Comedian Tommy Chong Gets Nine Months on Paraphernalia Charges

Assoiciated Press ^ | Sept. 11, 2003 | Dan Nephin

[Wolfie]

Comedian Tommy Chong Gets Nine Months on Paraphernalia Charges

Pittsburgh — Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking duo in Cheech and Chong movies, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison and fined $20,000 on Thursday for selling bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet.

The 65-year-old Chong was allowed to remain free until federal prison officials tell him in a few weeks where he must report to prison.

Chong also forfeited about $100,000 for his arrest on federal drug paraphernalia charges. He'll spend a year on probation after he's released from prison.

Chong's business, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which made a line of marijuana bongs and pipes, was to be sentenced later Thursday.

Chong pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia and also pleaded guilty on behalf of Nice Dreams Enterprises, which did business under the name Chong Glass.

Chong's plea came after federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents purchased his paraphernalia and had them shipped to an undercover business in Beaver Falls, a city northwest of Pittsburgh. Agents also confiscated his company's paraphernalia during raids of "head shops" in numerous states and confiscated "thousands of marijuana bongs and pipes" in a raid of his Gardena, Calif., business.

His plea followed a series of raids in February by the DEA in which at least 55 people were charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. Federal officials said the investigation targeted the nation's biggest Internet distributors of paraphernalia.

Prosecutors said Chong was the first person to plead guilty in the raids.

The actor-comedian recently had a recurring role on Fox's "That '70s Show."

[TBall]

"Smoking tobacco with a bong?" Yuck, I bet that would make you very sick.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

If the prosecutor in this jurisdiction has the time to run a sting on bong sales by a 65 year old pop icon, I hope there are no unsolved murders, rapes, thefts, etc. in that locale. The point is, our tax dollars are wasted on law enforcement spending time on the penny-ante $hit that harms no one while they cry lack of manpower to solve real crime.

[hobbes1]

First they came for the Bongs, and I said nothing because I wasn't a dope smoker...., Then they came for the SUVs and I said nothing, because i drove a Ford Escort;Then they came for the Guns, And the rest of my Freedoms along with them......

[Frank_Discussion]

I noticed that no-one has explained the legal use of a bong, er, excuse me, WATER PIPE.

[PaxMacian]

Matthew 5:10
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[newgeezer]

I noticed that no-one has explained the legal use of a bong, er, excuse me, WATER PIPE.

Back in my day, we would fill ours with colored water and place it on the coffee table (old wire cable spool, of course).

It was simply beautiful. "Art," if you will. That's legal, isn't it?</sarcasm>

[TBall]

decoration

[StriperSniper]

I don't understand how the government can outlaw an object and the selling of that object if it has a legal use?

It's one of those dangerous 'dual use technologies'.

[WackyKat]

Ashcroft is a puritanical fundamentalist fanatic.

In the view of people like him, the only proper activities in life are going to work, going to church (frequently), and having "family time"

He's going after potheads and pornographers because they are symbolic of everyone in society who rejects his repressive mores. They may actually be having fun and that cannot be tolerated in Ashcroft's America.

Meanwhile, millions of illegal immigrants run rampant.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

ping

[Trampled by Lambs]

"I noticed that no-one has explained the legal use of a bong, er, excuse me, WATER PIPE."

There is none. This is a fiction created by the headshops in order to stay open due to a loophole in the law. Apparently, as long as a product does not explicitly state that it is intended for illegal drug use, it is legal. Someone decided that the word "bong" meant drug use was intended while a "water pipe" could claim to be for tobacco use even though everyone concerned knows better.

[Frank_Discussion]

Oh, in that case, I'll trot out some kiddie porn, frame it, and hang it on the wall. It would just be "decoration".

I'm not equating kiddie porn and drugs, but rather saying that owning illegal-use items and re-defining them in their unused state as "decoration" is a bunch of crap.

[Wolfie]

Hookah Bars Enjoy A Blaze of Popularity

[headsonpikes]

Laugh if you will, but one more 65 year-old accessory to terrorism will soon be off the street!

I'm trying my best to feel safer.

Declare Victory and go home, Czar Walters.

[StriperSniper]

explained the legal use of a bong, er, excuse me, WATER PIPE.

Besides tobacco, there are plenty of herbs that the government hasn't outlawed(yet) that could be smoked with them.

[Frank_Discussion]

Hmmm... A realistic response. Thank you!

[Wolfie]

DIY ping.

[mountaineer]

In the view of people like him, the only proper activities in life are going to work, going to church (frequently), and having "family time"

Wow, that's a tough one: work, church and family time - or smoking dope? What to do, what to do?

[PaxMacian]

Guns are used illegally often.
Do you have the same opinion of them?

[Wolfie]

Whatever you decide, make sure you check with the government first.