Mike Tyson & TYSON 2.0: From Open Use to $X Cannabis Brand
Mike Tyson's open post-career cannabis use and the October 2021 launch of TYSON 2.0 with co-founder Chad Bronstein, CEO Adam Wilks, parent Carma HoldCo, and Columbia Care cultivation/distribution partnership.
Tyson's Open Post-Career Use
Mike Tyson's open post-career cannabis use — widely discussed across his media appearances, podcast presence, and public comments on chronic-pain management — was not the first instance of a former boxer speaking openly about cannabis. But the combination of Tyson's profile, the post-2018 hemp-bill regulatory shift, and the parallel Nevada State Athletic Commission July 2021 reform created the conditions for what followed: the launch of the largest athlete-led cannabis brand by retail footprint.
October 2021: TYSON 2.0 Launches
In October 2021, Tyson launched TYSON 2.0. Public filings and trade-press coverage name three principals:
- Mike Tyson — the brand namesake and public face.
- Chad Bronstein — co-founder and President.
- Adam Wilks — CEO.
The parent company is Carma HoldCo Inc. Products entered shelves November 2021 under an exclusive cultivation/distribution partnership with Columbia Care, providing TYSON 2.0 with multi-state operational reach from launch.
The Retail Footprint
By U.S. shelf presence, TYSON 2.0 is the largest athlete-led cannabis brand. It sits at the top of an athlete-founded ecosystem that includes:
- Primitiv Group — Calvin Johnson and Rob Sims, Niles, MI; Harvard chronic-pain and CTE partnership (founded 2021).
- Viola Brands — Al Harrington; the broadest NBA-alumni footprint.
- Real Wellness (2018) and Highsman (2021) — Ricky Williams.
- Dodi Blunts — Marshawn Lynch.
- Uncle Spliffy — Cliff Robinson, posthumously continued.
- Floyd's of Leadville — Floyd Landis, cyclist; CBD line.
For the full athlete-founded list, see Athlete-Founded Cannabis Brands.
The Combat-Sports Context
Tyson launched TYSON 2.0 at a moment of unusual alignment in combat-sports cannabis policy. The UFC-USADA January 14, 2021 change had already rendered cannabis effectively a non-violation in the UFC. The Nevada State Athletic Commission stopped punishing fighters for cannabis use in July 2021; Florida had announced a similar move in May 2021. The professional-fighting ecosystem was, by late 2021, the most cannabis-tolerant tier of U.S. major-league sports apart from MLB. TYSON 2.0 launched into that opening.
The State-Athletic-Commission Pivot
The NSAC's about-face mirrored the UFC-USADA approach: cannabis is no longer treated as a per-se violation. The shift mattered because state athletic commissions had been the principal punitive holdouts against cannabis-using combat-sports athletes — the single most-extreme example being the Nick Diaz September 14, 2015 5-year suspension (reduced to 18 months in 2016 settlement).
Why the Tyson Case Matters Beyond Tyson
The TYSON 2.0 launch is now cited in trade-press coverage of every subsequent athlete-cannabis brand deal. It demonstrated that an athlete with active brand value could anchor a multi-state cannabis-products operation through a partnership with a licensed multi-state operator (Columbia Care) without crossing federal-law lines — a structural model now copied. Combined with the NBA's July 1, 2023 CBA permitting players to hold passive (≤50%) interests in cannabis companies and to actively promote CBD-only brands, Tyson's example helped move athlete cannabis-business ownership from outlier to baseline in the U.S. major-league sports landscape.