Steve Bloom is the publisher/blogger/super G of the #1 celebrity marijuana website: celebstoner.com.  He has been active in the movement before most of you cats graduated grammer school and was one of the leading editors/journalists for High Times Magazine and the author of two must read books about Cannabis and culture.  Check out his take on cannabis and legalization.  The Bong Girl says ‘He’s one cool dude’.
——————————————————-
Starting with the basics, where did you grow up?
I’m a New Yorker, born and raised

Do you partake in smoking green?
I’ve been smoking pretty much daily since I was 15 – that’s 40 years. You could call it my longest relationship. That and chocolate.

What is your professional relationship with cannabis?
I began working at High Times in 1988. That’s when I became a professional marijuana journalist. I worked at High Times until 2006. Since then I started CelebStoner and have written two marijuana-themed books, Pot Culture (2008) and Reefer Movie Madness (2010).

What got you interested in becoming an advocate for cannabis?  Tell The Bong Girl readers your evolution in the beginning?
I wasn’t a pot activist before I started at High Times. I was an uninformed pot smoker then (like most of us). I didn’t know about hemp or the medical use of marijuana until about 1989. That was my breakthrough when I met Jack Herer and went on Hemp Tour in the Midwest for High Times. As news editor of High Times (my first job there – I eventually became editor), I learned about all the people getting arrested for pot. That really alarmed me and lit my fire at the same time. I suddenly realized that it was my job to help change the marijuana laws and end prohibition.

How have you matured in your evolution that makes you smile inside?
So much has changed since 1989. The medical cannabis revolution began taking place in California in the early ’90s and in 1996 Prop 215 passed. This was the watershed event of the modern marijuana movement. Since then 13 more states have legalized medical marijuana. Denver and Breckenridge have legalized all uses of marijuana. Over in Europe, Dutch toleration of cannabis has made a huge impression around the world. We’re doing pretty well. Now it’s time to Tax Cannabis in California!

Who/what continues to inspire you?
All the patients inspire me. California inspires me. Colorado inspires me. All the people working for NORML and other activist groups (but especially NORML) inspire me. The Netherlands inspires me. Jack Herer  inspires me. Cannabis inspires me.

How did celebstoner.com come about?
When I left High Times, I started a Blogger blog to get my feet wet on the Web. This led to CelebStoner. One particular post of a photo of Willie Nelson’s bus bust stash drew a big crowd to my little blog. So I decided to devote a site to marijuana news and celebrities who embrace pot as part of their lifestyle and aren’t afraid to say and show it.

How has it evolved?
The site’s doing well. We’re in our fourth year. We’re definitely having an impact on he Web. Traffic is continually climbing. If you keep posting quality stories, photos and video, and stay ahead of the curve, people will come.

What do you love about the celebstoner.com?
I love the community. We don’t have forums, but we have very active commentors. When news breaks, they’re right there helping out with first-hand reporting. It really is a collaboration of sorts. We treat readers  with maximum respect. That goes for at Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social sites as well. We really are all in this together.

Describe your plans to take it to the next level.
We’d like to do some original video and perhaps a CelebStoner News show. We also plan to hold a CelebStoner Awards show in Hollywood this year or in 2011.

If the federal government came to you requesting a blueprint on legalization of cannabis, what would your plan look like.  In this scenario you are the Cannabis Czar with complete authority in all arenas.
Let the free market blossom. Pot shops everywhere for everyone. Roadside stands with barrels of buds. Most likely within the next 20 years we’ll have regulation of marijuana where it will be available in smoke shops just like liquors stores today. The ATF will be renamed ATM (for Alcohol, Tobacco and Marijuana). I like what Lewis Black says: “I believe this is what my generation came to the planet to do and that is legalize pot. If we do that we leave behind a true legacy. It’s a tremendous legacy. it really is.”

Favorite Stoner Movies?

My two favorite stoner movies are Easy Rider and Up in Smoke. Easy Rider is the greatest stoner movie of all time. Up in Smoke created the blueprint for every stoner comedy that followed. Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda smoking a joint around the campfire remains the best pot scene in a movie. And by the way, they were really smoking pot. (Reefer Movie Madness out Oct 2010)

PART 2 of Interview with Steve Bloom coming later this year.  Check out www.celebstoner.com and pass it on.  Together we can build the framework for nationwide legalization of cannabis.  Yes We Cannabis!

Filed under:
Uncategorized by TBG