Tommy Chong and his fan base have started a petition to request he be granted a full Presidential Pardon.
The petition will be delivered to the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
The website, change.org, is hosting the petition, which firstly states that:
“We believe this to be fair as first the nature of the offense was neither violent nor the cause of any harm to any person or place.”
Chong, a 78-year-old Canadian-American is an actor, director, writer, musician, and activist. He is best known for his hit comedy act Cheech & Chong, which he co-stars in with Cheech Marin.
He also portrayed the role of Leo, on Fox’s comedy That 70s Show.
Why Was Tommy Chong Incarcerated?
In 2003, Chong was caught up in the American investigations, Operation Pipe Dreams, and Operation Headhunter, which sought to trace drug traffic and users through businesses selling drug paraphernalia.
He served a nine-month sentence at Taft Correctional Institution where his cellmate was “The Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Chong describes his time in prison as;
“I was in a real nice jail, I was in, like, a Bernie Madoff jail. I really enjoyed it. It was like a religious retreat for me. I could have fought it, and I could have probably won, but then they would have charged my son and my wife.”
https://twitter.com/tommychong/status/768526330430226432
The petition describes Chong’s imprisonment in relation to the evolution of marijuana laws since the Bush Administration;
“…we feel this [imprisonment] was done to make an example of Tommy Chong during a period when unfettered persecution took place against those who sought to give adults the choice of whether they wanted to use Cannabis products on a voluntary basis either for medical purposes or recreationally which is now the law in many States and is permissible under the law in other States.”
Tommy Chong’s Politics
Earlier this year, Chong came out in favor of Bernie Sanders. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he discusses his support for the Democratic Party:
“I’ll tell you, if Bernie is not around, I’ll vote for Hillary. I’ll vote for any Democrat. But between Hillary and Bernie, Bernie wins with me.”
Bernie Sanders was the only presidential candidate to explicitly voice his policies on full decriminalization of marijuana. On Sander’s website, the section on drug policy opens with the argument that the United States’s “war on drugs” is a failure, then goes on to advocate treatment over punishment for drug abusers.
Most importantly for Chong, Bernie supports the right of states to opt for full legalization. Chong currently resides in California, which will vote for full legalization this November.
https://twitter.com/tommychong/status/768596603741495297
At the time of this writing, the petition has 1,985 supporters.
Watch this hilarious video of Tommy Chong discussing his politics, and calling out Donald Trump’s wall!
Image via Twitter.
