British rapper and TV personality Big Narstie has launched a medical cannabis dispensary in Essex, marking what he describes as the next step in his personal journey to connect people to the plant.
The 39-year-old, born Tyrone Mark Lindo, is running his new venture out of an unlikely site – a former Barclays bank branch in South Woodham Ferrers.
Now rebranded as Big Narstie Medical, the shop serves as both headquarters and dispensary, designed to provide patients with access to legally prescribed cannabis products.
Best known for his grime career and for co-hosting The Big Narstie Show on Channel 4, Lindo has long been outspoken about his Jamaican roots and Rastafarian faith.
In those traditions, cannabis is not only recreational but spiritual and medicinal.
On his website, he frames the dispensary as part of a lifelong mission: ‘I’ve been on a journey to connect the world to the benefits and uses of the cannabis plant. Coming from a Jamaican and Rastafarian heritage I’ve been privileged to know the power of the plant as medicine for my whole life.’
To announce the opening, Big Narstie shared a video on Instagram outside the South Woodham Ferrers branch, chatting with two uniformed police officers.
Holding up a packet of his branded ‘110% Kaboom’ medical cannabis, he explains the products’ uses, even jokingly offering the officers a ‘civil service discount.’
In the clip, one officer remarks that cannabis, when prescribed properly, ‘is the same as any other medication.’
The exchange demonstrates the shifting public attitudes toward medical cannabis in Britain, a substance still illegal for recreational use but increasingly recognised for its therapeutic value.
The rapper captioned the post: ‘It’s real, it’s legal, and it’s changing lives.’
Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in 2018, but access remains tightly regulated and, critics say, prohibitively difficult for many patients.
Prescriptions are usually granted only when other treatments fail, and they are largely confined to private clinics rather than the NHS.
Big Narstie’s entry into the market reflects both a growing demand and a cultural shift.
While celebrity-backed cannabis businesses are common in North America – from Snoop Dogg’s global brand to Martha Stewart’s CBD products – the UK has been slower to embrace high-profile endorsements.
The choice of South Woodham Ferrers, a quiet commuter town in Essex, is also telling.
Rather than setting up shop in London, Narstie has planted his flag in a more suburban, small-town setting, something that can be read as a signal that medical cannabis is not just for countercultural enclaves but for mainstream communities.
As he put it in an earlier teaser video filmed during renovations of the former Barclays building: this is about creating a hub, a space where the plant’s benefits can be normalised and made accessible.
Whether Big Narstie’s dispensary will be a one-off flagship or the beginning of a wider rollout remains to be seen.
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