01x02 - High Times

[bunniefuu]

[♪ upbeat theme music playing]

[urine splashing]

[reporter]
On Tuesday, 78-year-old Dana Beal,

an activist involved
in marijuana legalization efforts

for more than five decades,

made a court appearance in Gooding County.

[raspy vocalizing]

He was arrested
on Interstate 84 in January

after a traffic stop uncovered

approximately 56 pounds of raw marijuana.

[judge] Alright then, Mr. Beal,
how do you plead

to count one felony possession

of a controlled substance
with the intent to deliver?

Uh, guilty.

[judge] And what did you do
that makes you guilty of that charge?

Um...

I was telling somebody where to go.

[lawyer]
You were intending...

[judge]
The maximum penalty for that

is five years in the state penitentiary

and a $15,000 fine.

Count two charges you with
a felony possession of marijuana.

[groaning]

[Dana Beal] I want to tell you a story
about my friend Tom

before I have to go to jail.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

When Tom created High Times Magazine,
it changed everything.

[speaker 1] High Times Magazine...

[speaker 2] High Times,
the most dangerous magazine...

High Times was founded in 1974
by Tom Forçade.

[Dana] He was a cowboy hippie,
a First Amendment freedom fighter.

[speaker 3]
He turned a forbidden plant

into a cultural revolution.

[speaker 4]
He put his life on the line.

[speaker 5] We were trying
to decode what had happened.

[Dana]
The plane was overloaded.

The government declared w*r
on marijuana.

[speaker 6]
They were watching him.

[Dana]
Tom declared w*r right back.

♪♪

Remember, it's 50 years ago.

[laughing] It's 50 years ago.

[paper rustling]

-[lighter clicking]
-[joint sizzling]

I am credited

with inventing the smoke-in.

[exhaling slowly]

[Tom]
Hey, bring that free player right here!

[Dana] But Tom showed up
and he really wanted to meet me.

We were definitely kindred spirits.

We believed weed could change the world.

♪ America ♪

[Billy Graham]
Today, I call upon all Americans

to recommit to the ideals and dreams

for which our country was founded.

[Dana] One of the first things we did
was to have a big smoke-in

that disrupted Nixon's Honor America Day.

[Billy] ...we must work to fulfill.

[Dana] We had, like, put the joints
in little cigarette packages,

and when we opened that up,
all of a sudden,

we had 200 people.

A crowd just materialized.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

And then, somebody said
they're arresting people

down by the reflecting pool.

That led to us questioning McGovern

at the Democratic Convention.

[reporter]
Uh, they're shouting now "marijuana."

There was a question.

I'm not prepared to advocate
the complete legalization of marijuana.

[Bo Sacks] Tom used marijuana as a tool.

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

Just a demonstration
of the power of the people.

[people chanting and shouting]

That was a powerful statement.

We're gonna try to cool people out
to get people to--

despite the way
they're starting out the convention,

we're gonna try to keep
the convention nonviolent

as we always have, no matter what
kind of provocation they start.

[g*nsh*t]

[Gabrielle Schang] The Underground
Press Syndicate was led by Tom.

[narrator] Turned out for the radical
youth culture in this country.

It is their alternative to the mass media
they find so threatening.

[Gabrielle] He created the directory
to connect the papers

from around the country...

so we could share stories...

and spread our ideas,
like legalizing marijuana.

The Syndicate turned local dissent
into a national network of resistance.

[reporter]
Portions of the underground press

have become so successful

that they threaten to become
mass media of their own.

[A. Craig Copetas]
Tom's whole goal was to have

the underground press be legitimized.

But he had never been able
to secure those press credentials.

-[Dana] Because of the radical content...
-[glass shattering]

...the government started harassing
the underground papers.

So, Tom went to Washington
to defend the underground press.

[reporter] A representative
of the underground press

appeared in front
of the U.S. Commission on obscenity.

His statement read...

[Aron Kaye] We are the revolution.

These papers are our lives,

and nobody shall snatch our lives

with your f*cking laws.

[reporter] The angry dissenter
got out of his chair

and approached the commissioner.

[Aron] f*ck censorship!

-[pie splatting]
-[people laughing]

[camera clicking]

[laughing]

[typewriter clacking]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[whirring]

[Dana] After the pieing incident,
Tom started getting surveilled.

The underground press went from 400 papers
down to just 15.

[Dana] Hey, Sharif!

It's Dana.

I gotta know what's-- what's happening,

um, with the next court appearance.

Do I go straight to jail?

My understanding
was there'd be this period

of pre-sentence investigation,

but I really don't want
to spend it in Idaho.

Help us legalize weed worldwide.

-[person 1] No, thank you, sir.
-[person 2] Sorry.

-Here, take a flyer.
-[Aivia Rose] Hi there.

[person 3] No, thank you.

Help us legalize weed worldwide.

[Aivia] So, this is my father.

He's about to be
incarcerated for cannabis.

We're trying to end all incarcerations

in the United States for cannabis.

There's still states where people
are still incarcerated.

-Uh-huh, yeah.
-See, I don't-- I don't think

-they necessarily spoke English.
-Yeah.

Hi!

Even though marijuana has come
out of the closet in recent years,

it still hasn't reached the shelves
of your corner store.

You can't go out
and buy a pack of marijuana

like you can a bottle of whiskey.

The fact is that society as a whole

has still not reached a decision
about pot smoking.

[typewriter clacking]

[Dana] The smoke-ins were working.

[crowd chanting] We smoke pot!

[Dana] The movement had grown.

[Andy Kowl]
With most of the papers gone,

Tom needed a new way to push back.

[electricity buzzing]

He came up with this idea.

"What if we started a magazine...

using getting high
as the central focal point?"

[machine whirring]

We didn't know what was legal
and what was ill*gal.

Taking pictures of pot, for example.

-[camera clicking]
-Is that evidence of a crime?

Could we print how much
an ounce of weed costs

in different parts of the country?

Or cover the backstory
of the joint you're smoking?

Nobody knew.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[plane engine whirring]

[Andy] Tom funded High Times
with-- with ill-gotten gains, I guess

from... [laughing] from his-- look,
he made his money from selling pot.

[reporter]
These young Americans were caught

with a paltry 250 pounds on an airplane.

Authorities speculate they were headed

for the streets of New York
to make a few fast bucks.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[Andy] We had no place
to distribute the magazine

because nobody wanted to touch it.

[machines whirring]

Tom started to get copies out

by giving boxes to fellow dealer friends
around the country.

If you bought 100 pounds,

you might get 500 copies of the magazine.

[Rex Weiner] It was difficult
to find it on the newsstands,

and so these boutique stores,

head shops across the country,
were carrying High Times.

[Andy] Somebody would walk in
and pick it up and say,

"Holy sh*t," and they'd buy all 20 copies.

People had never seen anything like it.

So, we printed,
I think another 20,000 copies

and then we ran out of those.

It became obvious
that we had something here.

I will never forget,
Tom walked into my office,

grinning from ear to ear,

held up the magazine,
said, "This is a license to steal."

[♪ "Casting My Spell"
by The Pirates playing]

♪ I took a black cat, cave bat ♪

♪ Threw 'em in the pot, pot,
pot, pot, pot, pot ♪

♪ I took a blue snake, green pear ♪

♪ Made a pretty sign, sign,
sign, sign, sign, sign ♪

♪ I'm casting my spell on you... ♪

[Dana] Tom always said
there's two kinds of dealers,

ones who need a forklift
and ones who don't.

[Andy] He was known for bringing in
the best Colombian,

tons of marijuana.

[Tom] I've overflown Miami Airport

in less than 500 feet.

[reporter] Why would you
do something like that?

-Aren't you risking your life?
-[Tom] The money.

[Maureen McFadden]
Every time the magazine came out,

it was a slap in the DEA's face.
[laughing]

[John Holmstrom]
The one thing Tom always told me is,

"Don't tell anybody you know me."

He left his name off the masthead.

He was paranoid 'cause they were selling

hundreds of thousands of magazines.

♪ Casting my spell on you,
Casting my spell on you ♪

♪ Ah, you'll never,
never be untrue ♪

[Andy] People started
bringing us their best drugs.

[A. Craig]
It was like the three magi

coming to the birth of the baby Jesus.

[plane engine whirring]

[Bo] We smoked pot all day
every day in the office.

We did Quaaludes.

[Maureen] Nitrous oxide.

It's a party! We gotta have balloons!

[A. Craig] We brought in
a lot of journalists

from the New York Times,
the Washington Post,

who filed under pseudonyms.

The Paraquat story was a very big story.

Our science editor
got this doctor to admit

that, one, yes, they were spraying,

and, two, that it was causing problems
with smokers.

But we had 'em, and the Times ran with it.

There have been a number of cases
of paraquat poisoning.

Joints contaminated
with a herbicide, paraquat.

[A. Craig] It was hot.
We were moving big stories.

Talking with the Attorney General
of Colombia,

and he picks up the High Times Magazine
and he says,

"This thing is what's wrong with
the free press in the United States."

He was just upset because, you see,

that scam of smuggling cocaine and bananas

used to be his scam,
and when we found out about it,

we thought we should let
the rest of the world know.

[laughing]

[reporter] Governor James Rhodes
signed into law legislation

that made Ohio the sixth state
to abolish prison terms

as a penalty for use
of small amounts of marijuana.

[Gabrielle] I think it probably
was put under my door.

It's written on High Times stationery.

"My dearest Gabrielle,

"as I've gotten to know you
better and better,

"I've gotten to love you more and more.

"Since I got to know you,
I have been living my life

"almost solely in terms of what I thought
would get your attention,

"please you, impress you.

"Now, somehow it's all tangled up.

"I think I'm right for you,
and I-- and I love you,

"and I think you love me,
and it's ridiculous to be apart.

"I want you, I need you.

"I, at bottom, think it's in the stars.

Please say yes. Your lover, Tom."

Well, he totally got me with that.

It's hard to...

not be moved by that letter.

That kind of love.

Oh...

[Polaroid camera whirring]

Just left in the middle of the night

and met Tom down on the street,

and we jumped into a cab
and went to the airport

and flew to Arizona.

I think his father died young.
I don't think he--

He never talked about his father.

[Elanore Goodson]
I got the phone call in the morning.

My husband was dead.

Tom was in his room, but he overheard me.

He felt so bad for me,

so he went out and he bought
a magazine for me to read.

Tried to make me feel better.

Every place we went, first thing I did

was take out a card at the library
because Tom would go through it

like-- like it was nothing, you know?

[exhales sharply]
Well, you know, in the-- in the '70s,

it was very badly understood
what-- what was ailing Tom.

[Polaroid camera whirring]

It was called manic depression.

It was like half a year, great,

then the second half of the year, no.

That's how it was with him.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Uh, if-- if a publisher
is going to publish stories,

telling kids how to outfit their vans

so they can sneak drugs
into them, deal them,

and smuggle them and not be caught.

If that kind of lack of responsibility

comes to bear,
then it seems fair to question

if these are appropriate materials
to sell to children.

[typewriter clacking]

[Dana] The bigger the magazine got,
the harder it was for Tom.

[Jim Drougas] I remember
feeling paranoid and worried

about what the government
might do next to intimidate us.

[Rex] The rumor was that
the receptionist at High Times

was the government informant.

[Rex] He was being followed,
phones were being tapped.

[A. Craig] He took out an axe
and he started

chopping up phone lines into the office.

[machine whirring]

The problem is
what's being outlawed is intent.

That's thoughts.
The word is being outlawed.

Soon, she'll have us burning books.

[Ed Dwyer] He would disappear for weeks.

[pen scribbling]

[machine whirring]

[Ed] I got two phone calls.
In essence, they said,

"We're watching him
and he's going to be in trouble."

[reporter] In South Florida,
smuggling-related crashes

have increased astronomically.

In 1975, there were only
three such crashes.

Last year, there were 65.

[Dana] Jack Holmes
was one of his very best friends.

He was part of the inner scene
in Tom's smuggling crew.

[Gabrielle] Tom was down
in the marshes or something,

and trying to guide the plane in.

And the plane crashed, and Jack died,

and it just-- it just undid Tom.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

♪♪

[Dana] When he got back,
he just broke down and started crying.

[♪ dramatic music continues playing]

[Gabrielle] We were having a normal day.

I went into the bedroom
where Tom was to say,

"Is there something that you would like?
Can I get you something?"

I don't know how long it was later,
but we heard a big bang.

He had shot himself.

[shutters whirring]

[♪ "Can't You See"
by The Marshall Tucker Band playing]

[Gabrielle]
A few weeks after Tom died,

a bunch of us got together
at the World Trade Center.

There was this restaurant
called Windows of the World

on the top floor...

...which at the time
was the highest place in New York City.

[Andy] Look at this place!

-They said it would clear up.
-[Gabrielle] And-- and it did.

-[Dana] Oh, man.
-[Andy] And so it has.

Whoa!

[indistinct chatter]

[Gabrielle] Nice-- nice outfit.

-[indistinct chatter continues]
-[Andy] Good to see you.

-And Mr. Beal!
-Yeah, it's me.

Aw!

Look at you!

[Gabrielle] Some people
came from around the corner,

other people came from far away.

I just really appreciate it.
Um, I know people came

because they share a feeling that Tom

had an impact on their lives.

♪ Gonna take a freight train ♪

[A. Craig] Before Tom died,
Jimmy Carter gave us an interview.

He talked about decriminalizing marijuana

to High Times.

I support a change in law

to end federal criminal penalties

for possession
of up to one ounce of marijuana.

[A. Craig]
We got White House press credentials,

which Tom had been trying to get
for the underground press for years.

And when I told Tom,
a tear came to his eye.

He was so dedicated to publishing

and freedom and the First Amendment.

[applause]

[Andy] At its peak, High Times was read

by over more than four million people
per month.

We have 1,000 people
openly smoking grass in the park

and the police wouldn't even think
about making an arrest.

They wouldn't dare come in here.

[Andy] We did more for the movement
in that four years

than in the next two decades.

[♪ "Can't You See" continues playing]

[Andy] In his will,
Tom left the magazine to his staff

to continue on.

[Dana] What I brought along,
remembering the time

he tried to stab me with a scissor.

[laughter]

How do you talk about locking people up?

All you've done is design a system
against weed and marijuana.

[Joe Pipe]
High Times united us all.

It's all we had.
It was the world against us.

Investigative reporter,
High Times Magazine.

[laughter]

My favorite magazine.

-♪ Can't you see ♪
-♪ Gonna ride me a southbound ♪

-♪ Can't you see ♪
-♪ All the way to Georgia, Lord ♪

♪ What that woman ♪

♪ Till the train run out of track, oh ♪

[judge]
I will remand your custody

to the sheriff for delivery
to the State Department of Corrections

to begin, uh, serving your sentence.

-[handcuffs clicking]
-[♪ "Can't You See" continues playing]

[♪ music fades]

[♪ gentle, upbeat music playing]