a/k/a Tommy Chong
Frank151 had the opportunity to talk with director Josh Gilbert about the controversy surrounding Tommy Chong’s questionable federal indictment, along with Gilbert’s documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong that was seized by federal agents without any explanation. The counter-culture icon was sentenced to prison time after he sold glass bongs across state lines, and what follows illustrates the corruption of the U.S. Judicial System and the precarious foundation of the First Amendment.
Frank151: Word on the street says that Tommy Chong was caught not only selling bongs, but giving pot as a gift to go with it. Is there any truth behind that rumor?
Josh Gilbert: I’m amazed actually that that’s a rumor, because why would he give his pot away?
F151: (Laughs) That’s a valid response…
JG: That’s a riot. There’s a scene actually in a movie that Tommy had a cameo in, and it was a stoner movie that Snoop Dogg was in too. It’s called The Wash, and I think there’s a thing in there where you buy bongs but what you’re really doing is buying pot. So maybe that’s the genesis of that apocryphal rumor.
F151: What was your view on the fairness of the court’s decision to give Tommy Chong jail time?
JG: Well it was ridiculous to begin with. It didn’t make sense that they were prosecuting him. It didn’t make sense that they would single him out. It didn’t make sense that they put as much money as they did into initiating a prosecution three-thousand miles away so that a celebrity and someone who represents the counter culture can do the “perp” walk, and so that the industry can seem that they’re potentially in the sights of the government for showing water pipes. It seems as though the government should have better things to do. And so from the very beginning, I kind of look at it like, ‘what are they thinking in the first place?’
F151: What initially motivated you to shed light on this issue?
JG: Tommy and I were old friends from way back, from when I graduated film school in ‘89. I was working at a film company where he was making this film, and we became buddies, and then we ended up writing together. I saw the CNN report from New York and I called him and asked if it had actually happened, and he said it had. So when I was out in LA I went to visit him and he wanted to talk about this project, and by that point his house had already been raided and he had even been indicted—formal federal charges—for committing a crime that’s legal in California (business permits, paying taxes) and completely sanctified by the state. And then the federal government comes in from the western district of Pennsylvania imposing Christian-right morality on sunny Southern California where it’s legal to do in the first place, and kicking them in the nuts with their puritanical boots under the auspices of making America a better and safer place, post-911…the hypocrisy is beyond.
F151: What is your opinion on the involvement of Tommy Chong’s son in the sale of glass pipes, and what part did he play? We heard that Tommy was trying to protect his son.
JG: Nice Dreams is the glass company Tommy and his son run. Paris [the son] ran the day-to-day operations and was incrementally expanding the Chong brand into the audience he represents. He probably shouldn’t have allowed what happened to happen, hindsight is 20-20, but he could’ve prevented it from happening if he had asserted himself.
F151: Why wasn’t Paris indicted with federal charges?
JG: Well that’s one of the things that indicate it was a corrupt and unnecessary prosecution. You know, those sorts of things come to light, and what they reflect is that the government wanted Tommy to do the “perp” walk and that was all they were interested in. They leveraged his family against him, and that’s a common negotiating tactic to get someone to comply. The [feds] kept saying if you talk about it, we’ll indict your wife and your son, and if you don’t take the deal we’ll indict your wife and your son too.
F151: What was the reason given to you for the seizure of your DVD films?
JG: There was no reason given actually. And as it turns out the government is not obligated to give you a reason if it’s an “on-going” investigation, which this was and is, and so for that reason it doesn’t have to say what’s going on. But then I called Tommy’s Federal defense attorney in Pittsburgh, which is in the Western District of Pennsylvania where this prosecution was initiated out of (there’s a federal presence there). And that’s where this Federal prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan operates out of and she operates with this Christian right agenda, and a very partisan, pro-Republican agenda, which is her turf. And there’s a guy named, whose name is Stan Levinson, that Tommy’s LA lawyers employed who is the go-to-guy on the ground in Pittsburgh. He knows what this woman and her offices are up to and what her thinking is because he’s in direct contact with them all the time. They know each other’s limits and there’s an open dialogue. And I called him right away and asked him what was going on and he basically outlined it for me and told me where its precedents derive from. But they’re basically employing a tax law to indict the detox product and drug-test beating industry. They’re applying it to that industry and trying to take them out, or just harass them. And the DVD was part of that. Do you follow?
F151: Yeah, but did Federal agents just come to a warehouse and raid the place? Can you describe the scene?
JG: It wasn’t my house. It was actually my backer’s warehouse in Kentucky where he sells these detox products. There’s this industry and it’s run by GlaxoSmithKline, a six-billion-dollar industry, and they promote legislation through PACs (Political Action Committees) and lobbies in the belt way, and they manage to make it profitable for employers to drug test in order to get breaks on insurance quotes and premiums. So they test their employees and GSK supplies them with these tests. And then this industry grows up to counter it, and that’s like an 80-million-dollar industry, and there’s like eight companies within that group that lead the entire market. My investor is one of those eight. And the primary target is a prosthetic penis called the Whizzinator. It comes in five skin tones, from Caucasian to African American. They’re all three and a half inches long. And they urinate synthetic urine. I shit you not (laughs). It’s funny. That was their primary target. Stan Levinson is the lawyer for the prosthetic penis now. And he was Tommy’s lawyer for the bong case.
F151: Is there a prosthetic penis lobby? (laughing)
JG: I think there probably potentially could be. We could launch it. Think of the t-shirt sales. The name of my backer’s company is Urine luck. I was in this dispute that prevented the film from getting out there, I turned down this fairly big distribution deal and I ended up in litigation. I found this investor to come and bail me out and buy the rights and the name of his company is Urineluck. He sells synthetic piss.
F151: What do you think the implications are of a drug bust on someone such as Tommy Chong who’s a cultural icon renown for smoking pot?
JG: I think it’s just a really positive advertisement for weed. I’m sure there was a big spike in pot sales, after the dust settled. More people than ever were smoking pot. I mean isn’t that what it’s about that? Boosting sales? (laughs) No such thing as bad publicity.
F151: Why do you think Tommy Chong was the only person sentenced to jail while there were 55 others who were indicted and only two who were sentenced to house arrest?
JG: Because they were targeting him. It was a witch-hunt. That’s the only plausible reason. He had no priors. It was a vindictive prosecution and a celebrity prosecution that put the prosecutor in the limelight. It’s that old story. He never got busted for pot. He got caught going across the border, I think he had a joint in his luggage, but it was the Canadians that stupidly nailed him. Other than that he can’t travel without someone giving him an OZ…here buddy, here’s a key…love you man. He gets so much pot given to him.
F151: Do you want to touch on some of your other projects and what we can expect to see from you in the future?
JG: I’m trying to figure out independent film distribution for myself and for other people and their projects. And that’s a fairly significant occupation. It takes a lot of work to close deals and how best to sell it. I’m also adapting a book into a screenplay, non-fiction. And I’m working on a documentary about a special needs high school and how these special needs kids become a lens to see the entire educational system failing.
Chong reported to prison October 8, 2004 and was released 9 months later in July.
This story is a scary lens into a long term, right-wing conspiracy to stack the courts and the judicial system with Republican zealots, who will determine the Rule of Law in the United States for many years to come. Bush may be out of office in January, 2009, but how long will his judicial appointees out-live his horror-filled term in the Oval Office? It will take a generation to weed these people out. Who’s generation will it be?
For more information on Josh Gilbert’s documentary A/K/A Tommy Chong check out http://www.akatommychong.com
