Fat Joe wants to join New York’s cannabis industry.
Cannabis Wire conducted an analysis of entities that registered to lobby state officials on cannabis issues, legislation, or policy. One name that stood out to us: Joseph Cartagena, or the recording artist Fat Joe, who registered on the focus area “Application for cannabis license in NYS.”
Fat Joe’s lobbyist, Bolton-St. Johns, a government relations and public affairs firm, confirmed to Cannabis Wire that the musician is looking to get into New York’s cannabis industry.
“He is seeking to get involved in the cannabis industry in New York State at some point,” Prisca Salazar, a partner at Bolton-St. Johns, told Cannabis Wire. “Joe’s not in the pipeline for any license at this time.”
(Catch up on Cannabis Wire’s latest coverage of New York’s cannabis rollout.)
Fat Joe was born in the Bronx and, since 2003, has been nominated for several Grammy awards, including for “What’s Luv?”
Fat Joe isn’t the first major music artist to show interest in cannabis in New York. As Cannabis Wire reported in November, two cannabis companies with licenses in New York, Cresco and Columbia Care, announced that Sean “Diddy” Combs would purchase some of their assets as they merged. (The companies’ licenses are currently for medical cannabis in New York, but they will be able to transition to adult use sales down the line.)
Also, Tariq Brooks, president of Combs Global, Combs’ parent company, sits on the board of Cresco; he is also registered to lobby the state’s Senate, Assembly, and Executive offices on “cannabis/marijuana.”
