By: Sean Crose
Although he’s long been known as a terror both in and out of the ring, Mike Tyson is now earning a reputation for something else – being a legal marijuana dealer. Scratch that. Being a big time legal marijuana dealer. According to an article in Market Watch, the former heavyweight titlists’ company, Tyson Ranch, earns half a million dollars a month in sales. The Tyson Ranch itself, located in California, may also be on the way to becoming a theme park – a theme park where the theme will be marijuana. No matter what one’s opinion of marijuana may be, there’s little doubt the venture has been bringing the now 53 year old Tyson plenty of new found attention.
Aside from being written of in such publications as Market Watch, Yahoo, and Weedmaps, Tyson’s product has been talked about by Howard Stern, and has been promoted by Tyson himself on the Today Show. “Tyson,” the Today Show narrator told viewers, “wants to grow a marijuana empire.” Tyson himself says on camera that he thinks “weed is the miracle drug of the future.” The individual once known as “the baddest man on the planet” argues that marijuana has been a savior of sorts for him. Not only does he credit it for breaking him of cocaine and booze, Tyson also feels marijuana has helped him successfully deal with mental health issues.
Whether or not Tyson’s claims will be universally accepted as truth, of course, remains to be seen. Since blasting onto the heavyweight scene in the mid 80s, the man has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster. Tyson, though, clearly wants the world to know he’s serious about the marijuana business, that he and Tyson Ranch, are more than simply jokey, stoner movie material. “I work every day,” he told Weedmaps. “I’m involved with all the decision making. It’s my baby.”
Tyson admitted to the publication that he smoked marijuana for his 2000 bout with Andrew Golota, and that he was originally fined for it, but that the fine was lifted due to a technicality. “I think all athletes should smoke marijuana if that’s what they choose to do,” Tyson – who is far keener than he’s been given credit for – told Weedmaps. “I’m not pushing it on anybody. I’m just telling people who are like me, who experience pain from a long career, cannabis.” Tyson also claimed that his life would have been a lot less tumultuous had he used marijuana in his younger years.
Since first entering the public consciousness in the mid 80s, Tyson has never failed to drop collective jaws. This remains true even now, long past the days when the fighter was known for dropping opponents. On a recent podcast, Tyson admitted that he and others on Tyson Ranch go through roughly forty thousand dollars’ worth of marijuana a month. At the very least, no one will ever be able to say this businessman doesn’t have the utmost belief in his own product.
