Well now, speak of the devil. Is that the Marlboro Man riding into town on his trusty steed, Big Tobacco? Will we soon see the cannabis cowboy atop Big Tobacco, twistin up a dank one while parked under the shade of a tall Redwood? Most important, will the urban legend of the cig dudes taking over the marijuana industry finally becomes a reality? Ah, say it aint so Marlboro Man dude, say it aint so...MF
THE WEEK IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA -- FROM THE MARLBORO MAN TO HUMBOLDT COUNTY
By Greg Campbell l Published: Friday, April 23 2010 07:56
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Has the Marlboro man snatched up the trademark for such popular strains of weed as Purple Kush, LA Confidential and Trainwreck? Not so says a representative for Reynolds American, one of the big U.S. tobacco companies (which, by the way, does not make Marlboros -- Philip Morris has not yet replied to Green Zone's request for comment). But the assumption that tobacco companies are poised to leap into the marijuana business is a rumor, according to Reynolds spokesman David Howard, that's circulating in California's Emerald Triangle by people worried that if California voters chose to legalize pot for adults regardless of medical need at the ballot box in November, the lucrative industry in the north will be crushed by Big Tobacco.
It's hardly an unfounded fear; dogged for years as encouraging one of the most deadly habits around, tobacco execs would be nuts not to be working on cannabis cigarette prototypes, especially considering the health hype surrounding marijuana in recent years. But they cannot patent plants, and it's questionable whether they can even claim a trademark on a certain strain. Should there be a "Marlboro Green" in the future, it can likely use the name Purple Kush, for example, but so can anyone else who grows and sells it. The question is being able to agree that a strain is what it's advertised to be; currently, there are two versions of OG Kush in circulation in California, according to Green Zone sources in Mendocino County, and they're nothing like one another.
