Devildriver’s Dez Fafara Wants Pot Legalized and Taxed

Dez Fafara of DevilDriver is known for his live stage presence. On stage he embodies the actions you would expect to come from a throat-punching growl by jumping off of risers and constantly moving. But this metal fury on stage sometimes results injury and at time of interview Dez was nursing a twisted ankle that came very close to being broken. When asked what he was taking for the pain Dez pridefully declared to Noisecreep, "I'm from California. I'm medical all the way." Dez has a medical marijuana license.

Marijuana is the only thing Dez can take for the pain. "I know it's not very rock and roll but I can't really take pills. I end up throwing up," and Dez can't just drink off the pain saying, "I become six foot f---ing eight and mean so my whole thing has been I have to indulge in herb."

When Dez is passionate about something he talks about it like a prophet on a hilltop, so we here at Noisecreep talked more in depth about pot to Dez.

What do you have your marijuana license for?

I have it for many different reasons. I've been on stage for so long that my back kills me everyday, stress and anxiety too.

I'm hoping the whole country picks up on the fact that the whole world of modern medicine is pushing pills down people's throats so hard. There are herbal medicines, not just marijuana-so many different ones-that can cure so many diseases and plights for a person. They shouldn't be pushing all these pharmaceuticals down our throats.
I watch what I put in my body. I don't put any bullshit in my body. You're not going to see me shooting anything in my veins. I'm not going to die in a bathtub from od'ing because you know what, it ain't cool. And neither is taking a bunch of pills and passing the f--- out.

If I could, I'd like to pass the knowledge along to young people that pills are bad. My last band fell apart because of meth, stay the f--- away from hard drugs. Do anything that's natural. Have a beer if you want, don't go overboard, have some wine, and smoke tons of weed.

It's like with all the A.D.D. drugs, Marijuana is known to work in cases the pills don't.

My parents gave me Ritalin for 12 years and all it did was make me a f---ing zombie. Had they sat me down and smoked a joint with me, history class would have been a whole lot more interesting.

I was at the shop the other day buying and their was a mother in there with her 14 year old kid buying him herb and I started a conversation with her and she said, 'Shit, the doctors told me to put him on Ritalin for a year and half straight and what I did was let him smoke herb before he went to school and the kid started pulling straight A's. He'd come home blown away by social studies and just be intrigued.'

Some kids chemistry is not mean to just sit in a room for eight hours a day under florescent light and be told by someone who may or may not be a good speaker how to learn.

Have you ever had issues with the license while touring?

Anybody reading this on the computer obviously knows that if I'm coming through your state and it's illegal I defiantly don't have it on my bus. We had a really horrible incident in Arizona, they just recently passed it there that a certain amount is okay, but two years ago I had a really hairy situation where we got pulled over. Logistically I could have done three or four years in a tent prison out in the desert for what would be considered an eighth of marijuana.

They are locking people up in prisons that don't deserve it. They need to tax it, if you really want to save our economy and save everything they need to get on the weed train.

It could work. It is the number one cash crop in America.

Our first flag was hemp. The fist pilgrims sailed over here on a hemp sail and what happened is all these right wing a--holes controlling mother f---ers in our country want to control it. Well, you know what I say? Control it! Tax the shit out of it, do whatever just make it available to people with medical problems that actually need it: glaucoma, pain, anxiety, anorexia. My mother just survived cancer, you wanna know why? She was able to smoke weed and was able to eat.

If were gonna do it right let's do it proper, let's control it like we do alcohol. Let's only get it to the correct people; let's not misuse it. Don't be a stoner just to be a weed head. I see these commercials and what they are trying to push on kids and it's like if your just sitting on the couch thinking I'm over this well that's the wrong person that's using the medicine. If you give any person the wrong medicine it's going to counter act them.