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Operation Pipe Dreams
By Hempology | February 1, 2007
by Veronica Horn
Tommy Chong –actor, comedian, guitarist and director was born in Edmonton, Alberta on May 24, 1938.
We all remember Tommy Chong as the easy going, pot-loving character he has portrayed in film and TV. He is best known as half of the stoner duo, Cheech and Chong. However due to the Bush administrations determination to make an example out of this beloved icon, we now know him as a scapegoat for the American government’s movement against marijuana.
Just before the break of dawn on February 24, 2003, Tommy Chong was sleeping soundly with his wife next to him when a team of drug enforcement agents surrounded his home in the Pacific Palisades, California. Upon opening the door, Tommy and his wife found themselves besieged by twenty armed men running from room to room yelling “clear.�?
Agents seized just under a pound of grass, although marijuana was never listed on the Fed’s search warrant, an addendum was added which Tommy had to sign; marijuana for which Tommy has a legal prescription.
It took hours before Tommy was able to get any answers from the team of DEA agents invading his home and privacy at 5:30 in the morning.
So why had the Attorney General of the United States ordered the implementation of a nationwide raid utilizing hundreds of special drug enforcement agents and police, helicopters and automatic weapons?
Bongs. This dangerous and expensive nationwide raid was targeting the sale of Bongs in the United States. The cost of Operation Pipe Dream was around twelve million dollars.
Halfway across the country Chong Glass was being raided by a team of armed special agents with helicopters circling above while all the bongs and computers were confiscated.
Tommy was grateful for his fear of guns, and the resulting fact that he did not own a single weapon. He realized how badly the invaders wanted to find a gun which would have resulted in a very long jail sentence for Tommy.
Tommy Chong was told he could plead guilty to one count of “conspiring to sell and distribute pot pipes across state lines�?, or they would charge both his wife and son and they would all go down. He agreed to accept the plea.
Tommy Chong was sentenced to be incarcerated for nine months and fined $250,000 for selling water pipes over the internet. The Fed’s had captured the kingpin of pot culture, the “Pope of Pot.�?
The action known as Operation Pipe Dreams is part of a continuing effort on the part of Attorney General John Ashcroft to rid the Unites States of the ability to smoke weed with a little style.
In the last couple of days, however, he has overseen the arrest of at least 55 people whose only stated crime was the manufacture and selling of tobacco accessories.
“People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug dealers,” gloated acting DEA administrator John B. Brown III. “They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide.”
“Today’s actions send a clear and unambiguous message to those who would poison our children,” chimed in drug czar John Walters. “We will bring you to justice, and we will act decisively to protect our young children from the harm of illegal drugs.”
Advocates for drug reform weren’t buying it. “At a time when the rest of the country is worried about terrorism, this attorney general is going after people who sell pipes,” NORML founder Keith Stroup told the Associated Press. “Surely he has something better to do with his time.”
Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of Drug Policy Alliance suggested that the busts were aimed at scoring political points. Nadelmann told the AP, “It would be more logical — although I’m not suggesting this — to prosecute people who sell beer mugs, because of the poison consumed in them.”
Given the mass raids and arrests, the Bush administration’s tactic appears to have exhausted itself with little consequence. Is the United States a safer place for children as a result of Operation Pipe Dreams? I highly doubt it has made a difference upon the plight of drug addiction in America.
Topics: Articles, CD-12th, Winter 2007 | Comments Off
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