Joe Montana Teams Up with Cannabis Company

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]F[/dropcap]ormer San Francisco 49ers quarterback and Heisman trophy winner Joe Montana will be joining San Jose, California-based cannabis company Caliva for a $75 million round of investment funding.

“As an investor and supporter, it is my opinion that Caliva’s strong management team will successfully develop and bring to market quality health and wellness products that can provide relief to many people and can make a serious impact on opioid use or addiction,” Montana stated in a press release.

Montana launched the venture capital firm Liquid 2 Ventures in 2015, and in 2017, Montana joined a seed round for the cannabis-focused media platform HERB, formerly called The Stoner’s Cookbook. He took part in a $4.1 million investment with HERB.

The Hall of Famer will partner with former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who was initially reluctant to invest into the cannabis industry. “I wasn’t a reefer head when I was in college,” Bartz told the Associated Press.  “People are discovering there are better ways to clamp down on pain than over drugging yourself.”

Montana, 62, joins plenty of other former National Football League (NFL) stars that have been attracted to or invested in the cannabis industry, including Jim McMahon, Bill Walton, Martellus Bennett, Eugene Monroe, Mike James, and former CULTURE covers Eben Britton, Ricky Williams and Nate Jackson. At this point, it appears the NFL and cannabis go hand-in-hand. Most recently, a cannabis-related Super Bowl LIII commercial was dropped from CBS without a complete explanation. Montana was once named “Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.”

Caliva sells a luxury line of cannabis, pre-rolls and vape pens and is available across the 49er’s hometown in the Bay Area. The company offers same-day delivery and pick-ups. Caliva products can be found at over 200 dispensaries across California. The company currently has about 440 employees.