'Grandfather of Pot' Tommy Chong reflects on a lifetime of fighting to get weed legalized - Paul Haber, W5, CTV::
April 6, 2018 - "Tommy Chong, best known as one half of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong, celebrated his 80th birthday this year and admits to W5 to smoking weed.... For most of his adult life, cannabis has been illegal, yet Chong has continued to smoke it openly and publicly.... In Chongs’s mind, weed has never been illegal, 'so I never even give it any thought,' he says....
"It was at the age of 17 when he smoked his first joint. Chong remembers it well. He tells W5, 'that changed my life. I smoked a little bit of the joint, got high, listened to Ornette Coleman, Lonely Woman for the first time, I remember it so well. And then, then about a week later, I ended up quitting school and I became a blues musician'....
"In the early 1960s, Chong moved to Vancouver where he ... continued to smoke marijuana even though local authorities were cracking down on drug use and arresting people en masse.... Chong managed to avoid arrest and kept smoking because, to him, weed was more than a psychedelic drug. He believed in the drug’s healing powers. He says he found cannabis helped him creatively with his music.
"It was in Vancouver where Chong met his future comedy partner Cheech Marin.... Their brand of comedy was considered counter-culture by many experts, as the pair focused mainly on drug use and the effects of weed on people’s behavior.... They reached the biggest audience yet in 1978 with the release of their first feature Hollywood film, Up in Smoke — a movie that many credit with establishing the ‘stoner’ comedy genre.
"It has been 40 years since Up in Smoke was released and Chong has maintained his advocacy for pot. He even claims cannabis has helped him beat cancer twice, though he admits he does not know how. 'Yeah, right now I’m cancer free,' Chong tells W5. 'I don’t know what it does, I think it affects the immune system.'
"Now, with cannabis legal in many parts of the U.S., Chong has gone into business with his son Paris selling branded marijuana products called “Chong’s Choice” in the United States.
"As the laws in Canada are being drafted to decriminalize cannabis, Chong has these words for the Canadian government: 'Now if they're smart and Canada’s smart, they will keep the taxes within reason.'"
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/grandfather-of-pot-tommy-chong-reflects-on-a-lifetime-of-fighting-to-get-weed-legalized-1.3872791
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April 6, 2018 - "Tommy Chong, best known as one half of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong, celebrated his 80th birthday this year and admits to W5 to smoking weed.... For most of his adult life, cannabis has been illegal, yet Chong has continued to smoke it openly and publicly.... In Chongs’s mind, weed has never been illegal, 'so I never even give it any thought,' he says....
"It was at the age of 17 when he smoked his first joint. Chong remembers it well. He tells W5, 'that changed my life. I smoked a little bit of the joint, got high, listened to Ornette Coleman, Lonely Woman for the first time, I remember it so well. And then, then about a week later, I ended up quitting school and I became a blues musician'....
"In the early 1960s, Chong moved to Vancouver where he ... continued to smoke marijuana even though local authorities were cracking down on drug use and arresting people en masse.... Chong managed to avoid arrest and kept smoking because, to him, weed was more than a psychedelic drug. He believed in the drug’s healing powers. He says he found cannabis helped him creatively with his music.
"It was in Vancouver where Chong met his future comedy partner Cheech Marin.... Their brand of comedy was considered counter-culture by many experts, as the pair focused mainly on drug use and the effects of weed on people’s behavior.... They reached the biggest audience yet in 1978 with the release of their first feature Hollywood film, Up in Smoke — a movie that many credit with establishing the ‘stoner’ comedy genre.
"It has been 40 years since Up in Smoke was released and Chong has maintained his advocacy for pot. He even claims cannabis has helped him beat cancer twice, though he admits he does not know how. 'Yeah, right now I’m cancer free,' Chong tells W5. 'I don’t know what it does, I think it affects the immune system.'
"Now, with cannabis legal in many parts of the U.S., Chong has gone into business with his son Paris selling branded marijuana products called “Chong’s Choice” in the United States.
"As the laws in Canada are being drafted to decriminalize cannabis, Chong has these words for the Canadian government: 'Now if they're smart and Canada’s smart, they will keep the taxes within reason.'"
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/grandfather-of-pot-tommy-chong-reflects-on-a-lifetime-of-fighting-to-get-weed-legalized-1.3872791
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