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TBI:
Did you ever think you’d see the le-
galizing of recreational cannabis in your
lifetime?
Cheech:
It’s always been legal for me, but
I want everybody else in this country to
enjoy that privilege. Absolutely, I thought
I’d see it [become] legal. I operated under
the assumption that it
was
legal.
TBI:
You are well-loved for your stoner
comedy of the ’70s and ’80s. How would
that fit with today’s growing cannabis
world?Was it funny because it was taboo?
Cheech:
We never thought of it as ta-
boo. We always saw ourselves as middle-
of-the-road dopers—that was the norm,
it’s just the establishment that caught up.
We traveled from state to state for years
saying, “This is the norm, guys,” and peo-
ple laughed because it was true. We are
still out there performing—Cheech &
Chong—with this kind of comedy.
TBI:
Describe how you view the main-
streaming of cannabis in this country.
How do you think we got here?
Cheech:
It’s inevitable evolution. It start-
ed with the Baby Boomer generation, of
which I am a part of, on the front end. As
the oldest of that group, I thought every-
thing happening to me would happen to
the rest of the generation, and it’s proven
to be true. I saw that whole generation not
necessarily give up wine and spirits, but
add marijuana to it; they treat it like beer
now. It’s the intoxicant of choice for the
biggest generation America’s ever seen, so
eventually it had to be legalized.
TBI:
Do you think cannabis will be le-
galized for recreational use at the federal
level anytime soon?
Cheech:
Yes, within two years, because
the elections will be over and everyone
will have paid their debts.There will be in-
creasing pressure on whoever the elected
officials are, from the federal, state and lo-
cal levels, to get this done because the con-
stituency wants it. I compare it to Prohibi-
tion—we’re in semi-Prohibition right now
because we have five places where it’s legal
recreationally.
But even more importantly, we have 26
states that have some form of legalized
marijuana, whether it’s recreational or me-
dicinal. That’s more than half of the states
in the country and that’s the tipping point.
When more states sign on, it’s inevitable
[that it will be legalized federally].
Of course, for every state that has some
form of legalized marijuana, there’s an
equal and opposite group that wants to
overturn those laws. They are trying to
stop it, but I compare it to [trying to stop]
a lava flow—you could stand in front of it,
but I wouldn’t recommend it.
“We always saw
ourselves
as middle-
of-the-road dopers
—
that was the norm, it’s
just
the establishment
that caught up.”
49
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016