TYSON 2.0 is the cannabis brand co-founded by Mike Tyson, Chad Bronstein (President), and CEO Adam Wilks under parent company Carma HoldCo Inc. It launched in October 2021 and entered shelves in November 2021 with an exclusive cultivation and distribution partnership with Columbia Care. It is the largest athlete-led cannabis brand by market footprint.

Who founded Athletes for CARE?

Athletes for CARE (athletesforcare.org) was founded in 2017 by Eugene Monroe (NFL), Marvin Washington (NFL), Riley Cote (NHL), Cliff Robinson (NBA) and others. It is the largest U.S. athlete-led cannabis-policy advocacy group, providing mental-health and harm-reduction resources alongside policy reform work.

Are athlete-founded cannabis brands always NSF Certified for Sport?

No. Athlete-founded brands span the full range from full-spectrum recreational cannabis (TYSON 2.0, Viola, Dodi Blunts) to CBD-only product lines (Floyd's of Leadville). Tested athletes should verify any specific product's NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport status in the active batch-level certification database before use, regardless of athlete-founder branding.

Athlete-Founded Cannabis Brands 2026: Tyson, Johnson, Williams, More

Athlete-founded cannabis brands: TYSON 2.0, Primitiv (Calvin Johnson + Rob Sims), Viola (Al Harrington), Real Wellness + Highsman (Ricky Williams), Dodi Blunts (Marshawn Lynch), Floyd's of Leadville (Floyd Landis), more.

From Stigmatized Substance to Athlete-Owned Industry

The 2020-2024 league-policy reform wave produced a parallel commercial wave: an athlete-founded cannabis sector. The roster below catalogues the most-cited brands in athlete-policy reporting through May 2026. Information is editorial, not promotional — CannabisForAthletes.org sells no products, accepts no advertising, and earns no commission from any brand named here.

TYSON 2.0 (Mike Tyson)

Co-founded by Mike Tyson, Chad Bronstein (President), and CEO Adam Wilks under parent company Carma HoldCo Inc. Launched October 2021; products entered shelves November 2021 with an exclusive cultivation and distribution partnership with Columbia Care. By market footprint, TYSON 2.0 is the largest athlete-led cannabis brand. Read the Mike Tyson policy timeline.

Primitiv Group (Calvin Johnson, Rob Sims)

NFL Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson and former Detroit Lions teammate Rob Sims co-founded Primitiv Group in Niles, Michigan in 2021. Primitiv partnered with the Harvard International Phytomedicines and Medical Cannabis Institute (Professor Wilfred Ngwa) to study cannabis applications for chronic pain and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The Harvard partnership is the most clinically-substantive academic tie-up in the athlete-founded cannabis sector. Read the Calvin Johnson policy timeline.

Viola Brands (Al Harrington)

Al Harrington's Viola Brands is the NBA-alumni cannabis brand with the broadest U.S. retail footprint. Named after Harrington's grandmother — the first family member to find relief from cannabis use after a glaucoma diagnosis — Viola has a multi-state cultivation, retail, and equity-program presence and is among the most-cited examples in the post-2023 NBA CBA discussion of permitted athlete cannabis investment.

Real Wellness & Highsman (Ricky Williams)

Ricky Williams, whose multi-season NFL suspensions (missing the 2004 and 2006 seasons) anchored the case for the 2020 NFL-NFLPA CBA reform, founded two cannabis ventures:

Real Wellness (2018) — CBD wellness line.
Highsman (2021) — named in reference to the Heisman Trophy Williams won in 1998 at Texas; cannabis-flower-and-products line.

Williams is among the most prolific athlete-cannabis-advocate-and-entrepreneur dual-tracks in the sector. Read the Williams & Gordon NFL timeline.

Other Named Athlete Brands

Dodi Blunts — Marshawn Lynch; pre-rolled flower brand.
Uncle Spliffy — Cliff Robinson; founded before his death in 2020 and continued posthumously as a brand under Robinson's family.
Floyd's of Leadville — Floyd Landis (cyclist); CBD-only line and the most-cited cyclist-led athlete brand.
Athletes for CARE founders — Marvin Washington, Eugene Monroe, Riley Cote, Cliff Robinson, and others (founded 2017; not a product company but the largest athlete-led cannabis-policy advocacy organization). See Advocacy & Orgs.

Topical Recovery Products With the Broadest Athletic-Market Footprint

Beyond athlete-founded brands, the topical recovery products with the broadest athletic-market footprint are:

Charlotte's Web Hemp (NSF Certified for Sport line; "Official CBD of MLB")
Medterra (Pain Cream; Manuka Sport balm)
cbdMD (Recover Inflammation Cream — NSF Certified for Sport)
Lord Jones (high-end topicals)
Mary's Medicinals (Muscle Freeze)

Topical CBD has minimal systemic absorption (Hammell et al., European Journal of Pain, 2016, in rats; Bruni et al., Molecules, 2018) — near-zero positive-test risk, but also near-zero pharmacological systemic effect. Mechanism is local, anti-inflammatory, and possibly counterirritant. See verified NSF Certified for Sport CBD products for the certified subset of this list.

What This List Is And Isn't

This roster is descriptive, not endorsive. Athlete-founded brands span the full range from full-spectrum recreational cannabis (TYSON 2.0, Viola, Dodi Blunts) to CBD-only product lines (Floyd's of Leadville). For tested athletes: verify any specific product's NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport status in the active batch-level certification database before use, regardless of the athlete-founder branding. Athlete branding is a marketing fact, not a contamination guarantee.