Marijuana, pot, ganja, the devil's lettuce, even Jesus cabbage. Marijuana has made its way to mainstream media, and the stigma surrounding it has slowly begun to fade. In the past few years, the marijuana industry has grown to a highly profitable industry with celebrities like Wiz Khalifa and The Game making millions off of brand and endorsement deals. What a lot of people don't see is many of the smaller brands who are trying to break into an industry where RAW and Canopy Growth have made such tremendous strides into becoming recognized, legitimate businesses. Craig "Vincithe1" Jones is one of many people trying to capitalize on this emerging industry. Based out of New Orleans, he and his brother Tevis "Gemellus" Jones started their brand in 2016 and have begun crossing over to social media to promote his brand "Wake and Bake". It started as a clothing line, but he has plans to expand. I had the oppurtunity to ask him some questions about his brand what made him decide to get into the industry.

Question: What made you decide to start up the brand?

Jones: The need for independence, the need to have my own thing. If I'm going to work for someone, I wanna build my own brand

What made you decide to focus your brand on marijuana?

Jones: I started it because I love weed, and I love the culture. I'm always around it. There doesn't have to be this negative stereotype around it. Just cause we smoke doesn't mean we lazy. I can build a brand around it and show people that it's not that bad.

Question: What was your first exposure to marijuana?

Jones: The negative connotation of "you're going to be no one". I started questioning this connotation when I saw my older cousins were getting straight A's and smoking every day.

Question: What's in the future for your brand?

Jones: I'm looking to expand past clothing, items for marijuana, a "wake and bake" alarm clock (extremely clever by the way), cups, grinders, trays, it's all in the works.

Question: What do you think of the cultural acceptance of alcohol, but the stigma around marijuana?

Jones: The hypocrisy of alcohol and weed is a mind control thing. It's a conditioning thing, we're bread to think the wrong way. Alcohol only harms your body, there are no health benefits.

Question: What do you think of the changes in weed culture?

Jones: Weed culture has changed because people were doing it "to be cool", now it's on the wave of people see it as a calming agent and it's a medical purpose. The term "addiction" shouldn't be used with marijuana. You can only be addicted to something that is killing you slowly.

Question: Where do you think marijuana is heading in terms of legalization?

Jones: As the weed wave gets bigger, so will the opposition. The numbers don't mean anything, you can have 5 people against it who are in charge who can ban it for the whole country. I hope things can change soon, but it's going to be hard.

Contrary to what Jeff Sessions may tell you, marijuana is NOT the same as heroin. With new studies emerging every day, we are seeing the health benefits of medicinal marijuana products, as well as the profitability of recreational sales. Craig Jones is a savvy, intelligent entrepreneur who is going against the stereotype that people who smoke marijuana are lazy, unintelligent people. He also has a label "Wake and Bake Entertainment", who has artists like Le$ Prblems, Gemellus, and Darlin on their label. The only question is, how high will he climb?

You can check out his Instagram at Wake And Bake Inc and his personal Instagram at Vincithe1