USC becomes first NCAA athletic program to partner with a cannabis brand

The University of Southern California is the first college athletic program in the country to partner with a cannabis company after striking a deal with Cookies.

The USC Trojans announced a partnership with the brand owned by Gilbert Milam Jr., a Billboard-charting rapper and entrepreneur who goes by the name Berner.

'Cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug.'

Cookies will partner with the USC football team as well as the men's and women's basketball teams, CBS Sports reported.

As Business Wire noted, fans will see Cookies' integration on the sports teams' digital channels while Cookies will also provide exclusive promotional items and tailgate experiences.

The announcement comes just a few months after the NCAA decided to remove cannabis from its banned substances list.

"Cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that a harm-reduction approach to cannabis is best implemented at the school level," the NCAA committee said.

The Cookies CEO said he is thrilled to partner with such an iconic athletic department at USC.

"California is our home state and for Cookies to be involved with a premier athletic program, in the oldest private college in the state of California, is incredibly exciting for us," Berner said in a statement. "We are honored and excited to be a sponsor and Trojans supporter alongside other globally recognized brands. Fight on!"

The San Francisco-based company has received several healthy valuations in the last few years, ranging from from $150 million to upward of $1 billion.

Vice president and general manager of USC Sports Properties Drew DeHart called Cookies an "innovative brand" and a "global leader in CBD."

He added that the company was "deep in life-style culture and wellness."

Berner has had an interesting career path, partnering with rappers like Wiz Khalifa for long-term music ventures while facing lawsuits that have alleged bad business practices.

The rapper has also accused website Benzinga of publishing an AI-generated interview with him. After Milam Jr. himself declared the interview to be "not real," a reporter asked him if any of the article's quotes could be attributed to him.

"Absolutely not ! Not one word is mine," the rapper replied on X. "That's why I've always done my own quotes or interviews in my own voice. That ain't me at all," he added.

The entrepreneur has prided himself with being transparent and has often tried to expose fans to shadow-banning and social media bias, stating that allegedly that his content has been hidden and deleted on Meta platforms due to the nature of his business.

In an Instagram post, Berner called it "epic" to see his brand alongside companies such as Coca-Cola, Monster, and United Airlines as USC partners.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!