# Tommy Chong is going to prison?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106 "2003-09-12T01:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/1 "2003-09-12T01:42:49Z")
[http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=3429456](http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=3429456) Prison for a first offense. That’ll teach them damn hippies! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/2 "2003-09-12T01:51:32Z")
Damn. I can think of a dozen stores off-hand where bongs and marijuana pipes and other paraphernalia are sold openly, and I don’t even smoke the stuff. I wonder what makes it so much more illegal over the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/3 "2003-09-12T01:58:09Z")
How messed-up can you be when people look at you, scowl, shake their heads and say “Why can’t you be more like Cheech?” ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/4 "2003-09-12T01:58:19Z")
No kidding. I was always under the impression that it was the drug itself and not the paraphenalia that was illegal. I mean, not everyone who buys one is gonna use it to smoke drugs, right? A Chong Bong has gotta be a collector’s item whether or not you’re a dopehead. ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/5 "2003-09-12T02:14:45Z")
Those are advertised on the radio here by Cheech himself. He calls them tobacco pipes. The commercials are kind of funny. “When I’m in Columbus, Ohio I like to hit the joint. The store. Located on High street. I like that, High street. Thats kinda where I live.” ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/6 "2003-09-12T02:27:35Z")
People say tobacco can be used through a bong…right. Been there…tried that. It’s a killer. Inhale tobacco from anything the way you inhale pot is a killer. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/7 "2003-09-12T02:49:34Z")
So is it actually illegal to sell bongs or other marijuana related paraphenalia? Because I live in Ann Arbor, and there are at least 4 head shops within walking distance that sell “tobacco” related products. That’s all they sell, in fact. So how could they possibly be legit if this kind of activity is illegal? ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/8 "2003-09-12T02:53:52Z")
Thats bullshit. Fucking Ashcroft. Fuck you Ashcroft, you asshole. I hope you get penis cancer. This thread should be in the pit. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/9 "2003-09-12T03:04:17Z")
Just a guess, but I would think the Feds are involved because internet activity can be defined as interstate commerce. The DEA appears to be more concerned with head shops than the State and Local authorities. I know I’ll sleep easier with Tommy Chong off the streets.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/10 "2003-09-12T03:09:15Z")
Thank Christ this dangerous criminal will be off the streets. I can’t imagine anything more dangerous to society than an old pothead selling glassware over the internet. I pray to God they keep this good work up, and don’t do anything silly like wasting the law-enforcement resources for stupid shit like patrolling areas stricken with violent crime. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/11 "2003-09-12T03:42:44Z")
Much as I loathe Ashcroft, he didn’t create these moronic paraphernalia laws. Is it really 2003? Twenty years ago I never would have guessed that pot would still be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/12 "2003-09-12T05:47:49Z")
Until recently, a local head-shop chain had been selling Chong’s Glassware–he even appeared in their commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/13 "2003-09-12T06:07:56Z")
Very sad. Sucks to be U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/14 "2003-09-12T06:20:13Z")
So what makes smoking implements “drug paraphernalia”? If I take a regular tobacco pipe and paint a picture of a pot leaf on it, does that make it a marijuana pipe? ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/15 "2003-09-12T06:38:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Already in Use \* > \*\*So what makes smoking implements “drug paraphernalia”? \*\* Some humorless Federal middleman whose sum-total knowledge of drugs and drug culture comes from - ironically enough - Cheech & Chong movies _saying_ it’s drug paraphenalia, I’m guesing. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/16 "2003-09-12T08:24:42Z")
Dave’s not here man. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/17 "2003-09-12T13:31:18Z")
I found this part amusing: > [@](#): > > “I have a drug problem with marijuana,” Chong told the court later, saying he had overcome dependency through constructive hobbies including learning to dance the salsa. Salsa, the Anti-Drug. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/18 "2003-09-12T13:44:55Z")
This is total horseshit. I really hope I’m missing something in that article, and that he’s not just been sentenced for selling clean pipes and bongs. Our ‘drug’ ‘laws’ are so out of whack. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/19 "2003-09-12T13:48:57Z")
Hope nobody gets caught with an empty beer can or rolling papers ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106/20 "2003-09-12T13:54:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Federal authorities in Pittsburgh have convicted 22 other national drug-paraphernalia distributors since 2000 through a program called “Operation Pipe Dreams.” Who gets to name these operations? That’s a fucking great name for a fucking stupid program. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tommy-chong-is-going-to-prison/201106.md?page=2)