In an exclusive interview with CelebStoner on Sept. 2 (listen above), Tommy Chong revealed he was receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments, and facing surgery in his fight against rectal cancer. Chong had a tumor removed in a surgery performed on Oct. 22 in Los Angeles.
"They shrink the tumor. They’re burning the shit out of it," he said about the treatments. "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."
In June, Chong told the media that he had been diagnosed with rectal cancer. This followed his bout with prostate cancer three years earlier. Chong was cancer free for several years. He joked:
'I think cancer heard me talking shit about it and decided to put me to the test.'
"I was going around bragging that I cured my cancer with cannabis oil. They’d say, 'How did you do that?' And I did a whole bit about suppositories. The next thing I know I’m having trouble doing bowel movements and I go get a checkup and I find out I have tumor in my rectum. The very joke turned into reality."
Due to his condition, Chong has curtailed his performance schedule. "I haven’t performed on stage since I’ve had it," he said. "I can’t really get behind that." So no Cheech & Chong concerts for the foreseeable future. However, Chong recently traveled to the Seattle Hempfest from his home in Los Angeles.
"It was a struggle," Chong confided. "One of the things that alleviates the sickness and the pain is to get an IV going – the drip. When I was in Seattle I tried to arrange it for a doctor to give me a drip, but the best they could come up with was the First Aid people (at Hempfest). They were more than happy because they didn’t have a lot to do up there. So I spent a couple of hours with the guys in the tent shooting the shit and getting hydrated."
Chong received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Las Vegas Hempfest on Oct. 3. His show, Almost Legal with Tommy Chong, made its online debut on Oct. 23.
