On the morning of February 24, 2003, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched a sting called Operation Pipe Dreams and forced themselves through the door of Tommy's California home, with automatic weapons drawn. As a result of the raid on his home; the simultaneous ransacking of his son's company, Chong Glass; and the Bush administration's determination to make an example out of the "Pope of Pot;" he was sentenced to nine months in prison because his company shipped bongs to a head shop in Pennsylvania that was a front for the DEA.

Well . . . now it's Tommy Chong's turn to fight back and tell his side of the story.

Beginning with Tommy's experiences growing up in Canada in the forties and fifties as a mixed-race kid and going on to become a comedy legend, The I Chong is at once a memoir, a spiritual exploration of his time in prison, and a political indictment of the eroding civil liberties in post-9/11 American society. He tells the unbelievable story of his trip down the rabbit hole of America's war on drugs and of his experiences in the federal prison system, and he offers up timely observations on combating the conservative political forces at work in this country. Introspective, inspiring, and incendiary, The I Chong is a unique chronicle of one man's life and how his humorous and spiritual point of view saved him during his wrongful incarceration at the hands of an administration without boundaries.

CONTENTS

ONE: Ch'ien / The Creative

Ch'ien / Ch'ien

TWO: Shih / The Army

K'un / K'an

THREE: Po / Splitting Apart

Kên / K'un

FOUR: K'an / The Abysmal (Water)

K'an / K'an

FIVE: Ting / The Caldron

Li / Sun

SIX: Chên / The Arousing (Shock, Thunder)

Chên / Chên

SEVEN: Chieh / Limitation

K'an / Tui

EIGHT: Chûn / Difficulty at the Beginning

K'an / Chên

NINE: Sung / Conflict

Ch'ien / K'an

TEN: Pi / Holding Together (Union)

K'an / K'un

ELEVEN: P'i / Standstill (Stagnation)

Ch'ien / K'un

TWELVE: Ku / Work On What Has Been Spoiled

Kên / Sun

THIRTEEN: Kuan / Contemplation (View)

Sun / K'un

FOURTEEN: Fu / Return (The Turning Point)

K'un / Chên

FIFTEEN: Ta Ch'u / The Taming Power of the Great

Kên / Ch'ien

SIXTEEN: Li / The Clinging, Fire

Li / Li

SEVENTEEN: Ch'ien / Modesty

K'un / Kên

EIGHTEEN: Shih ho / Biting Through

Li / Chên

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS