NINE MONTHS IN JAIL IS BAD TRIP FOR 'BONG' SELLER TOMMY CHONG

One of America's best-known counter-cultural comedians, Tommy Chong, is facing
the prospect of a nine-month jail sentence after being convicted of selling
glass pipes on the internet which can be used for smoking cannabis. Lawyers for
Chong, 65, one half of the famous Cheech and Chong comedy duo and more recently
a television actor, claim the US attorney general, John Ashcroft, chose to
prosecute him for the publicity value. The glass pipes, or "bongs", that Chong
has been offering for sale are the same as those that have been sold for years
by thousands of "head shops" all over the US and Europe, and Chong has
regularly been paying taxes on their sales.

"They are really prosecuting him for who he is," his Los Angeles-based
attorney, Richard Hirsh, said yesterday. "It was a very selective prosecution.
Ashcroft is 100% behind it."

Mr Hirsh said that for many years the sale of bongs and pipes had been accepted
and no notice had been given of an intended change in policy.

Twenty-two people have been convicted of selling pipes since Mr Ashcroft
launched Operation Pipe Dreams last year. Some 650,000 people in the US are
arrested each year for minor cannabis possession.

Chong, who has no previous convictions and has run his business in Gardena,
California, alongside an acting career, was arrested after a sting operation in
which federal agents in Pittsburgh ordered bongs over the internet, thus
ensuring that the items were sent across state lines.

Judge Arthur Schwab said jail was appropriate for "a felony of conspiring to
distribute drug paraphernalia", and sentenced him to nine months last week. His
lawyers are deciding whether to appeal.

Chong, who was born in Canada, linked up with "Cheech" Marin in the 1970s and
made a number of comedy films with a cannabis-related theme. Among them were Up
In Smoke, Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams, Still Smokin' and, in the 1990s,
National Lampoon's Senior Trip. His latest film is Pot Luck.


Pubdate: Sat, 20 Sep 2003
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/