Marijuana is still a controversial drug even though many claim that it has helped them cope with various diseases and situations. For many years now, such people have been pushing for its legalization.
And as more and more states, particularly in America, pass laws allowing the sale of marijuana in some form, entrepreneurs, including celebrities, are flocking into the industry to make some cash.
The latest is former boxing champ Mike Tyson, who has given details about his ongoing project to open a luxurious California weed resort where growers and guests can puff without any hindrance.
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The over-the-top weed resort in the middle of the California desert comes on the back of his 2016 Tyson Holistic company that sells marijuana products and other edibles.
The 52-year-old former world heavyweight champ, who said weed helped him endure years of substance abuse after his boxing career, broke grounds for the cannabis resort project last year.
The ranch, which will occupy 407 acres of space, is “designed to be a wonderland of weed with tourist attractions, a luxury hotel, glamping tents, a lazy river that will take a full hour to cross, and an amphitheatre for music festivals and concerts,” reports the Daily Mail.
There will also be a Tyson University to teach cannabis-cultivation techniques to future farmers, the report added.
Tyson said his aim is to educate the general public about the healing properties of cannabis and CBD.
“I’ve been fighting for over 20 years, and my body has a lot of wear and tear,” he told Cannabis Tech Today.
“I had two surgeries and I used marijuana to calm my nerves, and it would take the pain away … But before, they had me on those opiates, and those opiates had me all screwed up,” said Tyson, who believes that cannabis can help people move away from opioid addiction.
Apart from areas where liquor is sold, patrons would be allowed to smoke anywhere in the park. Weed will, however, only be sold and not grown there, as the former boxing champ partners with top marijuana retail companies.
Instead of growing their own plants, the ranch will partner with local cannabis growers to help brand and sell their products onsite. This is to enable the ranch to operate at a federally legal level, but still, shed light on the cannabis space.
Currently operating his marijuana business from his warehouse office in El Segundo, California, Tyson’s resort, though yet to be completed, has hosted some musical festivals, including the inaugural Kind Festival held in February.
People at the festival had a wonderful experience of what the ranch would bring when it’s completed, as they relished in good music while enjoying smoking weed with Tyson.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion of the world in 1986 when he was 20. In 1990, he lost his first fight and served three years in prison over rape charges. He had then become complacent and was being destroyed by alcohol and drugs. His name further came into disrepute after biting a boxer’s ear during a rematch in 1997.
But what was his biggest nemesis were his struggles with women. His first wife, actor Robin Givens divorced him in 1989 over allegations of sexual abuse. She demanded access to Tyson’s money for a down payment on a $3 million home in New Jersey. Tyson’s game started falling apart and he became increasingly violent.
His second wife, Monica Turner filed for divorce in 2003 after six years of marriage over accusations of adultery. Tyson, that same period, filed for bankruptcy following his excessive spending and even sold his mansion in Farmington, Connecticut.
He had to sleep on couches of friends before getting to Phoenix, Arizona, where he bought a home. He raised money through the endorsement of products and making of cameos on television and in boxing exhibitions.
Tyson has since joined a list of other black celebrities who are already making it big in the marijuana business such as rapper Snoop Dog, who owns Leafs by Snoop, a premier cannabis brand available in retail stores and medical dispensaries in Colorado, and Whoopi Goldberg, who has a medical marijuana company that cares for women suffering from severe menstrual cramps or aches.
Other celebrities cashing in on the industry are Stephen Marley, who launched an official Bob Marley cannabis brand in 2016 in Oregon and former NBA player, Cliff Robinson, who recently opened a weed store in Oregon called Uncle Spliffy, a sports cannabis label specifically made for athletes.
