Pop superstar Justin Bieber has made a foray into the legal marijuana industry through a partnership to produce a line of pre-rolled joints with California cannabis company Palms Premium that was announced on Monday. Meanwhile, however, cannabis advocates are weary about the number of celebrities waltzing into the industry without paying their dues first.
Sold under the brand name Peaches, a reference to a song by the same name in which Bieber famously mentions “weed from California,” the music artist says the new venture is an attempt to address the stigma associated with cannabis.
“I’m a fan of Palms and what they are doing by making cannabis approachable and helping to destigmatize it—especially for the many people who find it helpful for their mental health,” Bieber said in a statement. “I wanted to make sure that I was doing something with them that felt genuine and Peaches felt like a good place to start.”
Peaches Pre-rolls Available in Four States
The Peaches line of pre-rolls will be available in California, Nevada, Florida and Massachusetts, according to a report from Forbes. Packs of seven half-gram joints will be available in a choice of sativa, indica, or hybrid premium cannabis, all grown indoors and expressing fruity and citrus-dominant terpene profiles. Each pack will retail for $50 to $60, depending on the market.
Tyler Breton, co-founder of Palms, said that the brand’s products are for “not only experienced users, who will appreciate the quality and attention to detail, but first time and casual consumers exhibiting the approachability and benefits of our products.”
“We’re pretty excited about it,” said Noah Annes, co-founder of Palms and the CEO of parent company Tres Palmas. “The whole goal of Palms is to destigmatize cannabis consumption. To be approachable, to be elevated, for people who are less familiar or comfortable with cannabis. To work with Justin is really consistent with our mission.”
A portion of each sale of Peaches prerolls will be contributed to Veterans Walk and Talk, a group that advocates for connecting military veterans with the outdoors, cannabis, and psychedelics to promote healing and wellness, and the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting those incarcerated for marijuana offenses.
“They both closely align with Palms’ mission of making cannabis approachable and mainstream,” Annes said in an emailed statement.
Bieber and Cannabis
In the 2020 documentary series “Seasons,” Bieber revealed details about the first time he smoked marijuana at his home in Canada.
“The first time I smoked weed was in my backyard here—got super-stoned,” Bieber said in a voice-over. “And then I realized I liked weed a lot. That’s when my desire to smoke weed started, and then I started smoking weed for a while.”
The singer added, however, that the stress of being in the public eye had negative effects on his mental health and his use of cannabis became problematic.
“And then I started getting really dependent on it, and that’s when I realized that I had to stop,” he continued. “I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just that for me, it can be a dependency.”
In addition to his cannabis use, Bieber also admitted to turning to psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, and lean, an underground psychoactive beverage made from cough syrup and grape soda.
“People don’t know how serious it got. It was legit crazy, scary,” Bieber said. “I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing was popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day. It just got scary.”
Annes says that Bieber’s openness and vulnerability about his struggles with mental health impressed the company, leading to Palms’ “first-ever collaboration” with a celebrity figure.
“With Justin’s help shining the spotlight on these important topics, we hope to inspire others to talk more freely about both mental health and cannabis consumption,” Annes said.
In addition to supporting Veterans Walk and Talk and the Last Prisoner Project, Palms and Bieber plan to support the Momentum business accelerator by Eaze, as well as the cannabis delivery marketplace’s Social Equity Partners Program.
“We want to talk about bigger issues,” said Annes. “Justin dealing with his mental health and helping to destigmatize cannabis use for health, and the fact that we still need to get people out of jail for cannabis and change the regulations in the states now. Those things are really important to us, Justin is behind them and supports those causes as well. It’s more than the policy change and getting people out of jail. These organizations support people’s families. This really rocks families and communities. The same thing with people dealing with mental health issues and PTSD, if they aren’t able to get access to some medicine that is proven to work. We are so fortunate to be able to go into dispensaries, have choices, access to thoughtfully made products and brands.”
Honest Approach or PR Stunt Continued?
Considering Beiber’s self-reported struggle with dependency on cannabis, his entering into the industry can be viewed by some as misaligned. After the release of his album in March 2021, which included the weed-themed song entitled “Peaches,” there was a media frenzy in July when Beiber was spotted “casually shopping” for cannabis at a Wonderbrett location in LA, according to the New York Post’s Page 6.
During his shopping trip, it was reported that he spent more than $1,000 on weed in just 20 minutes, and many with clout in the industry questioned whether or not this was nothing short of a publicity stunt. Seeing that his weed partnership has popped up shortly following this shopping trip, and with a brand that otherwise hasn’t been well-known for celebrity partnerships in the industry, we’re not necessarily buying into the hype.
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