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As Oregon lawmakers debate whether to let out-of-state investors open recreational weed shops in the state, the list of potential merchants is growing.
The latest? Willie Nelson.
The Daily Beast reports the outlaw-country singer is launching a marijuana brand called "Willie's Reserve." His publicist also says Nelson will run a chain of pot stores in states with legal recreational dope.
The publicist, Michael Bowman, says Nelson plans to sell the buds of small, local growers in his stores.
"It will be like when you walk into a Whole Foods store," Bowman tells The Daily Beast. "Whole Foods has their 365 brand, or you can buy Stony Brook, or you can buy Horizon… 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 joins a list of companies eying branded marijuana and chain stores. The most prominent is Privateer Holdings, a Seattle private-equity firm that launched Marley's Natural, a Bob Marley-branded Jamaican pot line.
As WW reported earlier this month, Privateer has hired Oregon lobbyists at the influential firm Gallatin Public Affairs, trying to keep the Oregon Legislature from restricting the ownership of recreational weed stores to state residents.
Legislators including Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) are drafting legislation to put a four-year residency requirement on people entering Oregon's legal marijuana business.
WWeek 2015