blondie0420

This is what happened, according to the documentary "A/k/a Tommy Chong":

"Buyers" from PA repeatedly called trying to order bongs from Chong's Bongs.

Chong's Bongs repeatedly told the "buyers" from PA that they would not ship to their state.

The "buyers" called them again and again for months. Chong's Bongs refused for months and months.

The "buyers" showed up at the factory, ordered a whole bunch of bongs, including many that weren't in stock, paid for them, and said they would come back to pick them up.

Months went by and the "buyers" never returned to collect the merchandise they had already paid for.

The bongs are sitting in boxes taking up space in the factory, delaying Chong's Bongs from filling other orders in a timely manner because these "buyers" ordered boxes and boxes worth of bongs - not just one or two, but many boxes that took up a lot of space in a factory that was not large enough to accomodate all of these boxes lying around for this amount of time.

The "buyers" say they cannot/will not come back to get them. What to do?

Chong's Bongs reluctantly ships the bongs to PA.



Chong's Bongs never wanted to ship these bongs to PA. They never made a rush decision to try to do it thinking they could make some quick money. They had boxes and boxes of bongs sitting in their factory, taking up space, making it hard for them to store orders that are actually getting shipped.

Buzz, you make it sound like they were trying to be greedy lawbreakers from the outset. They weren't. From the very beginning, they insisted that they would not ship to PA and these people repeatedly asked them to do so. They finally showed up at the factory and bought stuff that wasn't in stock (!!) and said they'd come back for it. Then they leave town. What the fuck is Chong's Bongs supposed to do?

This situation practically defines entrapment. Law enforcement induced Chong's Bongs to break a law that they were otherwise extremely unlikely to break. They knew which states they couldn't ship to and they refused to ship to them. They were avoiding at all costs having to ship these bongs to PA, but they couldn't hold onto them forever. The only reason Tommy Chong didn't bring that up as a defense is because the fucking feds were telling him that they were going to prosecute his family unless he took a deal. He's an honorable guy, so he took the deal rather than letting his son's life get ruined.

Honestly Buzzby, I can't believe you'd be so quick to judge Tommy Chong in that light. He wasn't even involved with the whole operation, he was set up from the very beginning because of his reputation from being part of "Cheech & Chong." Harry Anslinger did the same thing, he'd bust the celebrities to make an example out of them.

Mary Ann Buchanan ADMITTED in her briefs that "Up in Smoke" and Tommy Chong's other films/comedy routines were part of the reason she went after him. She didn't like his image, he's a well-known guy who likes to poke fun at LEOs in his films and she thought he was sending kids a bad message. She even went so far as to claim that kids would be watching his films for many years to come and that his negative influence would continue on into perpetuity. She saw a chance to get her name in the headlines next to Tommy Chong's and she took it and sat on her sour grapes in court.

Tommy Chong did nothing wrong and his business was set up by the Dept. of Homeland Security (according to the film). These people are supposed to be out catching terrorists! Chong's Bongs might as well have been selling pot-leaf shaped vases, Mary Ann Buchanan would have still gone after him and pinned him down with whatever charges she could dream up.

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Buzzby

Tommy Chong had nothing to do with the decision to ship bongs to a head shop in Pennsylvania, which is the "crime" for which he spent nine months in a federal prison. His face was on the bongs, but he had nothing to do with the everyday operations of Chong's Bongs.

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wiggle

it is also note worth that out of all the 55 manufactures/sellers he was the one that got the most time in jail.

nina

I'm not trying to cause any problems here, but I do have an issue with the above text....
Since when was/has Tommy Chong ever been known as a 'criminal'??? That is exactly WHY we have problems on our hands with all this Marijuana bull......Politicians treat Marijuana users, AND sellers of any type of Paraphernalia and/or Marijuana as 'criminals' and it needs to stop. Tommy Chong, and Marc Emery and his team for that matter are NOT CRIMINALS. People like that are trying to do what's right, and help make the 'Marijuana World' easier for ALL of us. We should be helping them, not labeling them and saying how horrible they were BECAUSE they tried to stick to their values. Idk, just my personal opinion.

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Who knows, Marijuana could someday save the world from infectious and terminal diseases across the board.

marcusJay

I see what the feds did though. They went fishing and Tommy Chong took the bait. The feds then reeled him in and then he ends up falling on the mercy of the court. At any time along this route, Tommy Chong could have said "We're not doing this." The moment he put the stuff on the Fedex truck was the moment he screwed himself and thats the bottom line. Yes, there were people there to jump on him AFTER he was caught but the only person who initially fucked Tommy Chong was Tommy Chong.
I feel bad for him because of his punishment but I don't feel bad for him getting caught.
Whats that old saying that you hear a lot? Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Buzzby

Actually, Tommy's son Paris took the bait. Tommy was not involved in the day-to-day operation of Chong's Bongs. Both Paris and his mother were and were in a position to be prosecuted. The federal prosecutor offered Tommy a deal to get his wife and son off the hook. He took it to keep his wife and son from going to jail. That's the only reason he went to jail.

Buzzby

Since he was convicted of a federal felony. A criminal is simply a person who has committed a crime. It's not a moral judgment. Most of my friends are criminals: they all use marijuana. I don't like the law under which Tommy Chong was convicted, but that doesn't change his status as a criminal.