Cheech Marin was born in South Los Angeles to a tight-knit family of cops and priests. What mattered to him was going to school and getting right with God.
By the time he was in middle school, his plan was to become a priest — just like his cousins. But, that was before he tried smoking weed. When Cheech went to college, it was a new world. He was away from home and living with friends, so he decided to venture off the straight and narrow.
One night someone passed him a joint. It was the ’60s, so naturally he got put on. It wasn’t just to smoking pot though. Eventually, it was to the peace movement and to the Chicano civil rights movement. The priesthood was not really on Cheech’s agenda after that.
