December 8, 2022
‘I’m Looking For People That Smell Like Weed’: Pastor Jamal Bryant Shares Plans To Launch Cannabis Business
Pastor Jamal Bryant has a plan to drive business to his church and increase membership among Black males…selling weed.
The New Birth Missionary Baptist Church pastor appeared on the Cool Soror podcast with Rashan Ali and explained his goal to launch a cannabis business to help drive membership and entrepreneurship within the Black community.
“I’m looking for people that smell like weed,” Bryant said flat out.
Ali started to laugh, but Bryant explained his new business plans.
“No, no, really. New Birth is the largest land-owning Black church in America,” he shared. “So my position to my deacons is, why are we not raising cannabis?”
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Bryant touched on what he thought he could accomplish by adding the growing industry to his mega-church.
“I’ll be able to bring in Black males that are able to do it legally,” he explained. “I’m teaching them farming. I’m helping them to enhance the ecosystem.”
Bryant went on to note who he is hoping to target and have join his congregation.
“So if the Black kid in Bankhead says ‘They’re growing weed at the church! Where can I join?’ I don’t need no pamphlet for him,” Bryant said.
The cannabis industry raised over $1.6 billion in January 2021, GlowHub reports. While the industry is booming, Black people’s chances of joining the market are still a far reach compared to their white counterparts, as noted by The Guardian.
The main obstacle for Bryant is Georgia’s strict laws against the sale of cannabis unless for medical purposes. In September, the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission voted to award two medical cannabis licenses to two businesses in the state, Cannabis Business Times reports.
But the state still has a long way to go since passing a 2015 law that allows registered patients to possess low-THC cannabis oil but prohibits the cultivation or dispensing of cannabis in the state.