In today’s things you didn’t know about boy-banders: Nick Lachey is a total pothead! Okay, maybe not. But the 98 Degrees singer does have Pablo Escobar–size aspirations of becoming a drug kingpin. As the Washington Post notes, he currently co-owns a 29-acre weed farm in Akron, Ohio — one of ten such farms in the state producing weed. As it happens, Ohioans are expected to vote on marijuana legalization this Tuesday in a controversial ballot that Lachey stands to profit from hugely if the state votes yes to getting high legally. Monday night, Lachey tweeted to ask voters to “head to the poll†and “end marijuana prohibition.†That’s because he, along with the other farms’ owners — descendants of President Taft, designer Nanette Lepore, NBA great Oscar Robertson, the Arizona Cardinals’ Frostee Rucker, and more — put up as much as $4 million just to get the ballot off the ground, in addition to the $10 million they’ve each paid for their respective farms.
If this coalition of weed magnates gets their way, they could be making upward of $1.1. billion every year from the drug industry thanks to a mandate in the bill they’ve sponsored that gives their ten farms sole control over marijuana production in Ohio. That means any state-regulated shop could legally sell weed in Ohio, but they’d be constitutionally bound by the state to purchase their product from Lachey and the rest of the new kingpins. Jessica Simpson, you taught your ex well.
Update: Sadly for Lachey and his already-rich friends, they’ll have to put their billionaire dreams on hold: Ohioans voted against legalizing weed. Here’s how Nick’s taking the news: