Pubdate: Wed, 03 Dec 2003
Source: Vancouver Magazine (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Vancouver Magazine
Contact:  http://www.vanmag.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3171

UH-OH. OUR AMBASSADOR'S IN JAIL.

Being a city and not (yet) a city-state, Vancouver doesn't officially send 
ambassadors to foreign lands. Unofficially though, we have lots-former 
Vancouverites who move to other places and thus represent our burg to the 
wider world. Michael J. Fox comes to mind, but don't forget another 
Vancouver gift to the movies: Tommy Chong. The Canadian half of the Cheech 
& Chong comedy team may have grown up in Calgary, but his professional 
career started here-and even included a stint with Motown recording artists 
Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. Not to mention the fact that his trademark 
stoner humour is a sales pitch for Vancouver's number one home-grown 
industry. When he and Cheech Marin began starring in a series of 
dope-addled films, Chong became a rare example of Vancouver going to 
Hollywood instead of the other way around. Tommy Chong: Vancouver's 
ambassador to California.

So I guess it's not a good sign when they send your ambassador to the 
penitentiary. Last October, Chong began a nine-month sentence in 
California's Corcoran federal institution.

Admittedly Cheech & Chong movies such as Up in Smoke and The Corsican 
Brothers will never be considered cinematic classics. But if they put you 
in jail for that, Sylvester Stallone would already be on Death Row. No, 
Chong's crime was something much deadlier in the eyes of American 
authorities-the 66-year-old comedian was convicted of selling glass pipes 
on the Internet. All across California, children will be able to sleep 
safely tonight.

Obviously there's no love lost between Hollywood North and Governor 
Arnold's California. But the truth is, Tommy Chong's fate shines a real 
light on at least one key aspect of our relationship to the United 
States-our respective attitudes to illegal drugs.

Philosophically the international border is getting wider and wider. 
President Bush's drug czar John Walters recently attacked Canada for "going 
the wrong way" on drug policy. To say the least, our approaches differ. 
While Vancouver police turn a blind eye to simple pot possession, and IV 
drug users make use of a safe injection site near Main and Hastings, the 
Americans demonstrate their idea of proper drug policy: sentencing senior 
citizens to hard time for selling bongs. Apparently, in the Bush era you 
don't even have to carry pot to get busted. All you need are weapons of 
grass consumption.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman