Tommy Chong joins British Columbia’s NDP supporting weed activist
Tommy Chong toking an imaginary joint. Credit: Getty Images
Marijuana activist Dana Larsen is hoping his NDP leadership bid in B.C. gets a bit of a buzz from a smokin' endorsement by Canadian comedian Tommy Chong.
"I joined the B.C. NDP for one reason, and that is Dana Larsen," said Chong, best known as half of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong who starred in the potbuster movie, Up In Smoke.
Chong released a video Tuesday in which he appeared in a jovial, relaxed mood, with a Free Marc Emery poster shown prominently in the background. "Dana Larsen can change the face of this country but he needs your help," Chong says.
B.C. marijuana crusader Emery is currently in a U.S. jail.
Larsen has been in a war of words with the B.C. NDP since announcing his bid for leadership on Dec. 28. So far, he is the only declared candidate.
But party president Moe Sihota said Larsen was ineligible to run because his party membership expired in November.
Curtain closes on Canadian ‘prince of pot’ Marc Emery
Marc Emery sold large quantities of marijuana seeds to Americans. He will be extradited from Canada to the US in January to serve a five year prison sentence.
Walking along Hastings Street in Vancouver, arm in arm with his wife Jodie, Marc Emery (51) looked like anything but one of the US' most wanted drug dealers. But he is in fact number 46 on a list of 50 dangerous drugs criminals. His days as a free man are numbered: he is about to be extradited to the United States to be locked up.
The couple entered the building at No. 307, which they refer to as their "international headquarters". The building was decorated in green and filled with an entourage of followers. The headquarters features a store, an editorial room, a recording studio, political offices and a smoking cafe. Everything related to marijuana is sold here – except marijuana, being illegal. If you want to smoke a joint in the cafe, you have to bring your own. Not that it is hard to come by in Vancouver, a city nicknamed ‘Vansterdam’.
