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Watching the movie classic Up in Smoke<\/em> and listening to \u201cEarache My Eye\u201d were pretty much the extent of my Tommy Chong awareness. Did I know Chong was a certifiable living legend as an advocate and champion of the plant? Yes, I did. But, why he was a legend exactly remained elusive to me even as I saw him arrive at the Cosmopolitan hotel on the Las Vegas strip for our exclusive interview.<\/p>\n Of course I knew he was half of the genius cinematic comedic duo Cheech & Chong (along with Cheech Marin), but what I didn\u2019t perhaps appreciate was just how important Chong was to modern cannabis culture. There\u2019s clearly a reason why Chong is considered among the weed all-time greats\u2014Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan\u2014and I was determined to find out what precisely that reason was.<\/p>\n As I researched the 84-year-old Hollywood actor, I was fascinated to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the time Chong was incarcerated simply for selling glass bongs, or that his entire professional career was more or less dedicated to the elevation of cannabis. Yes, I was excited to meet Chong to commence exploring the legend\u2019s second-to-none history with the herb.<\/p>\n Chong had come to Vegas to be honored at the annual Cannabis Conference with the organization\u2019s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. His wife Shelby, son Paris, daughter-in-law Rahma and two-year-old granddaughter joined him on the trip (Chong\u2019s second trek to Sin City in as many days). Earlier in the week, local officials honored the movie buddies by designating August 22 Cheech and Chong Day in Clark County.<\/p>\n After all that anticipation, I almost missed him as Chong walked inside the luxe Cosmo, ahead of his family. His slicked-back hair with his unmistakable beard caught my eye at the last second, though, giving us a moment to shake hands before he checked in and disappeared up an elevator to his suite. Nowhere to be found were Chong\u2019s glasses, headband and shoulder-length locks that were synonymous with his and Cheech\u2019s silver screen heyday half a century ago. But his current, cleaner look feels right for him now.<\/p>\n \u201cI love this spot, man,\u201d Chong tells me in a deep, gruff, yet friendly voice.<\/p>\n Chong, in a trendy-looking, long-sleeve button-up shirt with black pants and a bright-colored pair of red, yellow, blue and white sneakers, looked ready to venture straight into Vegas\u2019 notorious neon jungle, but his family convinced him to freshen up first.<\/p>\n Waiting for the man of the hour in the expansive lobby\u2014I was joined by Cannabis Now<\/em> Founder and Publisher Eugenio Garc\u00eda\u2014as we were all set to accompany Chong to the Cannabis Conference and then on a trip to NuWu<\/a>, a Native American-owned mega-dispensary on tribal land near downtown Vegas. It was worth the wait.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda led the legendary stoner to the waiting limousine SUV as I grabbed a seat in the middle row, next to Chong, and fired up the audio recorder on my phone. Unprompted, Chong jumped right in and started talking about his time in prison, and how far cannabis culture has progressed in the past couple of decades. The game was on, and I was so here for it.<\/p>\n Chong spent nine months\u2014from October 2003 to July 2004\u2014in prison at 65, after getting caught up in a federal crackdown on paraphernalia vendors, mostly people selling glass bongs. The feds alleged that a pair of companies he ran with Shelby and Paris, named Chong Glass and Nice Dreams, were somehow illegal because they promoted drug use. To be clear, Chong\u2019s family never sold marijuana or any drug of any kind\u2014only bongs and pipes.<\/p>\n \u201cI had such a crazy childhood\u2014I was separated from my mother very early; she had tuberculosis and went to a sanitarium for five years,\u201d Chong says to me as we head to the awards dinner. \u201cMeantime, I went to another hospital for pleurisy, then they took me to an orphanage. When I went to prison all of those years later, it felt, in a way, like I was going home because I had more of an incarcerated upbringing than someone from a so-called \u2018normal\u2019 family. And I think that helped me find my way in that particular universe.\u201d<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s been nearly two decades since he left prison, that experience understandably has profoundly affected how Chong sees himself and the world writ large. He says he became close friends with his cellmate, Jordan Belfort, the so-called \u201cWolf of Wall Street\u201d\u2014memorably portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the award-winning film\u2014and claims to be the inspiration behind pushing Belfort to publish his memoirs that the movie was based on. Still, as he continues to reminisce about his time behind bars, Chong\u2019s kinda-sorta deflecting answering most of my questions during the ride. But I persist as I must, and upon asking him, \u201cWhat about cannabis culture?\u201d Chong finally offers the following bon mot:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s like living in a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda, on cue, hands Chong a pre-roll, and it\u2019s like a switch suddenly went on in the movie star\u2019s head. Chong respectfully accepts an invitation to hit the blunt, packed with a strain of his Cheech & Chong brand flower, after the driver gives his blessing to hotbox the car. Chong fixes his eyes on the blunt as he inhales, then closes them as a smooth channel of smoke emerges from his mouth and nose. It takes me a moment to realize that I\u2019m with Tommy Chong as the man was getting high. How. Cool. Is. That.<\/p>\n We arrive at the decidedly less glamorous Paris Hotel where Chong\u2019s scheduled to sign autographs at the Cannabis Conference. Chong\u2019s already starting to lighten up as he walks through the casino floor on our way to the hotel\u2019s massive convention area. A handful of wide-eyed casino and restaurant patrons offer the predictable \u201cI love you, Tommy!\u201d while a bold pair of tourists jump in front of him for a quick selfie.<\/p>\n I figure being an iconic\u00a0 comedian and internationally known cannabis advocate would be exhausting, having to deal with strangers approaching you every time you\u2019re out in public. But Chong is remarkably receptive and welcoming to everyone that wants to meet him. In fact, it\u2019s apparent he enjoys talking and hanging out with fans just as much as the suits and bigwigs making this whole trip happen.<\/p>\n A middle-aged couple stops him for a picture. It takes longer than expected to capture the photo, though, because Chong starts talking cannabis policy with them. \u201cIf more people in this world were open-minded like you two, it\u2019d be a much better place,\u201d he tells them, emphatically.<\/p>\n Chong is now fully present and engaged. He\u2019s as eager to listen as he is to talk, and it\u2019s thrilling, frankly. He signs autographs and poses for pictures at the FOHSE booth for the better part of 45 minutes; then we hop back into the black SUV to continue our conversation on the way to NuWu.<\/p>\n Chong is endearing and earnest, a man transformed, thanks to the plant. Now fully engaged, Chong looks me in the eyes when speaking, revealing an authenticity hard to find in the famous. He seems more like a friend than a celebrity. And I realize that just may be his not-so-secret sauce. Gotcha! That\u2019s<\/em> why he\u2019s so beloved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Chong turns the subject to spirituality as it relates to the plant and says, bluntly, \u201cIt\u2019s fucking medicine! It\u2019s not going to hurt anybody.\u201d But he\u2019s quick to dismiss the idea that cannabis has come full circle from when the US government first demonized and then outlawed it back in the 1930s. He says the plant\u2019s redemption story won\u2019t be complete until cannabis becomes federally legal. And he also believes it will happen soon.<\/p>\n Our trip to the tribal dispensary, which includes Vegas\u2019 only cannabis consumption lounge, shows Chong what the future holds. Customers rip bongs, take dabs and puff on joints in a classy, upscale bar-like setting without the alcohol. The Las Vegas Paiute Tribe has special permission to run cannabis businesses on their land with perks that weed companies off the reservation don\u2019t yet enjoy. A young NuWu shopper, decked out in a black shirt with massive green cannabis leaves on the front, recognizes Chong on his way out of the store. Before pedaling away on his bicycle, the man scoots up to our motorcade and asks the 84-year-old where his comedy partner is.<\/p>\n \u201cCheech!\u201d The man yells, in a case of mistaken identity. \u201cWhere\u2019s your other half? You can\u2019t go anywhere without Chong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChong\u2019s an idiot,\u201d the real Chong growls back in response, smiling to himself.<\/p>\n I kept wondering if Chong would get tired, when he\u2019d start acting indifferent, like he was over the whole thing. A few hours in and I\u2019m still waiting for him to at least ask for a break or to retire to his room for a few minutes. He never does.<\/p>\n The Tommy Chong experience was as genuine as it gets for a Hollywood star in real life. He\u2019s living proof of the plant\u2019s incredible powers\u2014and a man who has lived a life in full.<\/p>\n This story was originally published in issue 47 of the\u00a0print edition<\/a>\u00a0of Cannabis Now.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Tommy Chong: A Life in Full<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Watching the movie classic Up in Smoke and listening to \u201cEarache My Eye\u201d were pretty much the extent of my Tommy Chong awareness. Did I know Chong was a certifiable living legend as an advocate and champion of the plant? Yes, I did. But, why he was a legend exactlyContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":64187,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[148,50,4016,3797,85,16767,228,65,417,12870,420,1836],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64188,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64186\/revisions\/64188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Tommy-Chong-Vegas.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Tommy Chong: A Life in Full<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"