Former NBA Star Returns To Home State To Open Cannabis Dispensary

HOBOKEN, NJ – A former NBA star has made the move from the court to the cannabis space, and is now taking his business to his home state of New Jersey.

News12 New Jersey reported the story of Al Harrington, who played 16 seasons in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets..

On Saturday morning, Harrington opened Village Hoboken, a dispensary featuring a wide array of products.  It is the first East Coast location of his company called Viola.

The business is named after Harrington’s grandmother Viola, who suffered from glaucoma.  Harrington recommended that she try medical marijuana for her condition.  At the time he was playing for the Denver Nuggets after Colorado had recently legalized the use of marijuana.

“She was complaining about her eyes hurting and I said, ‘Grandma, why don’t you give it a try.’ I said a doctor will actually recommend it,” said Harrington. “I said it’s legal here, and she said I’m in so much pain today, I’ll try anything. From that point on, I had a different outlook on cannabis. I realized that it was medicine. So, I started doing research and then eventually I got into the business.”

Harrington joined with with Dan Pettigrew to start the company Viola to help others in her honor and founded Village Brands. The company grows, processes, and sells all varieties of marijuana products, from flower to concentrates to pre-rolled joints. Harrington opened dispensaries in California, Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington, and now New Jersey, where he grew up in the city of Orange.

“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to bring my love of and experience in the cannabis industry over the last 13 years to Jersey,” said Harrington. “It’s a full circle moment to open a dispensary in the state where I was stopped and frisked as a kid who had never even touched flower.”

Along with expanding access to the medicinal benefits of cannabis, Harrington said he also works to ensure that the history of prohibition and its disproportionate impact on communities of color is centered by continuously advocating for expanded access and opportunity for people of color in the cannabis space.

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