Weed Kings: The Tragically Hip’s corporate legal marijuana investment

Before Gord Downie died, the Tragically Hip were asked if they’d like a piece of the action regarding the upcoming legalization of marijuana. As investors in Newstrike and its weed division, Up Cannabis, the Hip have also become brand ambassadors for this soon-to-be-legal recreational substance.

The Toronto Star covered a special event held by Newstrike and hosted by three members of the Hip.

One really couldn’t script a more “of the moment” Canadian story: The Tragically Hip has quietly re-emerged into the public eye for the first time since frontman Gord Downie’s death from brain cancer last October, and broken an almost-total radio silence imposed for the past three years to talk about … marijuana.

The band announced it had entered into a partnership, co-signed by Downie, with Brantford-based cannabis producer Newstrike in May of last year. But the big reveal of the (ahem) joint brand name, Up Cannabis, and several planned weed strains named for Tragically Hip tunes — “Eldorado,” “Gems,” “50MC,” “Grace” and “Morning Moon” — came this week amidst a lavish overnight party for around 200 invited guests, including many music-industry folk and online “influencers” and a handful of media, myself included, thrown on the combination organic farm and event space known as the New Farm outside Creemore.

Read the rest of the article here. Also check out this video interview.