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Chong Says He Was Targeted For His Hippie Persona
Pubdate: Thu, 08 Sep 2005
Source: CTV (Canada Web)
Copyright: 2005 CTV Inc.
Website: http://www.ctv.ca/
CHONG SAYS HE WAS TARGETED FOR HIS HIPPIE PERSONA
Edmonton-born Tommy Chong rose to fame in the 1970s as one half of the
dope-smoking comedy duo Cheech and Chong.
In 2003, Chong was charged in the United States with conspiring to sell drug
paraphernalia and sentenced to prison, what he now calls an assault on his
civil liberties.
The 67-year-old claims it was his hippie persona as an actor, which led to
his crucifixion by an over-zealous U.S. government looking for a scapegoat.
Chong's arrest and nine-month prison stint is now the focus of a documentary
titled a/k/a Tommy Chong, which debuts at the Toronto International Film
Festival this week.
Directed by Josh Gilbert, it asks tough questions about the judicial
priorities of the U.S. government in its relentless crusade against
marijuana and its users.
According to the documentary's website, Chong was "crucified" for this
"stoner" persona that he embodied on screen.
Born in Edmonton, Chong teamed up with Cheech Marin in Vancouver, where they
honed their comedic personas as perpetually stoned hippies in
improvisational theatre. Their brand of humour won them many fans from the
drug counterculture.
In early 2003, Chong was charged for selling glass water pipes, also known
as bongs, and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet.
He pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia on behalf of Nice
Dreams Enterprises, which did business under the name Chong Glass.
His plea came after federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents bought
the paraphernalia and had the items shipped to an undercover business in
Beaver Falls, northwest of Pittsburgh.
Agents also confiscated "thousands of marijuana bongs and pipes" in a raid
of the Gardena, Calif., business.
At the Taft Correctional Facility in California, Chong was careful to dance
a fine line as he tried to stay out of trouble.
"The thing is, I've been around guys that have been in jail before," he
said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM, dressed in a button-down blue shirt, his
beard and moustache neatly trimmed.
"So I knew the trick about when you're in jail, you got to act crazy and
then people will leave you alone," he said.
Chong's plan of attack? To keep dangerous prisoners at bay by performing
what he calls the "tango walk" -- a cross between a saunter and the ballroom
dance.
His plan appeared to pay off.
"I was doing a tango walk ... and all the bikers were laughing at me one day
.. and one of the bikers goes 'Hey, Chong, I'll dance with you,'" he said.
"So I walked over and started dancing with him."
After he was released from prison, Chong said he pleaded guilty to keep his
son Paris from going to jail.
"It was really hard to fight the case because my face was on all the bongs.
It was very hard to say it wasn't me. It was called Chong Bongs," he said.
Chong was the only person of the 55 arrested during the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipe Dreams" to serve time in
prison.
In the sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Chong's movies as
"glamorizing the illegal use and distribution of marijuana and trivializing
law-enforcement efforts to combat drug use."
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