, California prison into a medical marijuana manufacturing plant, which Ocean Grown will use to sell wholesale to dispensaries. Marley’s initial interest was born out of his fondness for Ocean Grown, but the scope and details of the venture came after the two started working together.
“A lot of these things have developed since my involvement. My initial involvement was really based on the herb and knowing that we could have done some business together,” he says. “And then since then all of these opportunities that you just mentioned — the prison, we have the pen we’re releasing, and all these kind of things – opened up after saying we wanted to do business with Ocean Grown.”
In his musical life, Marley has had two top 10 albums and won multiple Grammy Awards, leading to a lot of opportunities to lend his name to companies. He has a few criteria established on how he decides which products to support.
Damian Marley Invests In Marijuana Futures