[420 Girl]

South Jersey marijuana activist-turned-Southern California marijuana capitalist Ed Forchion, a.k.a. Weedman, is no dope.

I say this not only because the guy is totally sharp, but also because I want to officially remove tongue from cheek. This column hereby offers no further puns, double entendres, or wink-winks/nudge-nudges, either about the Weedman or the culturally ubiquitous illicit drug New Jersey legalized Jan. 18 for patients with cancer, AIDS, or other debilitating diseases.

Turns out Forchion was opposed to the bill that former Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law the same day Weedman's entertaining, thought-provoking and occasionally jaw-dropping autobiography/manifesto, Public Enemy #420, was published on the Web.

Forchion says New Jersey's measure isn't sufficiently green - no locally grown product, only government-grown "garbage" - and is "hypocritical" in falling short of legalization. In other words, it doesn't go far enough.

Which certainly can't be said of his unruly 353-page opus, detailing as it does everything from "My First Joint" to an adventure involving "over 100 pounds of weed" and a truck.

"I just basically took a bunch of chapters and Web pages and put them together with some flashbacks," Forchion, 45, says. "I'm not really an author. But I am now!"

An impassioned mix of in-your-face earnestness and down-to-earth grandiosity, Forchion's book presents the father of five, fringe political candidate, and ex-con (he served 17 months for possession) as a self-taught First Amendment champion and "peaceful, proud, patriotic pothead."

Having gone West for a fresh start two years ago, Forchion now operates a legal medical-marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles called the Liberty Bell Temple. This enterprise also is incorporated as a church, a status Forchion maintains will offer protection if the city moves ahead with plans to crack down on dispensaries.

"I feel free here," he says. "I'm making real good money; I'm paying child support; I'm buying gifts for people - I'm doing OK. Here in California, marijuana is not considered the weed of the witches."

He's also a party promoter whose Web site (NJWeedmanPromotions.com) includes an abundance of video and photo evidence that happy days are here again. At least in Hollywood.

"A lot of people knew about me here before I even got here," says Forchion, who began what was essentially a blog in the late 1990s and later tried unsuccessfully to legally change his name to NJWeedman.com. "The power of the Internet is incredible. I'm a cybercelebrity."

He's no slouch with old-school media, either. Public Enemy #420 features a parade of press clippings that chronicle his evolution from middle-class Burlington County kid to flamboyant activist (lighting up at the Liberty Bell and other attention-grabbing locales).

One need not be a weed worshipper - a certain columnist certainly isn't - to appreciate not only Forchion's personal charm, but also his gumption. There's a touch of Horatio Alger in the Weedman saga.

"I grew up in America," he says. "I'm a capitalist, just like my parents, who both had their own businesses. After I got out of prison, I just couldn't make it. So I took a chance and came out here to California. And now I'm doing pretty good.

"Everybody thinks I smoke the most, because I call myself Weedman," Forchion adds. "I have to have weed on me because if I encounter someone and don't, they would be, 'What do you mean, the Weedman doesn't have any weed?' I've created a character, and this character has to have weed. It's kind of funny.

"I don't smoke as much as I used to. But I don't foresee myself ever totally stopping, either. I'm going to be one of those old guys who still smokes weed."

California dreamin', indeed.


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