Tommy Chong keeps puffin' to beat back prostate cancer

by Charlie Smith on June 11th, 2012 at 12:14 PM

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The most famous comedian to come out of Vancouver has let the world know he has prostate cancer.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Tommy Chong, 74, told CNN that he's treating his disease with hemp oil and cannabis.

"So (legalizing marijuana) means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint without being arrested," the longtime marijuana-legalization activist said.

Chong described his disease as a "slow stage one" cancer that he's had for a long time. And he insists that smokin' up had nothing to do with it. (Most men with slow-growing prostate cancer actually end up dying of other causes.)

Chong, a civil-rights activist for those jailed on marijuana offences, has never forgotten his B.C. roots. You can read more about that in a November 2008 cover story in the Straight written by Guy MacPherson.

Last year, Chong backed marijuana activist Dana Larsen's bid for the NDP leadership by hosting a fundraiser at the Rio Theatre.

Keep puffin' Tommy. You've got lots of Vancouverites in your corner.