Soccer stars and Blacked Eyed Peas: The cannabis crossover you didn’t know you needed

FILES – (from left) Andre Schurrle, Mario Gotze and Will.i.am, (Photos by Invision and AP)

By James Matthews

On the soccer pitch, Mario Gotze’s legacy is lasting.

He came on as a substitute in the 2014 World Cup Final and scored the winning goal in extra time that gave Germany the country’s first World Cup since 1990. Now, he’s working on cementing is off-pitch legacy.

In December 2020, it was announced that Gotze is part of a group of investors in medicinal cannabis brand Sanity Group. Andre Schurrle, his teammate from that 2014 World Cup winning side has also joined Gotze. Compatriots Stefanie Geisinger and Dennis Aogo are reportedly also interested.

With all due respect to Germany and the World Cup, there is another reported investor that really makes the crop of investors stand out: Will.I.Am.

British tabloid The Sun reported that The Black Eyed Peas rapper is said to also be interested in investing in the German brand.

Sanity Group “brings together topic experts from every background, including medical science, pharmaceutics, food chemistry, biology, supply chain, politics and legal.” Their purpose: “’unlock the health benefits of cannabinoids.’” The brand also has more specialized companies in their portfolio.

Canadian Evergreen has extolled the virtues of cannabis for athletes in addition to the regulatory hurdles they need to overcome to tap into those benefits.

But with musicians and athletes buying in, the momentum for cannabis keeps runnin’, runnin’ and runnin’, runnin…’

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