Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marlet seemingly likes the reefer as much as his legendary father and it’s being shown even more as an investment group on 20 people, including him, have purchased a 60% controlling share in the magazine High Times, the corresponding digital platforms and its popular Cannabis Cup trade shows.

The company is valued at $70 million and as Adam Levin, the company’s new CEO and the main man from the investment firm who made the deal is set to grow the company even further as a wave of legalization has hit the USA.

Marijuana is hitting the main stream and big business!

Atlanta Black Star wrote:

“It’s an exciting day,” said Adam Levin, the company’s new CEO. “We have really the largest brand in cannabis, really the trusted brand, that we’ve been able to acquire at a time when obviously legalization trends are burgeoning and the industry as a whole is exploding.”

The purchase price wasn’t revealed but Levin, whose Los Angeles-based investment firm, Oreva Capital, put the deal together, said the company is valued at $70 million.

With marijuana legal in some form in 26 states and the District of Columbia, Levin and his partners believe it’s the perfect time to acquire the company with a mainstream brand name and a colorful reputation.

They could be right, says Gabriel Kahn, an expert on changing media trends and a professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“The marijuana business is increasingly becoming professionalized and mainstream,” Kahn said. “That opens up a space for a news outfit to lay claim to being the voice of the industry and establish credibility. Any publication that can pull that off can create a lasting business.”

Although High Times has competitors, Levin says he’s confident it will prevail because of its reputation.