cannabisnews.com: Chong To Appeal Prison Sentence





Chong To Appeal Prison Sentence
Posted by CN Staff on September 19, 2003 at 10:40:30 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press 
Pittsburgh -- Attorneys for actor and comedian Tommy Chong are considering appealing his nine-month prison sentence for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia on the grounds that a federal judge sentenced Chong based on the character he played and not the person he is."The United States attorney made a big deal about Tommy's movies and how he portrayed drug usage and law enforcement," Stanton B. Levenson said Friday. "We didn't think it would be appropriate to consider his public persona. ... That's not him." 
Levenson said attorneys were still researching possible appeal issues, but they were concerned that U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab didn't separate Chong from the hippie stoner he portrayed in movies he made with comedy partner Cheech Marin. An appeal notice was filed Friday.At his Sept. 11 sentencing hearing, Chong, 65, said he got carried away with the fictional persona, but had quit smoking pot and wanted to use his celebrity to help people stay off drugs.While not seeking a specific sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton had 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 harsher than any of the other defendants thus far in the national drug-paraphernalia investigation that netted Chong.Levenson said a sentence of six months' house arrest, work release and six months of probation would have been suitable.Instead, Schwab sentenced Chong in the middle range of federal sentencing guidelines, which called for six months to one year in prison. The maximum possible punishment is three years in prison. Chong also was fined $20,000.Chong, of Pacific Palisades, Calif., is not appealing his conviction. He pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia and pleaded guilty on behalf of his business, Chong Glass. The business, now defunct, is not appealing. Prosecutors said the company sold thousands of bongs used to smoke marijuana. Authorities purchased paraphernalia and had it shipped to an undercover business in Beaver Falls, a city northwest of Pittsburgh.His home and business were raided in February as part of Operation Pipe Dreams, a nationwide series of raids in which at least 55 people were charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. The U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh and the Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigations.Source: Associated Press Published:  September 19, 2003Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Related Articles:Tommy Chong Will Be Free in Prisonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17351.shtmlTommy Chong Gets The Joint http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17299.shtmlWashington Cracks Down on Tommy Chonghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17294.shtml 
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Comment #21 posted by E_Johnson on September 20, 2003 at 22:39:52 PT
AlvinCool, Cheech and Chong offered no resistance
"They started getting worse as knee jerk politicians needed tough laws to stop what they started."Where were Cheech and Chong? Leading protests against the politicians to preserve what "they" started?No, they were counting their money in Beverly Hills. Their movies preached political apathy and that's what the politicians found when they went to work. A bunch of politically apathetic pot smokers, sitting ducks for whatever followed.
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Comment #20 posted by afterburner on September 20, 2003 at 11:15:53 PT:
The Governments of the World Should Be Ashamed:
They made a powerful psychiatric tool illegal in 1967, the two years before Easy Rider was released: LSD. The promise of healing from alcoholism, criminal recidivism, and many psychological traumas was crushed with the fearful and misguided abolition of all things psychedelic, even the mild "laughing grass." Simultaneously the military-industrial complex seized the mass media through acquisition, not just the press, but even more important the studios and networks of the entertainment industry, that powerful subliminal persuader. Years of brainwashing followed disguised as simple entertainment: ever wonder why there are so many cop shows? Until the Internet, that vast decentralized voice of the people, the truth was suppressed. It is surprising that we have come as far as we have in overturning the propaganda of the last eighty years. It wasn't easy. It took uncounted hours of hard work. Fight on. The battle is not yet won.ego transcendence follows ego destruction, we haven't been so close since the War on Some Plants began, don't let down your guard.
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Comment #19 posted by AlvinCool on September 20, 2003 at 08:40:11 PT
Funny I was there too
Funny I was there too Johnson. And you are correct that when Cheech and Chong got really famous, the laws started getting worse, not better. They started getting worse as knee jerk politicians needed tough laws to stop what they started. Hmnnn... looks like knee jerk reactions for politicians and activists alike have not stopped. When that happens I guess we can move forward.
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Comment #18 posted by E_Johnson on September 19, 2003 at 21:44:59 PT
What is freedom?
The lesson in Easy Rider is that if you get your freedom by sneaking drugs over the border so you can make a pile of money and live easy -- then you are not free and you are not going to free anyone else.The "freedom" in Cheech and Chong is just the illusionary freedom that comes with being able to fool dumb cops and sneak drugs over the border and live easy.That isn't freedom and it never made anyone free and we have the proof of that now with Chong's own sentence.It's the lesson of Easy Rider, we are living it today.
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Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on September 19, 2003 at 21:38:51 PT
Let's make a chart 
Let's make a chart comparing Cheech and Chong in the seventies and eighties and the severity of the war on pot in the seventies and eighties.When they were just starting to get famous, the laws were getting less harsh. But when they got really famous, the laws started getting worse, not better.The freedom people had to talk about pot was greater in the seventies than in the eighties.Up in Smoke was released in 1978, Reagan was elected in 1980 and urine testing started in 1981.
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Comment #16 posted by E_Johnson on September 19, 2003 at 21:34:51 PT
AlvinCool, this is just pure baloney
"Without people like Cheech and Chong we wouldn't have enjoyed the freedom to talk and joke about marijuana in the 70's and 80's."What version of world history are YOU talking about?Do you live on some planet where people can only do and say thing things that rich celebrities do or say?REAL PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT MARIJUANA ALL THE TIME in the seventies and eighties.They didn't need Cheech and Chong to do it. Trust me, I was there.Freedom belongs to everyone, not just the few celebrities that find a way to cash in on it.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on September 19, 2003 at 19:26:51 PT
AlvinCool
That was really good! Thanks!
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Comment #14 posted by AlvinCool on September 19, 2003 at 19:18:15 PT
No Problemo GCW
Let me inject some Chong humor here. He's done his 9 months and is ready to travel with a DARE officer to serve his probation telling people drugs are bad.Chong:  "Yeah man, I mean marijuana is bad. I got some bad marijuana once it smelled like moldy. Never buy moldy pot!"Dare officer: "What Mr Chong is trying to say is that all marijuana is bad for you."Chong: "Uh yeah marijuana is bad. I got some really bad marijuana from time to time and when I went back to my dealer he was out. I was bumming."Dare Officer: "What Mr Chong is trying to say is that all marijuana is bad for you."Chong: "Yeah marijuana can lead to bad situations."Dare Officer: "Now we are getting somewhere! Tell everyone about your bad experiences with marijuana!"Chong: "Well one time my dog ate my stash and I had to follow him around for three days with a pooper scooper"Dare Officer: "Mr Chong can't tell reality from his movies due to his brain being addled."Chong: "Actually that was written in the movie from personal experience man. I mean lighten up! Shouldn't people know that the worst thing about using marijuana is that some crooked cop busts you and you go to jail? I'd highly suggest that people NOT be caught by the police. That's good advice isn't it officer??"
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on September 19, 2003 at 18:45:10 PT
Tommy Chong
I've said before that I thought the Cheech and Chong movies were funny but I loved Tommy Chong as Leo on That 70s Show. I hope he comes back this season. I wish him the best.
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Comment #12 posted by The GCW on September 19, 2003 at 18:28:29 PT
AlvinCool
I think You are right. Tommy Chong, as an old man, just didn't want to spend the last years of his life in a federal prison. Frankly I don't blame him in the least.I don't either.I am just a bit selfish, here. A bit incensed. Justifiably so, but a bit too harsh.Cheech and Chong did do it, right.
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Comment #11 posted by AlvinCool on September 19, 2003 at 17:47:13 PT
You people should be ashamed
Without people like Cheech and Chong we wouldn't have enjoyed the freedom to talk and joke about marijuana in the 70's and 80's. While they were making albums and movies about the counter culture they were constantly pushing the envelope. Chong is now 65 years old. Can any of you understand what OLD MAN means??? The government is already seething about Rosenthal getting away from them. They could have sentenced him for 5 to 10 years and been within "federal guidelines". Chong wasn't trying to cop out, he just didn't want to spend the last years of his life in a federal prison. Frankly I don't blame him in the least.And while the readers of this are fuming and chomping at the bit to rip me to pieces, think about this. Whatever Chong would tell people about how they shouldn't use drugs would probably sound and come across like "The biggest thing is, look at what happened to me so don't get caught!" You people have Chong all wrong. It is amazing to see how quick many of you are to critize someone who has said and done things for YOUR cause that you would never ever do or say, in the general PUBLIC.Many of you should be ashamed
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on September 19, 2003 at 16:50:07 PT
Welcome Back The GCW
I wondered if you were ok. Good to see you!
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on September 19, 2003 at 16:31:47 PT
Dubious Tommy
Tommy is pedaling backwards, for Us.Right after My computer crashed (why I haven't been around the last week) I read His statements in the paper and am not impressed.If Tommy wants to help kids stay off drugs or even to help kids stay away from using cannabis, OK, BUT if He wants to work for the Feds. et al. and claim cannabis is bad, then I claim Tommy is bad!You can not have it both ways, friend.Which is it, Tommy?
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on September 19, 2003 at 15:48:38 PT
Why Was Tommy Chong's Sentence Worse?
OAKLAND: Head Shop SentencingFriday, September 19, 2003The owner of a head shop in Oakland has been sentenced in federal court to two years of probation, including three months of home detention, for selling drug paraphernalia.Richard Kevin Jaussen, 49, operator of Tela Ropa, must also forfeit all of the marijuana pipes, bongs, rolling papers and other items seized by federal agents during a search Feb. 24. Jaussen was among 55 people prosecuted nationwide as part of Operation Pipe Dreams, a crackdown on head shops and paraphernalia distributors that also snared actor Tommy Chong.Jaussen received leniency because he cooperated with federal agents in their investigation from 2000 through this year and provided information about two major paraphernalia suppliers. Federal prosecutors said his cooperation led to other pleas and "significantly strengthened" the government's case.http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_city/2030919citybriefsp9.asp
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Comment #7 posted by goneposthole on September 19, 2003 at 13:26:21 PT
mutineer Chong
Jumps ship to avoid being keelhauled. Captain Ashblye is going to flog his back and backside; whoop his butt bad with all of the whoopass the law has. 'Yassir Mr. Ashcroft, yassir Massa Ashcroft, anything you say Massa Ashcroft.'Just has to make it look like he is submitting to all of the bs. He can make it look like he's kissing butt, but tacitly telling everybody what they can do. It's not hard to do.been done a long time by all peoples.
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Comment #6 posted by phil_debowl on September 19, 2003 at 12:37:52 PT
exactly
I don't think tommy will be any kind of leader of any kind of movement. He seems to be worried about covering his own ass and kissing the judges, than inspiring change, unfortunatly.It's really upsetting to see an icon (positive or negative, or just funny, depending on how you look at it), like him, denying everything he is, rather than fighting.
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Comment #5 posted by WolfgangWylde on September 19, 2003 at 12:17:06 PT
Any alternative....
...sentence is likely to include Tommy Chong bending over and publicly supporting the governments war on us. 
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on September 19, 2003 at 11:41:40 PT
His lawyer seems kinda corrupt
They are not persecuting him because they think he is the person he portrays in his acting.They are persecuting him because of the movies and TV shows he has made.Karen Houghton said it quite clearly. His films are still available. That is the issue at hand, that is what matters for her.They are demaning prison time because his films are still available.Chong must have a really slimey shyster lawyer if he can't even pronounce the words "constitutionally protected".
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Comment #3 posted by Mike on September 19, 2003 at 10:58:39 PT
Yes, but...
While it is a good thing *if they appeal* that the issue will be addressed of his movies being used during sentencing, what will be the alternative should he win his appeal? I guess what bothers me here is that Tommy Chong is being so vocal about wanting to basically go on tour telling people that "pot is bad." And that he was wrong, and the government is right. I don't know... Will have to see how this develops.. Or doesn't...
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on September 19, 2003 at 10:50:00 PT
Fighting back!
This is good news. The troops will be behind him if he is willing to lead.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 19, 2003 at 10:41:25 PT
Good News
Go for it!
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