LaFerla said the success of Tyson 2.0 can be attributed to Tyson's hands-on approach to customers and its company, the company's aggressive expansion into new markets such as New York and Maryland, and the quality of its products.
“Your name might make someone try it once,” he said. “But it's your brand and the quality of your product that will keep people coming back.”
Mike Tyson cut in conpod cannabis dispensary.credit: now
Customers have already been coming back to buy Tyson weed, said Yuvraj Singh, president and CEO of Strain Stars on Long Island. His customers purchased $30,000 worth of Tyson 2.0 flower on the first day of sales, and the hemp line is already one of the store's best-selling products.
Cos Marty, co-owner and CEO of Conpod, said his dispensary also had repeat customers after selling $10,000 of Tyson 2.0 per hour, which is roughly the amount a dispensary typically makes in a day.
Tyson has emphasized the therapeutic role of cannabis in his transformation from a reckless boxing champion to a disciplined business owner. He said in an interview that less than 10 years ago, he was broke and suffering from a cocaine addiction. He now owns one of the most successful cannabis brands in the country.
He said his goal is to cement his legacy as a pioneer in the cannabis space. “This is more important to me than making money,” he said.
Munifa Jones-Tucker, buying some of Tyson's new cannabis 2.0 line.credit: now
Tyson was born poor in Brooklyn before discovering his talent for boxing at an upstate reform school. He quickly became a teenage phenomenon and eventually won 50 of his professional bouts, most of them by knockout.
But his reputation has been tarnished by his in-ring antics, including biting off Holyfield's ear, and legal troubles, including a three-year prison sentence for rape, which he still denies. He revealed his addiction to cocaine in 2014, and credited cannabis with helping him recover. He now lives in Las Vegas and owns a cannabis farm in California.
His personal narrative appeals to his many fans, who seem keen to support him. “He's had a tough time, I agree with that,” said Tony Pedroza, 26, a boxing fan from Brooklyn who lined up to see Tyson in Manhattan.
Cristina Lopez, co-founder and CEO of House of Puff, an art accessories brand, said celebrities can have an influence on cannabis far beyond the cash register as “secret weapons” in the fight to legalize and normalize cannabis use.
A package of Mike Bites from the Tyson 2.0 cannabis line.credit: now
Rapper Jay Z, for example, has helped the public reimagine cannabis as part of the good life with Monogram, his line of luxury weed, she said. And Cynthia Nixon, the actress most famous for her role Sex and the CityShe was a core force in promoting the legislation as a racial justice issue during her primary campaign against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2018.
“Their real strength is not just in sales numbers,” Lopez said. “It's about how we can change the game about what people think about cannabis, influence market dynamics, and even potentially influence legislation.”
Even prominent politicians have joined the industry as consultants, investors and lobbyists. In 2018, John Boehner, an Ohio Republican who once served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, joined the board of Acreage Holdings, a multi-state cannabis company with four medical dispensaries in New York. Boehner, who has staunchly opposed cannabis legalization during his 12 terms in Congress, said it's time for a change in federal policy. (At the time, such a change would have netted him a $20 million payday.)
It was the opportunity to raise awareness about how marijuana criminalization fuels racial inequality that attracted Fred Brathwaite, better known as Fab 5 Freddy, to the industry. In the 1980s, he was a street artist who considered Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol to be friends, and later became a show host Yo! MTV Rapa popular television show that took hip-hop off the streets and broadcast to millions of American households.
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He is now co-owner and CEO of B Noble, a herbal brand bearing the Bernard Noble name. Noble, who is black, became a national symbol of the country's tough drug laws after he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in Louisiana for the equivalent of two joints.
B Noble, created in partnership with Curaleaf, the country's largest cannabis company, sells weed packaged as a pair of pre-rolled joints in a nod to Noble's arrest. Ten percent of profits go to organizations that serve people returning to society from prison. Brathwaite said the company has donated $400,000 so far.
