A comment in an interview in the Denver Post, which stated, "It's time to get away from Cheech & Chong propaganda," prompted us to ask Tommy Chong what he thinks.
"I agree, we do have to move on," Chong writes in an email to CelebStoner. "The Cheech and Chong weed approach was created in the '60s to show the world through our records and movies how racist and ignorant the establishment was when it came to marijuana. We (C&C) showed them how two garage band misfits used pot to enhance their lives during a time when the DEA was stealing drug money by the millions and putting thousands upon thousands of minorities, hippies and draft dodgers into prison for using what has now been proven to be a relatively harmless folk medicine.
"Cheech and Chong showed everyone the real world of the average pot head and in some ways I think contributed to the present-day attitude on this Gift from God plant. Cheech and Chong now tour doing old bits from the past as a sort of reminder of the way things used to be, but we have moved on. Cheech and I have kept up with the latest fads, music, art, etc. Like the poet said, 'This old world keeps on a turning.' And nothing stays the same.
"I'm using weed to treat prostate cancer and to help me with my songwriting. Just like I did in the '50s when I started smoking this wonderful medicine called marijuana. I live in the present and, thanks to pot, every day is a new day with new things to discover and new songs to sing and new comics to laugh at. So yeah, let's move on and let the past be what the past has always been, just a memory."
