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Tommy Chong begins prison sentence

07:51 / 06.11.03

This may be old news to some of you in the states, but it's still worth reporting. Tommy Chong, of stoner duo, Cheech & Chong, began a nine month prison sentence on October 24 for selling glass pipes. America, under the Bush administration, simply seems to get more and more facistic. What fucking planet are these people on?

Story here

Extract: Comedian Tommy Chong began a nine-month federal prison sentence on October 7 for operating a glass-blowing shop that sold pipes to marijuana smokers. Prosecutors were not impressed that his Nice Dreams Enterprises marketed a morally neutral product. Chong's pipes, after all, could be used with loose-leaf tobacco, just as any stoner in an Armani suit can smoke pot in a lawful Dunhill meerschaum.

It actually sounds like the whole thing is a case of retrospective revenge:

In fact, as the Los Angeles Times reported October 10, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton's court pleadings sought Chong's harsh punishment because he got rich "glamorizing the illegal distribution and use of marijuana" in films that "trivialize law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and use."

I can't believe the pig-headed intolerant vindictiveness of these people. Words fail me.

08:35 / 06.11.03

Actually, paging down that link, it's not all bad. Seems to be a some trends countering this vindicative bullshit. Thank fuck.

From a british perspective, this is lunacy. The whole "War on Drugs" bullshit just has not played that well over here, weed smoking is viewed as pretty innocuous, and is heading toward semi-legality. A prominent Conservative politician (Anne Widdicombe) was subject to a major ridicule for suggesting a similar get tough approach.

Apparently, this arrest was a result of a crackdown on suppliers of drug paraphenalia. Giving the almost total uselessness of such a gesture in terms of effecting people's consumption of drugs, I wonder if the point of the whole thing was simply to raise money through fines etc. Any thoughts?

10:25 / 06.11.03

It's funny that, despite all the more pressing issues in the world today, yeah, this really pissed me off when I read it in the paper a few weeks ago..

What was he charged with again? some crap like "conspiracy to distribute drug paraphenalia" .. I mean is that actually an official crime or did they just make it up? And so how come the other thousands of people and organisations and shops who "distribute drug paraphenalia" day in day out haven't been similarly busted?

And so this 60-something year old guy gets thrown in the slammer on some seemingly made-up charge, for running a business which pretty much everyone had previously assumed to be legal, just seemingly 'cos he's famous for playing a comedy stoner .. it's some kind of weird and pointless showtrial for 'drug culture' with barely any legal grounding at all, and yet nobody serious or respectable is going to start questioning it, cos who wants to be lumped together with this crazy old stoner dude?

11:51 / 06.11.03

Apparently, this arrest was a result of a crackdown on suppliers of drug paraphenalia. Giving the almost total uselessness of such a gesture in terms of effecting people's consumption of drugs, I wonder if the point of the whole thing was simply to raise money through fines etc. Any thoughts?

Well, it has to be said, it doesn't seem to be a money-raising thing. Note the following paragraph:

At last, the homeland is secure from Chong, a 65-year-old comic whose merchandise spared potheads from fumbling with rolling papers. Could there be any greater triumph for public safety than that? And in this peaceful world and placid nation, taxpayers can rest assured that officials are using their hard-earned cash as wisely as possible. Recall that Chong and 54 others were busted in Operation Pipe Dreams, a February 24 crackdown on the drug paraphernalia industry. That project involved 1,200 local, state and federal authorities, the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates.

It seems rather to suggest that the whole thing was rather costly. Which makes sense to me; I can't imagine fining 54 people a few hundred dollars could produce enough money to fund a crackdown involving 1,200 authorities.

Really, it just seems to be the same-old, same-old, "Argh! Drugs!" thing. Don't they think the whole thing's getting a little bit tired now?

12:15 / 06.11.03

At least in the US, the state and municipal governments are moving towards medicinal and decriminalization in some parts, in defiance of what the feds think or do...

The old thread for Operation Pipe Dreams...

12:25 / 06.11.03

Sorry, Mlle, I totally misread that piece. Scanning it at work, y'know. I misread the "1'200" as being the number of suppliers busted, not the number of cops involved. I'm a bit retarded today - but not as retarded as the authorities behind this.

14:43 / 06.11.03

See also http://www.freetommychong.org/petitions.asp

If you fancy putting your name down.

15:31 / 06.11.03

I live in the area this happened in. our grocery stores sell pipes and bongs. our two biggest industries are glass blowing and hydroponic gardening systems. the whole thing is really random. I think they just wanted to bust a celebrity.

17:50 / 06.11.03

They blatantly wanted to bust a celebrity.

This is just Ashcroft trying to make a name for himself, and it stinks more than a big bag of hydroponic skunk. It's a show trial; even if you support the ideas behind TWOD (not as good as TWAT, that one...), this trial seems stupid.

"We had the choice; crack down on drugs, or on glass pipes. It is the glass pipes which cause the problem, clearly. I have seen people begging on the streets to raise the money for a double-barreled air cooled bong."

For fuck's sake. Grr.

Oh, and Illmatic; that 1,200 isn't the number of actual cops; it is the number of authorities, which means the number of cops involved is probably way, way higher again. No pun intended.

19:59 / 08.11.03

Considering how much it costs to incarcerate a man for nine months, I doubt profit was a motivator. Unless one owns a prison, of course.

Baz is right in saying that local and state governments are moving toward decriminalization. It's also true that the feds have been fighting this effort tooth and nail: witness the medical marijuana arrests in California. They've also bagged Ed Rosenthal. They killed Peter McWilliams and destroyed his final book. And now Tommy Chong is going up. Fucking stupid...

The only consolation in this is that Chong will undoubtedly recieve a hero's welcome from his fellow inmates. He'll be treated better than a cop killer, I bet.

17:29 / 09.11.03

Think ill make some badges out of this one, anyone interested?

Phex: Dorset Doom

18:10 / 09.11.03

Treated better than a Cop-killer? No way, the rule in US Prisons is to kill somebody or become someone's bitch. Kinda like in Primary school.