Miami-area medical marijuana producer creates strain for Heat legend Udonis Haslem

The OG just got a strain of OG.

Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem collaborated with the Flowery to produce a new marijuana strain. Named 40 OG, the strain will release April 20 just in time for the 4/20 holiday. Haslem not only approved the strain himself but also helped cultivate it as well.

“I like that offensive smoke,” Haslem told the Miami Herald. “The stuff that make you ‘put it down and scratch your head after one hit’ type of smoke.”

The collaboration, which will also include merchandise, took about 14 months to come together. In addition to picking the two strains that would become 40 OG, the three-time NBA champion worked a bit at the facility as well.

“I’m not a guy who sits at the mountaintop and barks down orders – I’ve been at the facility, I’ve cut crop, I hurt my back ,” the Heat executive said.

Part of what drew Haslem to collaborate with the Flowery was their story. Established in the farmlands of Homestead, the Flowery is one of Florida’s only family-owned cannabis companies. One of the company’s early partners – former Virginia Gardens police chief Steve Garrison – lost his son to an overdose. Garrison’s son, who suffered a brain injury during the Iraq War, became the catalyst for the patriarch to enter into the medical marijuana industry.

“The VA [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] loaded him up with pharmaceuticals,” Garrison told the Miami New Times. “Had he been able to use medical, we believe we would still have him here today.”

Garrison sued Florida in federal court after the state went back on its promise to issue 10 new medical marijuana licenses by October 2017.

Added Haslem: “If you understand what it took to get a license in the state of Florida, it was never meant for the common man. It was meant for the rich to stay rich. When I walked in the room with the Flowery, it was a room full of guys like myself. A room full of common guys. A room full of guys who feel like they have to work twice as hard to get a seat at the table. I felt right at home.”

As for why Haslem got into the medical marijuana business to begin with, he pointed to the healing effects.

“For me, being a person who lives a very stressful life, in a very stressful environment, managing multiple things, it’s good for me get home at the end of the night, sit down, relax and medicate,” Haslem said, adding that medical marijuana could be useful for athletes who often endure “the traveling, the stress, the pains and the aches.”

And forever the advocate, Haslem wants to raise awareness about the medical marijuana industry as a whole.

“We need to open up our mind and educate ourselves,” Haslem said. “The things that I was taught younger, the things I thought younger, I’ve grown into a man who has learned how to think for himself, how to research things for myself.”

Although Haslem has jumped on the medical marijuana train, what remains to be seen is how Floridians, as a whole, feel about the growing industry. That will surely be tested in November when voters will cast ballots on whether or not to approve cannabis for recreational use.

The 40 OG will be available at all of the Flowery’s Florida locations and via delivery. Check the Flowery website at https://theflowery.co/locations for more details.