Lounge
RVD420
HIGH TIMES Interview: Rob Van Dam
Thu, Jan 07, 2010 12:25 pm
Most professional wrestlers know how climb to the top rope and launch their body high in the air above a packed arena, ready to crash down upon an unwitting opponent, a concrete floor, a folding metal chair or even a well-concealed strip of barbed wire—but only Rob Van Dam can claim to do so while baked off his ass and wearing a psychedelic T-shirt with “420” emblazoned on the back.
Among the most accomplished athletes ever to enter the wrestling ring, Van Dam dropkicked his way into the hearts of stoned grappling fans everywhere by proving that, while pot may bring inner peace, it doesn’t prevent you from perpetrating some extreme acts of simulated violence for the roaring approval of the masses. Along the way, Van Dam has boasted individual and tag-team championship belts on both the WWE and ECW circuits, earning accolades not only for the technical skill he shows in the ring, but also the larger-than-life personality that makes him a star attraction in one of America’s most popular spectator sports. No wonder fans at his earliest matches took to toking up in solidarity—right in the stands—while chanting “Rob smokes pot!”
Recently, Van Dam has added “marijuana activist” to his impressive list of accomplishments, which also includes action-movie actor, radio-show host and reality-TV producer. After accepting an invitation to the 2009 National NORML Conference in San Francisco last September, Van Dam took part in one of the most interesting panels of the weekend. In the wake of the furor over Michael Phelps’s bong-smoking photo, RVD headlined a discussion on “Cannabis and Athleticism” that also included former NFL All-Pro lineman Mark Stepnoski and mixed martial-arts champion Toby Grear, which examined the links between marijuana use and championship-level athletic performance.
While all of the panelists reported that marijuana helped them in their sport careers, whether as a way to relax after competition or as a safe, effective pain reliever, only Van Dam described toking up right before entering the ring. He also recalled his no-less-confrontational turns as a pro-pot pundit, taking to the airwaves as a well-informed and no-nonsense proponent of legalization—including in a debate on MSNBC with Gen. Barry McCaffrey that left the former Clinton administration Drug Czar looking as stunned as a man who’d just had a two-by-four broken over the back of his head.
When the conference wrapped up, Van Dam graciously made time for a private session with his favorite magazine. Recalling the swell of new fans he earned following his first HIGH TIMES interview [March ’99 HT], the highest-flying man in professional wrestling paused for a bit of medicating, then took our questions on pot, pro wrestling, and the precarious skill of combining the two.
Do you remember the first time you smoked marijuana?
It was in Jamaica, on my 21st birthday, in a room full of wrestlers who were hitting this killer ganja while I literally held my head out the window to avoid breathing the smoke in. I don’t know if you would call it “peer pressure” or “self-defense,” but these big Samoans were threatening to sit on my head, and they kept saying: “Hit it, pussy—everyone else is hitting it and it’s not killing them! You can hit it once, you prima donna!”
So I hit the joint twice, and my first experience wasn’t that great. I was staring at a wall—just could not quit staring at the fucking wall. And I got paranoid. But then I started reading about body builders who smoke to get focused before their workouts, and it made a lot of sense to me. And all these other wrestlers I knew smoked too, so it wasn’t long before I discovered I could medicate and still get in the ring and wrestle.
What made you try pot again after the first time?
For me, it was hanging out with a friend who bounced at a bar in Tampa where I also worked. I was fresh out of wrestling school, had been wrestling for maybe a year, and I was at the stage in my career called "paying your dues," which meant wrestling at the Exploritorium on Thursday nights for 35 bucks.
Meanwhile, I was bouncing at this bar, and the other bouncer used to say, “I’m not twisting your arm, but I’m gonna roll one and smoke one. You’re welcome to sit in the car and talk with me or not.” I’d end up hitting it once or twice, and eventually I started to like the way it lifted my spirit. I was a giggly smoker—at first, I felt like I was doing something wrong; I used to have to lie to my girlfriend about it. Now, I look back on that and I think: "Wow, what a bunch of bullshit."
How often do you get high? Ever been stoned during a match?
I use cannabis a few hours before wrestling to clear my mind, then do my extensive stretching routine, then I smoke again before climbing into the ring. At that point, my physical and mental distractions are no longer bothering me, and I’m ready to go out there and have fun.
Outside the ring, I’m what you call a functional 24/7 toker. I smoke around the clock—but then again, some days I don’t smoke at all, and sometimes I go a few weeks without, if it’s a conscious choice. It’s that easy: If I choose not to smoke, I just don’t. That’s why I don’t understand so-called marijuana “addiction.” The really dangerous thing is that you can go to rehab for smoking pot and pick up a deadly cigarette habit.
Have you ever used other, more dangerous drugs? Pain management must be a big issue for professional wrestlers...
Back when I was eating muscle relaxers a lot, I found it somehow amusing that, at times, I couldn’t even pick up a glass of water. I would literally fall asleep trying.
I quit that shit when a good friend of mine died from eating Somas. I’ve lost so many wrestling friends in the past 10 years—mostly to drug overdoses. It seems silly now that I used to be amused at taking away from my own ability. I’d have fans screaming at night while I’m doing a running round-off to a back hand-spring moonsault—BOOM! Hell, yeah!—and then later on that night, I need people to help walk me to my room. Looking back on it, I’m like: "What an idiot!"
The big question is, how did we get into this situation where the drug that’s killing you is the one the doc prescribes, and the drug that’s never killed anyone gets you locked up? Most people have been brainwashed to think it’s dirty to talk about marijuana, like it’s pornography or something. But the people at the NORML conference, they do want to talk about it—and that’s important, because marijuana prohibition is based entirely on lies, when, in fact, it’s a wonderful, wonderful weed.
How long have fans connected with you as a fellow cannabis enthusiast?
It all started way back in the day with the “RVD420 Means I Just Smoked Your Ass” T-shirts and the first HIGH TIMES interview. Ever since, there’s always been a lot of fans who associate me with marijuana and have a high level of respect for me for being so vocal about it. That’s something everyone should be genuine enough to do, but unfortunately, you stand out nowadays just by being genuine.
Before WWE matches when I first got there, they used to take down the 420 signs because security claimed they were “drug-related.” When Ray Mysterio and I were tag-team champions, we had a move where I would pick him up and jump in the air and we would drop down with our legs landing on the opponent. We called it the 420 Leg Drop, and I remember having a conversation with Vince [McMahon] where he asked, “What does ‘420’ mean? That’s a drug reference, right?” And I said, “No, no, no … it’s ‘4’ because there’s four legs falling at once, and ‘20’ because that’s our combined shoe size—I’m a size 12, and he’s a size 8—so we’re dropping 420 on your ass.”
Do fans ever gift you weed?
Oh, yeah—especially back in the ECW days. Sometimes a fan would hand me a joint while I was high-fiving everyone in the front row. I’d snag it and hide it, and then hand it off to my manager and tell him to save it for later. But that was when my standards were lower. Since I moved to California, I’ve become a little bit of a pot snob, so I’ve got to travel with my own.
One thing that’s really cool is, a fan blew a glass water bong with yin-yangs on the side and “RVD” on the bowl, melted into the glass—a really cool bong. I had it sitting on display in my house, and my friend gave me so much shit about it. He was like: “Come on, dude, you’re not even gonna use it? Do you know how bummed the guy that made it would be if he knew you had it just sitting there on the shelf?” So we pulled it off the shelf and packed it immediately.
What do you like to smoke?
I mostly like sativas, but sometimes I like indicas as well, and I also like to have a mixture of both. My friend owns a dispensary down in Venice Beach—a lot of times, I help him sample. He even named RVD420 Kush after me.
Usually, I select only top strains, like a Sour Diesel or a White Widow. Recently, when I was in Amsterdam, I enjoyed some Laughing Buddha, which was a 2003 Cannabis Cup award winner.
How was your trip to Amsterdam?
I thought I wouldn’t like it that much. Since I live in California and can smoke freely at home, I figured that Amsterdam wouldn’t be that big a deal for me compared to everyone else. But I loved it. Obviously, it’s cool not to have to sneak in your medicating before leaving the room. You can sit smoking in a café, or I even rented a bike and took a smoking tour of the city on two wheels.
And what an amazing city! I love the buildings that date back to the 13th century, and I love the canals. The fact that there’s so many people, but they’re not drunk and puking all over the sidewalk—Amsterdam’s got an excellent, neutral, tolerant energy. Even with the prostitutes in the windows, there’s still families walking by, just looking at them saying: “Ya, that’s prostitutes.” It was like they didn’t have as much hate, which is a cultural thing—being okay with your fellow human beings.
Plus, those European women were really pretty, too.
What’s the story behind your arrest?
I got pulled over for speeding, and the car stunk really, really bad because I had a bag of some skunky weed in the center console. Cop smells it, goes through all our bags, empties everything we have out—and the whole time he’s like: “I’m sorry, guys, I feel like I should know who you are, but I don’t follow wrestling.”
And I’m thinking: “Oh, really, motherfucker? Is that why I’m sitting in the back seat with my hands cuffed?” Anyway, when he called in the arrest, every other cop said: “Sorry, Rob, if it woulda been me …. ” Just my luck to get busted by the one cop on the force that wasn’t a fan—but then again, I think everything happens for a reason, and, to be honest, I needed the 30 days off from work [following my suspension].
And it also helped me make history—just like Michael Phelps. You can smoke cannabis and be a great athlete. I don’t wanna hide the truth.
How do you think Michael Phelps handled that incident? He certainly could have been more "genuine" about it instead of apologizing...
Actually, I thought Michael Phelps handled it really well. He had millions and millions of endorsement dollars on the line. Kellogg’s had already dropped him, and he was looking at Speedo and Rolex and Subway and Mazda—all the other sponsors he could have lost if he came out and said, “Fuck yeah, it was pot!”
So, instead, what he said was: “It was stupid.” And it was—the whole thing was stupid. I really admire him for handling it that way. He said it was stupid and apologized, but he’s never added any detail.
As a public figure with many young fans, what do you think parents should be telling their kids about marijuana?
I’m always an advocate for honesty. I don’t have kids of my own, but if I did, I don’t think I’d tell them there’s a Santa Claus. I don’t understand that.
I’m not judging other parents, but I think I’d be honest about smoking pot, and ultimately it would be nice to live in a world that supports that position. In the meantime, I would tell kids what to expect from other kids and parents, and I would firmly make a point that I do not believe kids should smoke cannabis. Their brains are like wet cement...
What were your impressions of former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey and your televised debate?
It’s surprising—Barry McCaffrey, who was someone in a position to make changes, said on the air that “If you’re 40 years old and you’re living in Oregon and you have 12 giant pot plants in the back of your log cabin, knock yourself out, but we’ve got to protect our kids” …. Of course, that’s exactly why you regulate marijuana—so you can control it, tax it and keep it out of the hands of kids.
Meanwhile, I have never, ever heard one sensible reason why marijuana should be prohibited.
You’re an incredibly active guy, both in the ring and out of it. Do you think the stereotype of the “lazy stoner” is starting to fade?
I definitely think so. Overall, more and more professional people are coming out, and that’s changing the perception for everyone. I also hope people have started to use their brains more—and something called “common sense”—instead of just taking what they’re told at face value.
Eventually, when all of the successful people who smoke marijuana come out for it, and everyone knows that it’s safer than cigarettes or alcohol and that it’s not addictive, then I think eventually people will start to finally respect their fellow citizens’ personal choices.
For more information about Rob Van Dam, check out his website: http://robvandam.com/
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big smoke
Dec 30 2010, 6:32 am
tokin texas
Apr 12 2010, 12:38 pm
Mattie420
Mar 4 2010, 11:05 am
kief sutherland
Feb 19 2010, 3:48 am
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R13DY
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rastadanks
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introublebutstickingaround
Jan 10 2010, 5:42 am
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mr goodbud
Jan 8 2010, 1:40 am
Charlie
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