YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Riviera Creek LLC – the sole licensed marijuana cultivator in the city – has launched a new partnership with Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong, more commonly known as the comedic duo Cheech & Chong.
“It’s the first time Riviera has done anything with a licensing partnership,” said Brian Kessler, chairman of Riviera Creek. The new brand will be officially launched Saturday at the Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit at the IX Center in Cleveland.
“We’re doing our first full-range of product launches in one event,” Kessler said. Among them is Cheech & Chong’s Aeroponic Cannabis line.
Cheech & Chong broke into stardom during the 1970s by satirizing the country’s drug culture, memorialized in such films as “Up in Smoke.” Since then, the comedic duo has become synonymous with recreational cannabis use.
Kessler will show a video interview Saturday that he conducted with the two comedians, explaining their relationship with Riviera Creek. “We’ll have our premium Rivera Creek brand and an everyday brand with Cheech & Chong,” he added.
The company also plans to officially announce a new line of high-end merchandise, Kessler added. “We’ve gone ahead and worked with a designer, who has helped us design a whole range of merchandise,” he said. The merchandise line – hoodies, shirts, hats and jackets – was launched six weeks ago, and demand has been very strong.
“We can’t keep them in stock,” Kessler added. “It’s been a really big hit.”
Meanwhile, Riviera Creek’s cultivation and processing plant along Crescent Street continues to expand.
Today, the business carries 20 product lines and recently completed a major addition to its kitchen, Kessler said.
“We just opened up a brand new kitchen,” he said, expanding the existing footprint from 200 square feet to 4,000 square feet. Among the new products manufactured at the plant are freeze-dried caramels, the first of its kind in Ohio.
“No one’s done a freeze-dried product before in Ohio,” Kessler said. Moreover, the company is now packaging pre-rolled cannabis products, which recently became legal in the state.
Sale of recreational marijuana products began in August 2024, while medical cannabis sales started in January 2019.
Recreational sales have hit $2.23 billion in just more than a year, while medical sales have totaled $802 million since 2019. Combined cannabis sales stand at more than $3 billion as of Sept. 19, according to the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control.
The market is driving additional growth at Riviera Creek’s complex, Kessler said.
“By the end of 2026, we will have our main building completely built out,” he said.
Pictured at top: The comedic duo Tommy Chong, left, and Richard “Cheech” Marin, better known as Cheech & Chong, sit with Brian Kessler, Riviera Creek LLC chairman, to talk about the cannabis company’s partnership with the pair.
