Snoop Dogg Pledges a No-Joint Effort

You might be able to imagine Garth Brooks without his cowboy hat or Britney Spears without the bare midriff ... but Snoop Dogg without a joint in his hand? It may be a pipe dream, but the chronic king of hip-hop has announced that he is abstaining from marijuana as well as alcohol.

“I’m 30 years old now,” the rapper told BET in a recent interview. “Three kids. A wife. A mom. Brothers. Artists. Family. Friends. They all need me. They depend on me. I’ve been leading [homeboys] off the cliff for five, six years. So now I’m going slow.”

This is shocking news considering that Snoop was named the 2002 Stoner of the Year by High Times magazine and has made a habit of openly toking before, during and after his concerts and interviews. He has been, arguably, the most public pothead performer since Bob Marley.

On the Internet, the surprise announcement has been met with consternation and intense skepticism by the rapper’s fans. They need not fear that the rapper is adopting a completely ascetic life: Thursday night, Snoop will perform at a Los Angeles club to celebrate the release this week of “Girls Gone Wild Doggy Style,” which teams the rhyming lothario with the video and DVD franchise built on capturing footage of young women exposing themselves in public.

Will Snoop be sneaking a puff at the club event when no one is looking? If so, it wouldn’t surprise High Times entertainment editor Steve Bloom, who says it’s possible that the announcement is not a true change of heart. The rapper was fined and placed on probation for a pot offense in Ohio last year.

“He was the biggest, baddest pot smoker out there, and maybe he’s just stepping back because it got too hot,” Bloom said. “Maybe he really has decided he wants to take a break or not smoke anymore. But all this could be a smokescreen.”