CHEECH, CHONG ADVISE HARPER ON POT

MONTREAL -- Cheech and Chong have got some pretty blunt advice for
Prime Minister Stephen Harper when it comes to Canada's marijuana's
laws.

"Wise up, you douchebag," Cheech Marin says with some glee when asked
what he'd tell the prime minister.

Chong, who hails from Edmonton, nods in agreement.

The team of tokers is miffed that Canadian authorities, after nearly
decriminalizing pot a few years ago, have made a 180-degree policy
shift which culminated in a rash of recent marijuana arrests.

"I would tell Stephen Harper to let go of George Bush's butt," Chong
chimes in. "Your head's too far up there. Get your head out of his
butt. He's gone. George is gone. He's history, Stephen."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office was not immediately
available to comment.

Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong, who have grown from a stoner
counterculture act when they started in 1970s, are cultural icons when
it comes to doper humour.

Besides performing live, the duo have released several comedy albums
and films and appeared in numerous TV shows. They went their separate
ways in the 1980s, with reports of friction between them, but returned
to working together, in the late 1990s.

Needless to say, they are unabashed advocates of legal
marijuana.

Cheech and Chong were in Montreal where they hosted a show last week
at the Just For Laughs Festival, doing some of their fabled bits. It's
their only Canadian date for now.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, they were more than happy to
hold forth on their favoured herb.

"The trouble with the law is that pot is quasi-legal," ventured
Cheech, whose father was a Los Angeles police officer for 30 years.

"It's a grey area. You don't know if it's legal or isn't legal. It's
like being quasi-pregnant. Either you're pregnant or you're not."

Marijuana for medicinal use has been allowed in Canada for nearly a
decade and was nearly decriminalized by Parliament seven years ago.
After taking office in 2006, the Conservatives announced they would
not revive a Liberal bill to reform marijuana laws.

Last month, police arrested 35 people in raids on clubs in Quebec
which supply visitors with marijuana, ostensibly as therapeutic
treatment for certain medical conditions. A club in Toronto was also
raided two months ago.

Chong sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the face of British Columbia
pot activist Marc Emery, who now faces five years in a U.S. prison
after being deported from Canada earlier this year. Chong said he
wasn't surprised Emery was deported.

"I'm insulted. As a Canadian I'm insulted that Harper would go to that
length."