Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta, wants to open up a cannabis business so that he can attract more Black men to the church.
“I’m looking for people that smell like weed,” Bryant deadpanned on the “Cool Soror With Rashan Ali” podcast. Ali turned her head in shock at Bryant’s words.
Bryant, who divorced “Real Housewives of Potomac” star Gizelle Bryant in 2009, elaborated on his rationale for developing a marijuana farm on what is considered consecrated grounds.
“New Birth is the largest land-owning Black church in America. My position to my deacons is ‘why aren’t we not raising cannabis?’” he asked rhetorically.
The mega-church leader would run into major logistical issues if he tried to start such a business. Mainly that cannabis remains illegal in the state of Georgia as of November 2022, according to a cannabis website, cfah.org. Not only does Georgia possess some of the harshest laws forbidding recreational cannabis consumption, but cannabis oils can also only be purchased “by patients with debilitating health conditions,” the website states. Certain cities, however, such as Atlanta and Savannah, have decriminalized tiny amounts of cannabis.
Bryant maintains that Black churches, which are notoriously deft of sizable Black male populations, could attract the demographics with such a business move.
“I’ll be able to bring in Black males, they’re able to do it legally, I’m teaching them farming, I’m helping them to enhance the ecosystem. This is the kind of conversation.”
The Boston-bred Bryant then posed this question to his inquisitors at the radio station.
“So if the guy, Black boy, in Bankhead said ‘they growing weed at the church? Where do I join?’ I don’t need no pamphlet for him.”
Listen to Bryant’s words in full below:
