Tommy Chong - Stereotype to Advocate

Tommy Chong, Smoking Cannabis

Tommy Chong, headshot

WRITTEN BY KAYLA JOHNSON

There are a few names that, as soon as you hear them, you think of cannabis, or cannabis culture. Tommy Chong is one ofthose names, for obvious reasons; Up inSmoke is a movie that helped begin to bring cannabis culture into the light, and for the first time, Cheech and Chong put a real, personable face on the people of cannabis culture, rather than sticking to the usual narrative of crime and violence.

Just like his movies, Tommy Chong’s life has taken him for quite the adventure, from the big screen, to the big house with a certain Wolf of Wall Street, and back to freedom and family. While a lot of has changed for him over the years, one thing that hasn’t changed at all is his passion for cannabis. He’s turned that passioninto a successful cannabis brand, but more than that, he’s worked to advocatefor cannabis patients and the plant itself.

I was lucky enough to be able to speak with Tommy while he was catching an Uber to his place in Los Angelesback in August, to talk to him about how the culture surrounding cannabis has changed since his first movie, whathe’s been up to lately, what he thinks about the current cannabis industry and how he thinks it can grow from here.

I have to be honest: as a small town, Oklahoma native, chatting on the phone with a well-known celebrity about something that was illegal here up until a year and a half ago while he’s Ubering around L.A. was pretty wild, but in a way, it was also incredibly normal. Despite being THE Tommy Chong, he was also just another patient and cannabis industry member, talking about how it’s changed his life for the better, just like so many of the Oklahomans I’ve been lucky enough to interview so far; he just happens to be far, far more experienced than most.

The plant never changed, you know. It’s still the same. It’s got a different name, you know, it gets better care now, but the plant never changed. The people around it have changed, it’s more open now than it was.

On September 15th, that’s forty-one years since Up in Smoke came out, that’s an icon of cannabis culture, but you were there for it. In your opinion, how has cannabis and the culture surrounding it changed since then? Well, a lot of the old folks have died. A lot of the younger folks have gotten older. That’s about it!

(Once we’d stopped laughing)That’s all that’s really changed, you think? The plant never changed, you know. It’s still the same. It’s got a different name, you know, it gets better care now, but the plant never changed. The people around it have changed, it’s more open now than it was.

What do you think has caused this shift in opinion after all these years? Well, it’s the change with Conservatives, for lack of a better term. The more conservative members of our population, they’ve turned on to it a little bit more than they have been before.

Yeah, we wouldn’t know anything about that here. (Laughing) It’s true, as soon as they started seeing it was good for people with epilepsy and cancer and all those ailments, and all of sudden, it’s - and it helps ladies sleep at night, it helps older ladies sleep at night, and that alone is an earth-shattering thing.”

You think that’s what’s helped legalization grow? Absolutely, and people are realizing, you know, that it helps people. It helps people with addiction, they use marijuana in rehab centers all over the place, it even helps people overcome heroin addictions. Once we figured out that it’s a medicine, that it does more good than harm, of course you legalize it.

So do you think the stigma that’s always kind of been attached to cannabis is starting to fade away? Yeahhhh, for the most part. There’s still a lot of people that have their mindset, and they’ll never change, and that’s the way it is, you know, we’ve got all sorts of species on this planet, some are more intelligent than others, and that’s just the way it goes.

"WHAT IF WE’RE RIGHT? WHAT IF EVERYTHING CHEECH AND CHONG IS DOING IS RIGHT AND EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG?"

Your movie career was basically started during the early years of the war on drugs, and in a lot ways, your roles kind of offered a plain look at cannabis, rather than the stigmatized view that a lot of people got from that point on. What’s it been like, leaving the ‘old Chong’, if you will, of ‘Cheech and Chong’ days behind, as things have changed, and it’s become more open? I get what you’re saying. The ‘old Chong’ was just that character, and the real Chong went to jail for that ‘old Chong’. (After laughing) I had no choice but to get real, everyone else was getting real, so I had to get real, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed the ride because it’’s nice seeing that you’re right. Years ago, when people would ask me about the, you know, the evil weed, and I said one time,” What if we’re right? What if everything Cheech and Chong is doing is right and everyone else is wrong?” and that’s what happened! That’s exactly what’s happened.

Have you kind of enjoyed that ‘I told you so’ feeling, even if you haven’t actually said it? (Laughing) Ohhh, you know it. You know I have, it’s a good feeling.

So now, you’re part of a legal industry with a few different businesses, I know you went to jail for a period of time, but now you’re part of a legal industry: how does that feel, after seeing and living through the prohibition of cannabis like so many others? It’s vindicating, you know, very, very cleansing, it’s nice. I go to parties now with billionaires, and I’m invited to a lot of parties because I’ve become an icon to some of these people too now. A lot of them got their billions and billions by being influenced by Cheech and Chong in some way and what we did on screen. We influenced a whole generation of filmmakers, you know, like Tarantino for instance, he got a lot of his education watching Cheech and Chong videos, and Spike Lee and all those guys. We’ve influenced hip-hop people, you know, we were revered by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and we inspired them, and a whole lot of people, to just come out, be who you are and do what you do. I understand the influence and the impact we’ve had on people’s lives, and I’m just grateful that we can still do it.

Touching back a little bit on your jail time, I didn’t know this until I was doing a little more research on you, but you were actually cell mates with Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street for a few months? Oh yeah, we were together for a while, and he was quite intelligent, I’ve met a few geniuses in my life and he was definitely one of them. To show you what a genius he was, he took my advice.

I’m sure he was an interesting cellmate, to say the least. He really was, he was great, but what I did was challenge him. I showed him the way to make a buck legally, and how to get famous the good way, and he did. He’s enjoying his life now, very much.

Looking back on that time you spent in jail, and knowing that there’s still so many people acrossthe country that are in jail for cannabis charge, or paraphernalia charge, how do you think thelegal system needs to adjust to legalization as it gains momentum and becomes more commonacross the country?The thing is, we’ve had jail since the beginning of time in one way oranother, and if you’re in jail, there’s a good chance you’re in jail for areason. That’s the I Ching said to me while I was in prison, you know.I rolled thecoins and itcame out and the firstsentence told me ‘You arein jail for areason.’ Jails arecorrective institutionswhere you correct yourbehavior, and from thatmoment on, I enjoyed jail,because I was correctingmy behavior. I got rid of alot of bad habits, especiallybad thinking happens, andso the people in jail, they’rein jail for a reason. Now,everyone’s individual, andthere are some that are inthere, and they know theydeserve to be in there, andthen of course you havemany, many that are inthere unjustly; however,they’re learning. Everyone’slearning, and that’s all youcan really do, is learn, anddo differently in the future.

"I KNEW THAT POT SMOKING IS HEALTHY. WHEN YOU GET OLDER, THAT’S THE ONE THING THAT YOU HAVE IS YOUR HEALTH, AND THAT’S WHAT KEEPS ME DETERMINED TO KEEP WITH IT."

So now, prison in the past,what keeps you motivated tostay involved with cannabisas an advocate?My commitment to a healthyway of living, really, cause youknow, I started getting involvedwith body building around thesame time as ArnoldSchwarzenegger did, and webecame good friends, in fact Isaw him today, and the onlything Arnold would do whenhe was training to be Mr.Olympia for the 5th or 6th timewas he would smoke pot. Hewouldn’t drink alcohol, or sodapop, he wouldn’t eat anythingbad, but he would smoke ajoint. And so I knew that potsmoking is healthy. When youget older, that’s the one thingthat you have is your health,and that’s what keeps medetermined to keep with it,because I’m living proof thatthis works, and that we’ve beenright all along.

I know we touched a little bit on you working in the legal industry now, but I’d like to go back to that, if I could. You have Chong’s Choice, and a couple of other businesses and companies that you’re involved in, but which one is really your passion project that gets your heart and soul poured into it? It’s called ‘Chong Art’, I haven’t unveiled it to the public yet, but I’ve been doing some sculptures and doing some oil paintings, and some bongs, of course, quite a few bongs. So I’m going to presenting Chong Art very soon, there’ll be a lot of fanfare about that because we’re going to auction off a few pieces. The art itself won’t be for sale just yet until...well, until I get it right, which may never be. We also have a TV show coming up on PBS, so watch for that, that’ll be happening pretty quick. Just trying to stay alive and busy.

The cannabis industry, especially here in Oklahoma, it is just booming. It is going absolutely crazy, but it doesn’t really seem to have any one set direction or heading. If there was some way or some direction that you would point the industry in and say ‘that’s a good route, just take off’, what do you think it would be? Well, the hemp industry, actually. Hemp is devoid of THC, of course, which gets you high, but hemp is responsible for so many different things. For example, if we had kept the hemp all the years, we wouldn’t have the plastic problem we’re faced with today, and so I see the world going right back to hemp products, whether it’s packaging, building materials, because it’s biodegradable. Also, the CBD oil that they derive from hemp is the healthiest oil on the market today, being sold all over the world today. Chong’s Choice is even offering pure, labtested CBD oil. CBD oil helped me when I was just riddled with cancer, and I really believe it’s the future for everyone’s health.

I won’t keep you much longer, I know you have another call scheduled shortly, but I do have one final question: do you have an alltime favorite strain? If you could only have one strain from now until the day you died, what would it be? I haven’t found it yet. I’ve tried a bunch, I haven’t found it yet, but you know I’m going to keep trying until I find it. As long as it’s something good, I’ll find it.

In the end, our conversation was full of laughs, a few surprises, and it was more inspiring than I expected when I sat down at my desk that day in August. In many ways, some of what he said reminded me of the industry, both here in Oklahoma and as a whole; despite the mistakes, despite the setbacks and continued opposition, there’s still opportunity in the less-thanpleasant moments, because, as Tommy said, everyone’s learning, and the only thing you can do is learn, and move forward.