NATE BOZUNG IS RIDING HIGH

Interview by Jesse Denes

We all know that snowboarding and pot go hand in hand. Ask any snowboarder—from the diehard shredder to the weekend warrior—and they’ll tell you about pulling off the trail for a smoking session at an abandoned ranger station (known as a smokeshack) or hot-boxing a gondola. But in the world of pro snowboarding, as with all other professional sports, those who disclose their penchant for puffing are often blacklisted. For pro shredder Nate Bozung (better known within the industry as Boznuts), this has meant a rocky ride. From losing his sponsors to leaving the major production companies to film his own video, BozWreck, Boznuts has always stayed true to his roots. We caught up with snowboarding’s stoniest stalwart to talk about pot, snow and airport security.

You excited to be here?
Are you fucking kidding me? (laughter) All my friends are gonna be so jealous.

How big is pot in snowboarding?
You could put it in the same word; you could mix it together. Everyone does it. It’s a whole lifestyle thing: surfing, skating, snowboarding—snowboarding especially. Everyone’s up in the mountains, too. You know, whatever—getting weird in the mountains. Ninety-nine percent of snowboarders are baked all the time. But it’s weird, too, ’cuz in snowboarding, you have the whole soul thing, the fuckin’ dudes who just do it, and then you have all the new-era kids who are like the full jocks—like they fuckin’ train and do all that stuff. So there’s a mix, but it’s still so heavy in snowboarding. I don’t think I took a run in the last eight years without smoking a joint, anywhere in the whole world. It’s everywhere. It’s not my fault.

Do you get shit for being so outspoken about smoking weed?
You can get in a lot of trouble for it. I’ve gotten in a lot of trouble for it. But it’s like, “Dude, whatever—everyone does it.”

Probably the person who’s getting me in trouble was smoking a joint like 10 minutes earlier, before he made the phone calls. It’s like, “What are you guys tripping on?” When I got introduced into the snowboard industry, they used to call me “The Smokeless Wonder,” ’cuz I didn’t even smoke yet. I grew up and my brother smoked, but I was just snowboarding. But when I was like 17, everyone else was doing it—all the team managers, everyone that I saw in the industry. And I was like, “Wow, everyone kinda does it.” You can’t help it. You see Terje [Haakonsen] or someone smoking a joint and you’re like, “Aw, dude—that’s the best dude ever!” You hear that shit everyday. So I started smoking, fell in love, and me and Mary Jane have never broken up since.

What are some of your favorite strains?
I fuckin’ love the Kush—Cali Kush, the OG Kush. I don’t know, I tried some of the Lemon—Lemon Kush was pretty good. Just when I was in Laguna Beach, like a week ago, I had this shit, Sweet Nightmare—I was giggling like it was 2002. Sour Diesel—I fuckin’ come out here, and that shit gets me all tweaked. I know when it’s good chronic when I start to drive and I’m like super-paranoid, just spacing out to the music. And I look up and there’s a line of cars behind me, and I’m going like 10 miles under the speed limit. I don’t know—maybe if I knew more people, I could get some more shit… some good shit that I don’t even know about yet. Like on Weeds, the MILF weed. Aww, dude—I want some MILF weed.