Former Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders running back Frank Hawkins is now carry the load for the Raiders for years. Now, he’s running for a new cause.
Per Leafly
The display case just inside the front door is filled with the kind of stuff you would find at any sports memorabilia store. Frank Hawkins used to run interference for Marcus Allen back in the day, and there are plenty of signed footballs and pictures of No. 27 in silver and black.
There’s a picture of Hawkins with a former governor of Nevada, and a drawing of the late Raiders owner Al Davis with signatures from players on it. Next to them is a team photo from 1983, and a championship banner with the result of that season’s Super Bowl: Raiders 38, Redskins 9.
A few feet to the left is what is called the “smell room,” one of many signs that this is no memorabilia shop.
Everyone who enters is greeted by a smiling man with a question:
Medical or recreational?
Hawkins didn’t set out to be in the marijuana business in the town where he grew up and later became a city councilman. He resisted it at first, mostly because he says he doesn’t smoke the stuff.
Now he sits in a back office at Nevada Wellness Center just a few blocks from the glittering Las Vegas Strip, amid strains of cannabis with names like Devil’s Lettuce, Silver Back Gorilla and Black Afghan.
It’s all legal in a city where almost everything goes. But Hawkins — who opened the first medical marijuana dispensary in town — says it hasn’t been easy.
“We started out losing $50,000 a month,” Hawkins said. “We suffered for a long time.”
That changed on July 1 when Nevada became the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana. Marijuana shops, which had been competing for a few thousand customers who had medical marijuana cards, could now sell to anyone — including tourists — over the age of 21.
Frank isn’t the only athlete who is now in the weed business. Former NBA player Cliff Robinson and others have their hands in the grass too. Read more about Frank’s business here