Pot lobby holds Aspen legal seminar

ASPEN, Colo., June 9 (UPI) -- The lobbying group for marijuana legalization is meeting in Colorado this weekend for a legal-issues seminar and a keynote from comic Tommy Chong.

About 80 people are attending the seminar sponsored by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the second year for the event at the Colorado ski resort.

The Rocky Mountain News said Saturday's session was highlighted by Tommy Chong, who spent nine months in jail for selling pot paraphernalia, but is best remembered for the cannibas-flavored gags he and Cheech Marin dished out as the iconic duo Cheech and Chong in the 1970s.

Chong's speech is titled, "Why pot is still illegal and why Dave is still not here." Dave, of course, is the addled apartment dweller played by Chong who refuses to open the door for nervous Cheech because "Dave's not here."

The newspaper said the event also will feature a barbecue at the Aspen home of the late writer Hunter S. Thompson, who was on the NORML board from 1973 until his suicide in 2005.