After years of growers clamoring to put the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' author's name on their product, Hunter S. Thompson's weed strains will be sold by his widow, Anita Thompson. She recently acquired Owl Farm, her late husband's home in Woody Creek, Colorado, and plans to use the cannabis revenue "to renovate Owl Farm and turn it into a private museum and writer's retreat," according to Rolling Stone . The property was previously owned by the Gonzo Trust and overseen by Hunter's attorneys, per the writer's will.
Following Hunter's death in 2005, Anita saved six strains of his marijuana. She has partnered "with a cannabis company to re-grow the strains or hybrids of them," which will then be branded as Gonzo weed and sold at legal dispensaries across the U.S. Anita owns rights to the Gonzo brand and Thompson's image, per the deal she struck to acquire Owl Farm.
Hunter S. Thompson died before Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use, and actually opposed it during his lifetime. Anita told The Cannabist that Hunter "didn’t want the government to tamper with his beloved marijuana — he thought that the quality would go down and become like cigarettes, and it would become less pure," but added that the effects of Colorado's decriminalization proved her late husband wrong. She believes he would have loved the access to new and innovative strains and edibles that recreational dispensaries provide pot smokers:
He would have had a heyday! Could you imagine Hunter Thompson in a dispensary? Sometimes it breaks my heart when I go into one and that he’s not here. The best way to honor Hunter’s work is to have him in our hearts when we go into dispensaries, when we smoke legally and when we read his words.
Owl Farm will be open to invited guests "by the end of 2017."
Bustle has reached out to Anita Thompson for comment.
Image: Fear and Loathing LLC
