We grow weed at a prison to help people get out of prison for growing weed.
Talk about flipping the script. That's the mission statement of Evidence, a new cannabis brand based in California. Criminal justice is clearly the focus of the company founded by Dan, Casey and Kelly Dalton. In additon, the Dalton Entertainment Group manages Damian Marley and other musical artists.
Marley is part of the ownership group of Ocean Grown Extracts. Ocean Grown and Evidence cannabis products are cultivated at the converted Claremont Custody Center in Coalinga, California. It was formerly a prison.
Evidence flower is packaged in evidence replica bags to remind consumers of the hardships so many growers have endured over the many years of prohibition. Each half-ounce package contains flower, a pack of Vibes rolling papers and a Last Prisoner Project matchbook. One dollar per sale goes to LPP. They're currently available at 15 pot shops around the state.
Damian Marley: "Yes, we want to earn some money, no doubt, absolutely. But we're not sucking peoples' blood to do that."
Dan Dalton describes Evidence as an "unapologetic disruptor that forces people to take a hard look at where we have been as a country and initiates the conversation on where we need to go."
In a a video to promote the launch (watch below), Marley says: "Evidence is for the working man. It's some really nice working people herb... It's just not all about the money. Yes, we want to earn some money, no doubt, absolutely. But we're not sucking peoples' blood to do that."
Berner's Vibes papers with Greenlane Holdings were launched in March. "We curated our papers for cannabis," he explains. "Certain bud burns better with certain kind of papers... We broke through some barriers that were not easy and we're starting to make a lot of noise."
Last Prisoner Project has been effective in getting U.S. pot prisoners released since being founded by Steve DeAngelo in 2019. There are between 40,000 and 50,000 prisoners currently incarcerated for cannabis.
