

Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley has a family name synonymous with cannabis culture, but he hopes to run a successful marijuana business under a different brand.

Marley, a Grammy Award-winning musician and youngest son of the Jamaican music legend Bob Marley, is also the owner of Stony Hill, a cannabis company named after his latest hit album.

The Stony Hill Corp. hopes to prove itself as a leader by exploring the consumer, health and wellness, recreational, medical, and media industries throughout the legal cannabis market.

The illustrious brand is set to market its own collection of vape pens and heirloom cannabis strains, and also recently announced a line of CBD products derived from hemp plants, aptly titled Stony Hill CBD.

In anticipation of his upcoming appearance at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Marley took some time to answer a few of our questions about cannabis culture and reggae music.

Smell the Truth: How did you decide to name your cannabis brand after your hit album Stony Hill?

Damian Marley: It represents me, it represents my culture. Everything that the name represents for the album also ties in to the brand of herb. It’s a kind of way to associate myself with the herb on a deeper level than just a name, but something that goes a little bit into my history.

StT: What type of products will Stony Hill offer?

DM: We have some pens, we have a strain of herb which is an OG strain, along with ocean-grown extracts. But we’re still in the stages of getting our ideas together.

StT: Fans can’t wait for your upcoming Jamrock Reggae Cruise. Are there plans to incorporate cannabis either on this cruise or in the future?

DM: Reggae music itself incorporates cannabis. So there’s definitely an awareness of cannabis on the boat in that sense. But at the same time it’s a ship man, we are traveling on international waters and we respect that. We’re open to teaching things about cannabis while on the boat, and like I said before, reggae music was hand in hand with the culture of cannabis already.

StT: How excited are you for your upcoming trip to Spain, and what do you enjoy most about their cannabis culture?

DM: I’m looking forward to the trip seeing that I’m just a great fan of cannabis. It’s a part of my day to day life, and anything related to cannabis is something to get excited about.

But it’s a place where there are a lot of fans and they show a lot of love. Barcelona in specific is a place I’m a fan of because of their football team, and Lionel Messi and all of that stuff.

I’m really looking forward to the trip. I can’t say that I’m personally very experienced to what the cannabis laws are in Spain, but I’m sure I’ll get much more educated when I go on this particular trip.

StT: What topics are you planning on discussing at the International Cannabis Business Conference?

DM: Part of my mission is to try to represent the original culture, the original people who were a part of this culture before it became something legal, and something that became commercially beneficial to corporations and their investors.

I always try to be a voice and an advocate for the small farmers who have risked their freedom over the years to be a part of growing and selling herb, and hope that they still have some kind of continued involvement in this industry as it becomes legitimate.

StT: How do you feel about the overall progress of global cannabis reform?

DM: It’s something that we have been thinking for decades, the people from Jamaica. We’ve always been advocates. Peter Tosh had a song that says “Legalize It,” so what more do you need more for our stance from Reggae music?

For us, legalization is great for the mere fact that we don’t have to worry about police for catching us smoking a joint. That itself is such a stress release, such a beautiful freedom.

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