Trinidad and Tobago-born businessman Douglas Gordon – the founder of cannabis company CanEx Jamaica and CEO of leading psychedelics company, Toronto-based Silo Wellness Inc – has joined forces with the family of music legend Bob Marley.
They have released Marley One – the first line of mushrooms for medicinal and recreational use in the region.
Gordon, who lives in Jamaica and has over 30 years experience in finance, media, sales and marketing, was thought to be ahead of the curve in the business of cannabis in the Caribbean. He maintains his position of not being ahead of the game, but rather, helping the region to keep up with what is happening in the rest of the world.
"I don't think I'm doing anything bold," Gordon told Business Day while discussing the benefits of functional and the psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms – from aiding in overcoming addiction to managing anxiety and depression.
The product line includes One Mind – a coffee-flavoured blend of lion’s mane and gingko biloba designed to improve focus and cognitive function, One Flow – the peppermint-flavoured blend of cordyceps and ginseng designed to enhance physical endurance and mental function, and One Harmony – a mango-flavoured blend of chaga and ginger designed to stimulate gut health and improve digestion.
"There are five skews of functional mushroom products that are not psychedelic. We get to debunk myths of all mushrooms having psychoactive components – you won't have changes in your perception of anything. From that perspective, there is not anything to worry about. We formulated our blends to include things Caribbean people would also be familiar with would have even used."
He said the collaboration with the Marley family started in early 2020 and they worked on formulating the brand to communicate what he felt honoured the history and legacy of what Bob Marley represented.
"But it also provided a pathway forward that is a fresh application of what he means to people through this other way of connecting them to natural solutions that can help us heal ourselves."
Asked about the reception of the brand's newest line of products, Gordon said, "It went well beyond our expectations."
[caption id="attachment_909474" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Douglas Gordon, left, and Jamaica's minister of agriculture and fisheries Floyd Green at the CanEx psychedelics summit at Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort. - Photo courtesy CanEx[/caption]
The team focused on putting together a world-class product. Gordon said Cedella Marley, Bob Marley's daughter who is the CEO of the Bob Marley Group of Companies, was involved throughout the process. She was involved in everything from brand aesthetics to flavouring.
"The Marley family is particular about what they won't associate the brand with. While they understood what we were going to do from a global perspective, the plant medicine component and why it made sense, they were also particular about how that manifested."
Afte
