Tyson opens massive pot farm
Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson is reportedly opening a California cannabis ranch to celebrate the state’s legalisation of recreational marijuana.
In a remote town of 15,000 people southwest of Death Valley, Tyson has opened up 40 acres of land at a cannabis farm called Tyson Ranch, the Daily Record reported.
Tyson is reportedly a longtime believer in medical marijuana and the Tyson Ranch will devote 20 acres to its cultivation, with research also carried out to develop its clinical uses.
The farm will reportedly have a ‘‘Tyson Cultivation School’’ to teach the marijuana farmers how to develop strains of the plant, as well as a luxury glamping campground with cabins and an amphitheatre.
The 51-year-old had teamed up with business partners Robert Hickman and Jay Strommen and is supported by city mayor Jennifer Wood.
The arrival of the new year saw the broad legalisation of marijuana in California, a muchanticipated change that comes two decades after the state was the first to allow pot for medical use. Tyson was quick to react.
California is expecting a marijuana boom with legalisation, and the mayor described the ranch as a ‘‘rebirth’’ for the city which will create needed jobs. The law change came into play on January 2.
Tyson, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has endured a career marred by controversy. He was the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title when he was 20-years-old in 1986. He won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.
He served almost three years in prison in the early 1990s for the rape of 18-year-old model Desiree Washington.
In 1997 Tyson was disqualified in the third round a fight against Evander Holyfield when he infamously bit part of his opponent’s ear off.
California becomes the sixth US state to permit the sale of recreational marijuana.
The marijuana market in California alone, which boasts the world’s sixth-largest economy, is valued by most experts at several billion dollars annually and is expected to generate at least a US$1 billion (NZ$1.4 billion) a year in tax revenue.