DUST OFF THE BONG

Tommy Chong, the comedian and actor of Cheech and Chong fame, will be
the keynote speaker for the Washington-based National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' 2006 national conference, which
begins tomorrow in San Francisco.

"I guess you could say it's Chong sans bong," says NORML media guru
Nicholas Thimmesch II, one-time communications director to former
Rep. Steve Largent, Oklahoma Republican, and son of the late Los
Angeles Times Syndicate columnist Nick Thimmesch.

This columnist once asked Mr. Thimmesch, who began his career in the
Reagan White House -- and later served on the 1992 Bush-Quayle
campaign, ditto on the 1996 Dole-Kemp campaign, and huddled with
former drug czar and conservative moralist Bill Bennett at Empower
America -- what would Ronald Reagan say if he knew he was peddling
marijuana decriminalization?

He replied: "I think the Gipper was always for people following their
hearts and voting with their feet, and by coming to NORML, I'm
adhering to the Reagan dictum of voting with my feet.

"More than anything, I hope to open dialogue between traditional
conservatives and the drug-reform movement in this country," Mr.
Thimmesch explained, adding he could "no longer idly sit on the
sidelines" while the 30-plus-year "so-called 'war on drugs' continued
to devastate American freedoms and constitutionally guaranteed rights."

Back to Mr. Chong, who was busted by federal authorities in 2003 as
part of a nationwide drug-paraphernalia sting and served nine months
in prison. He and other members of his family were among 55 persons
indicted by Uncle Sam -- a sting operation known as Operation Pipe
Dreams -- for selling glass pipes over the Internet.

Mr. Thimmesch suggests Mr. Chong was singled out by the federal
government -- he was the only one who served prison time -- because
of his high profile as a cultural icon. His address will be on the
need to reform America's laws on the use and possession of marijuana.