We the undersigned are a coalition of concerned citizens who collectively represent Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, women, interfaith, LGBTQIA+, bipartisan, and Military Veteran cannabis communities. We have come together to call for the removal of Napalm Cannabis Co. products from dispensary shelves by Memorial Day, a national day of mourning those killed at war. 

We believe cannabis is medicine and that those who seek to profit from it have a responsibility to not cause physical, psychological, or emotional harm to its consumers and community.   

Napalm is among the most horrific weapons of mass destruction the U.S. has ever deployed. This form of thickened gasoline was used in flamethrowers, grenades, and tanks; when detonated, the flammable liquid could reach well-over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit and stick to surfaces––incinerating everything in its path.  

The weapon disproportionately killed and maimed Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese civilians including children. “Napalm Girl,” a Pulitzer prize-winning photograph, is an excruciating depiction of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, at nine years old, her clothing incinerated as her skin was burning––the horrific and undeniable reality of this weapon.  

To have medicine intended for healing take on a name and branding that not only represents but commodifies the pain, death and destruction experienced by the Asian community is unconscionable––especially in today’s societal and political climate.  

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs’s annual National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report, the daily average number of veteran suicides is 17.6. As a healing alternative to pharmaceuticals and opiates, cannabis is potentially lifesaving for many military veterans who struggle with severe depression and PTSD.  

Asking a veteran––a person who has lost loved ones to war––to consume medicine from containers that resemble the very devices that kill is a trauma too great to allow to continue.    

Napalm’s owner, Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner is the son of a Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran and a talented actor and musician. In 2012, he released an album titled ‘Napalm’, performed for American troops in Baghdad at the risk of his own safety, and even bought a badly injured veteran a home.  

While he has claimed that the brand was named solely after his music, upon reviewing the Napalm Cannabis Co. product catalog which includes The Grenade 7-gram joint, The Flower Bomb eighth, vape cartridges with strains named B-52 (a bomber), Tomahawk (a long-range missile), Napalm OG, and vape batteries named Fat Man and Little Boy (nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in WWII), it’s clear that the brand is more than an extension of an album title, instead the deliberate and coordinated commoditization of militaristic violence. This approach––however on-brand with his musical career––is one that is inappropriate for the cannabis industry as it is in complete dissonance with the purpose of the plant, which is to provide healing for its patients. 

We are fans of Xzibit as an entertainer and musician, and respect his artistic and philanthropic contributions. We understand his creative license and entrepreneurial right to operate his business as he sees fit, but these rights do not grant him license to appropriate violent militaristic imagery and re-traumatize those who seek healing. 

To be clear, we are pro-Xzibit and anti-Napalm. However, efforts to appeal to Mr. Joiner and encourage a rebrand have failed thus requiring escalation. 

On April 20, 1966, a community of activists in California called the Committee Against Napalm submitted a petition to protest the production of Napalm. Its use against civilian populations was eventually banned by the United Nations in 1980 and it was eliminated from the U.S. arsenal in 1995. We aim to pick up where they left off, but in one of this country’s burgeoning marketplaces, the cannabis industry. The modern cannabis community has evolved from problematic branding including Agent Orange, AK-47, and Chernobyl. Napalm unfortunately is a tremendous step backwards and begs the question on what it opens the door to. Hiroshima Hash? Dachau Dank? Rwanda Reefer?

Again, we believe cannabis is medicine and that it should bring healing, not trauma and pain. We must do better; the future of the cannabis industry depends on it. 

To continue to carry and sell Napalm Cannabis Co. products on a national day of mourning lives lost by the very devices the products attempt to depict, is to pay homage to and profit from weapons designed to torture, maim, and kill others.   

We respectfully urge you to join us in creating a safer and more compassionate cannabis community by removing Napalm Cannabis Co. products from shelves by May 31, 2021, Memorial Day.