NEWS
While he’s fighting off another round of cancer, stoner legend Tommy Chong is preparing to release a number of branded marijuana strains in Colorado and Washington. “There’s going to be a Chong distribution center,” he tells Freedom Leaf. “We’re hooking up with experienced growers, like Mike Stetler,” of Marisol Therapeutics in Pueblo, Colo. “They introduce a strain to us, and we test it. If we like it, then we give it our approval. They’ll package it and brand it with a name— they’ll do everything.” After overcoming prostate cancer with the help of cannabis oil in 2012 and 2013, in June Chong learned that he had a tumor in his rectum, setting off another round of therapy—this time radiation and chemo to go along with the RSO (Rick Simpson Oil). “They’re burning the shit out of it,” he says. “I’m using it all. I’m using cannabis as a painkiller, and I’m using cannabis oil as a preventative. I use a lot of oil and a lot of painkilling—you know, smoking the flower.” Due to his condition, Chong has curtailed his performance schedule. However, he recently traveled to the Seattle and Las Vegas Hempfests from his home in Los Angeles. “It was a struggle,” Chong says about Seattle, where he needed to be hydrated with an IV drip in the first-aid tent. While he remains mostly grounded in L.A., Chong has been working on a talk show, Almost Legal, produced by his son Paris. Right now it’s slated for the Internet, but, “If it gets real popular it will be all over the place,” he predicts. “We’re aiming at the Internet because
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Tommy Chong Strains Coming to a Pot Shop Near You
Tommy Chong: “7-Elevens should be selling weed.” it’s easier, and you don’t have to do the production that you do on a TV show.” Guests for the first 10 episodes will include comedians George Lopez and George Wallace, film director Eli Roth, actor Danny Trejo, dispensary owner Steve DeAngelo, attorneys Allison and Bruce Margolin and singing duo Garfunkel and Oates. “Actually, this turned out to be a blessing,” he points out. “It made me stop doing the touring and start doing the individual Chong stuff. I’m liking that a lot.” So what does Tommy Chong think of the Green Rush? october-november 2015
“We’ve already got a system of growing, and supply and demand, in place,” he explains. “Right now the government is trying to get their bony little fingers into that system. The demand is so big for this plant that eventually it will be like growing fruit in your backyard. No one’s going to pay any attention to it because it’s going to be a normal thing, and rightly so. Drugstores should be selling weed. 7-Elevens should be selling weed. Everybody should have a shot at the American Dream, because that’s what it is. It’s cigarettes that are good for you. How can you beat that?” — Steve Bloom www.freedomleaf.com 11