Here and There

As a fervent non-smoker of pot, I often find myself amused at pot humor. I laughed my way all throughout Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, for example.

So it went the other night when I watched A/K/A Tommy Chong, a documentary about how John Ashcroft’s Justice Department busted Tommy Chong (of Cheech and Chong fame) for, you guessed it, aiding and abetting terrorism by selling bongs to Pennsylvania.

The film was playing as part of San Francisco Indiefest 2006.

It tells the story of how this Americon idol, beloved by so many of the 20-and-older set, as well as anyone with a penchant for smoking weed, was running a bong company, peacefully. The company, whose website chongglass.com vanished following his arrest, operated legally for many years, but in 2003 was suckered into a trap set by the DEA.

The prosecuting attorney in charge of Operation Pipe Dream, a very Katherine Harris-esque figure named Mary Beth Buchanan, conned Chong into serving time by threatening to go after his wife and son, who also worked at the company.

Director Josh Gilbert did a great job telling the story of what happened, and exposing the government’s dragnet to be just that: of the 55 indictments associated with Operation Pipe Dream, Chong got the stiffest sentence, despite having no prior convictions.

The film’s only flaw worth mentioning was a lack of better coverage of Chong post-prison. The formerly happy-go-lucky, hippy-dippy perma-stoned Chong came out politicized. Having never voted before, getting people registered and to the polls is one of his causes, as is telling his story.

“It could happen to anyone…man.”

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