Bob Marley’s son prepares to open new pot joint in trendy NJ town

Fans of the late, great Bob Marley know that the maestro loved nothing more than a long drag on a big fat joint.

In fact, for the revered Jamaican singer the act of consuming pot was more than just a way to relax. It was part of his religion. As a member of the Rastafarian movement, Marley believed the act of smoking “ganja,” the Rastafarian term for marijuana, was a holy sacrament.

Today, Rohan Marley, one of the reggae legend’s sons, is seeking to bring a new marijuana dispensary to the famously bohemian New Jersey town of Montclair.

Marley junior and his business partners have an application pending with New Jersey authorities, according to local news outlet Patch.com.

If the state grants the application, former Garden State resident Marley says that his company can be selling cannabis in the town within three months.

Marley is a partner with Lightshade Labs, which operates eight marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities in Colorado. Lightshade’s Montclair team also consists of Anthony Caggiano, an OB-GYN physician and cannabis advocate, his son, Erik, an experienced cannabis operator, and Montclair-based labor attorney John Zidziunas.

The pending application by the team of weed entrepreneurs is for one of New Jersey’s new medical marijuana licenses.

Montclair already has a medical marijuana dispensary on Bloomfield Avenue, Ascend Wellness, formerly known as the Greenleaf Compassion Center, which was among the original licensees when New Jersey’s program began in 2012.

According to Patch.com, however, with more than 95,000 residents currently enrolled in New Jersey’s medical program and an expected growth rate of about 7,000 patients per month, there is plenty of demand for more “good vibes”.

Marley said his plan has “earned the confidence” of elected officials and business leaders in Montclair and New Jersey.

“As both medical and recreational programs scale across the state, we are committed to hiring locally, bringing onboard rehabilitated individuals with previous records and serving as an incubator for the next generation of New Jersey’s cannabis entrepreneurs,” Marley was quoted as saying by the outlet.

Marley’s roots in New Jersey run deep. He raised five children there with Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, a South Orange native, after playing professional football and helping run his family’s businesses.

Unlike his brothers Ziggy, Damian and Stephen, Rohan Marley didn’t follow in his father’s musical footsteps. Like his father, however, he has been a vocal supporter of legalizing recreational marijuana, and has touted cannabis as a powerful medicine.

His legendary father Bob Marley died in 1981 of skin cancer, aged just 36.