Bob Marley Marijuana Brand 'Marley Natural' For Sale 2015

The family of reggae legend Bob Marley have joined forces with a private equity firm to launch a global marijuana brand.

According to the Huffington Post, the Marley family and Privateer Holdings have announced that in late 2015, Marley Natural products will be sold in states and countries where marijuana is legally sold. The report added that the brand will also sell "cannabis-infused and hemp-infused lotions and balms, as well as accessories for storage and consumption of marijuana."

Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Privateer Holdings, told the Huffington Post that Marley Natural will also have "recreational and medical marijuana products, depending on local laws." Presently, four U.S. states (Colorado, Alaska, Washington and Oregon) and the District of Columbia can legally sell marijuana for recreational purposes while "more than 20 states have legalized medical cannabis," the Huffington Post added.

"If you were to try and pick one person in the history of the world associated with this product, it would be Bob Marley," Kennedy said, as quoted by the Huffington Post. "Everyone has a little Bob Marley on their playlist and that's different than anything else out there in this market."

"He called cannabis the herb and he said the herb is the healing of the nation. And he wasn't talking about a country, he was talking about mankind," Kennedy added as noted in a report by The Guardian.

Marley Natural products will reportedly include heirloom Jamaican cannabis strains that were also used by the late singer.

"Bob's favorite strains were the strains that were prevalent in Jamaica historically like lambsbread, pineapple skunk, and some others ... that he used to get from Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, in Jamaica," Kennedy added.

Marley, a Jamaican national, died from cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. He was outspoken when it comes to using marijuana as part of his Rastafarian religious beliefs. He also stated that the herb was important to spiritual growth, Huffington Post further reported. 

"Creative inspiration was everything for my father -- it was like breathing or life to him," Cedella Marley, the artist's daughter, said in the brand's promotional video. "Every time he smoked, he was inspired and an open mind was the open door for his creative inspiration. He thought the herb was actually a gift."

According to The Guardian, Kennedy started talking to the Marley family in 2013 about a legal marijuana company partnership. The family was reportedly "unhappy with the unlicensed use of Bob Marley's image in pot shops across the world" and that the deal with Privateer is a way of protecting the artist's image.