Tommy Chong in jail because of his celebrity?

[Lord_Ashtar]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4191-2003Oct9.html

It seems that Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong and That 70’s Show fame) was sentenced to 9 months in a federal prison for “conspiring to sell bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet.”

A snippet from the above linked article:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton argued that Chong grew wealthy glamorizing drug use and trivializing law enforcement in his films and said Chong used his characters to promote his business.

Chong’s attorneys argued that he should be sentenced no more harshly than any of the other defendants thus far in the national drug-paraphernalia investigation. They wanted him to be sentenced to no more than six months’ house arrest and six months’ probation.

Question: Is Chong in prison because he is famous and the judge thought he could make a name for himself in the War on Drugs[sup]TM[/sup]?

[Darkhold]

9 months in federal prison for bongs? Seems a little harsh to me. Course I imagine he was going to sell across state lines which is always a bad idea. So I think the sentance was too harsh but he must have known there would be a price to pay so I won’t shed any tears for him.

[rjung]

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton argued that Chong grew wealthy glamorizing drug use and trivializing law enforcement in his films and said Chong used his characters to promote his business.

Either the First Amendment was repealed when I wasn’t looking, or someone ought to tell Ms. Houghton that becoming wealthy by making movies that “glamoriz[ed] drug use and trivializing law enforcement” is still legal in the United States.

Geez, John Ashcroft must be really bored for something to do if he’s resorting to chasing such penny-ante issues…

[Coriolanus]

Tommy Chong told a high level friend that the DOJ threatened to go after his wife and son if he didn’t cop to a plea.

He was sentenced on ‘9/11/2003’

There are no States Rights.

[bdgr]

Yet Rush Limbaugh goes free.

[Marley23]

As others said, since the judge not only sentenced him unusually harshly, but also cited his movies as evidence of his contempt for law enforcement and the law, I’d say it’s pretty damn obvious he’s in jail for his celebrity.

[WILLASS]

For selling bongs? How do you get arrested for selling plastic tubes? I know they are commonley used for drug taking but still…I mean what next? Rolling paper companies, they must sell a lot of kingsize papers to pot heads…tinfoil manufacturers? A lot of heroin addicts use that stuff…Man, Evian is gonna be up shit creek, thats crack pipe material…Seriousley, where do you draw the line? In the UK it is legal to sell anything like bongs, pipes etc, but it isn’t legal to use them to smoke anything illegal through. This makes sense to me because there are a lot of alternatives to marijuana out there that are perfectley legal but require a water pipe. And to get in further trouble because he starred in films that ‘glamorize’ and ‘trivialize’ drug use!!! What the fuck is that about? I think that the U.S government needs to sort out this ‘grey’ area in the law.

[Ilsa_Lund]

I have to ask, what celebrity?

::::D&R:::::

[Lissa]

*Originally posted by WILLASS *
**For selling bongs? How do you get arrested for selling plastic tubes? I know they are commonley used for drug taking but still…I mean what next? Rolling paper companies, they must sell a lot of kingsize papers to pot heads…tinfoil manufacturers? A lot of heroin addicts use that stuff…Man, Evian is gonna be up shit creek, thats crack pipe material…Seriousley, where do you draw the line? **

It’s all about context. If an item is commonly used, or closely associated with the sale or use of drugs, it becomes “drug paraphenalia.” For example, plastic baggies can be deemed to be drug paraphenalia if they’re found near a stash of pot. Same with rolling papers.

Likewise, a water pipe is only a “bong” if it’s associated with smoking marijuana. My local store neatly skirts around the issue by selling big tins of tobacco on the shelf next to them. I seriously doubt if any of their customers use the bongs to smoke tobacco, but you get the idea. (I once asked the clerk if they had ever sold any of the tobacco, and he just laughed.)

[Lord_Ashtar]

Does it seem likely that he’ll win on appeal? I mean, it can’t be fair that other people doing the same thing get way lighter sentences.

[Voodoochile]

The whole issue is him seeling them accross state lines, i.e over the net. Thats when the feds come in and state law no longer applies.

Yes, theyre trying to make an example of one of the best social satirists Canada or the US has ever produced.

I think the fact that he helped to give Hendrix his start back in the day when Chong owned a club in Vancouver (which was one of the few clubs that black bands from Seattle could play at) should count in his favor, if rediculous reasons like pointing out how silly cops often are counted.

[shelbo]

Celebrity is evidently a valid reason for targeting people for prosecution. Look at Martha Stewart – anyone else in her situation would have been handed a quick plea and a fine, if anything. Prosecutors see celebrity as giving more bang for the buck – publicity=prevention.

[Marley23]

WILLASS, I don’t think you appreciate that the United States has a major drug problem: a lot of our leaders act like drug addicts.

:rolleyes:

[Dogface]

If the Feds went after Joe Whatever for selling bongs across state lines, the news services would not pick it up, it would not get any public discussion. Throw Tommy Chong into the clink and it’s national news (at least on page 4 or something like that).

[WILLASS]

*Originally posted by Marley23 *
**WILLASS, I don’t think you appreciate that the United States has a major drug problem: a lot of our leaders act like drug addicts.

:rolleyes: **

Marley23 i’m not quite sure I fully understand what you are implying, is it that you believe you leaders to be idiots because they act like drug addicts? Or that I don’t appreciate the scale of the drug problem in the U.S? Either way I appreciate both statements…

[WILLASS]

*Originally posted by Marley23 *
**WILLASS, I don’t think you appreciate that the United States has a major drug problem: a lot of our leaders act like drug addicts.

:rolleyes: **

Marley23 i’m not quite sure I fully understand what you are implying, is it that you believe you leaders to be idiots because they act like drug addicts? Or that I don’t appreciate the scale of the drug problem in the U.S? Either way I appreciate the point of both statements…

[astro]

Chong rolled the dice and lost, but so did many other “glass” manufacturers. It doesn’t seem he was singled out any more than the others, many of whom are also doing time.

From alternet.org

Chong continued to use the character and his personal belief in the goodness of marijuana when he lent his name to a glass pipe company as well as a drug detox product. Both Nice Dreams Enterprises (operating as Chong Glass) and Tommy Chong’s Urine Luck were successful tax-paying companies. Both advertised openly in consumer magazines like High Times and in industry publications such as HeadQuest (which has since the paraphernalia crackdown turned its attention and advertising toward the tattoo and body piercing business). Like dozens of other glass companies, Chong Glass operated as an above-board corporation and Tommy Chong must have thought that he was free to do so.
When Operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter swooped down from the DEA at outrageous taxpayer expense last winter, 55 of the more prominent paraphernalia company owners were arrested and Chong was not spared. Months of speculation among the storekeepers and wholesalers followed. Many waited for the sentences to be handed down before marking down their wares and getting out of the pipe business altogether. Some went ahead and closed voluntarily. Some were confident that, because the government had targeted the wealthier of the glass dealers, there would be money and topnotch lawyers to fight the good fight.

Fomr the BBC web service

Prosecutors said Chong began a business in 2001 called Nice Dreams - named after a Cheech and Chong film - which made $1.6m (£1m) before it was raided by the FBI.

In May, Chong pleaded guilty to supplying pipes, bongs and other paraphernalia.

‘Marketing power’

Federal authorities in Pittsburgh have convicted 22 other national drug-paraphernalia distributors since 2000 under Operation Pipe Dreams.

“[Chong] wasn’t the biggest supplier. He was a relatively new player,” US attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said. “But he had the ability to market products like no other.”

The judge ordered Chong to forfeit $103,000 (£64,700) in sales proceeds and abandon his website domain names.

Although sentenced to nine months in jail, Chong will remain free until told which prison to report to, which is likely to be near his California home.

[neutron_star]

*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar *
Question: Is Chong in prison because he is famous and the judge thought he could make a name for himself in the War on Drugs[sup]TM[/sup]? **

Nothing about any of this is fair, but Chong’s sentence doesn’t seem to be atypical:

America’s Paraphernalia industry under attack, Chills founder sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Chris Hill, founder and owner of Florida company Chills, was sentenced to prison in August after accepting a plea bargain for various charges related to distributing drug paraphernalia.

Until his bust, Hill’s Chills was a small-business success story. Founded in 1993, the pipe and tobacco accessory distributor expanded quickly, getting mentioned in Inc magazine as one of America’s 500 fastest-growing companies. Hill was chosen in 2001 as one of America’s top 500 young businessmen by the National Republican Congressional Committee, and was in the running for Republican Businessman of the Year.

Also from the article:

The prosecuting US Attorney cited Chills’ logo, which features a space alien with the words “World Domination,” as evidence of a criminal conspiracy to take over the world.

:rolleyes: