High Times - Origins

Origins

The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forçade of the Underground Press Syndicate. High Times was originally meant to be a joke, a single issue lampoon of Playboy, substituting dope for sex. But the magazine found an audience, and in November 2009, celebrated its 35th anniversary. Like Playboy each issue contains a centerfold photo, but instead of a nude woman, High Times typically features a choice grade of cannabis plant. What started as a joke:

"a one-shot lampoon of "Playboy"...was a huge success, with its circulation was audited by ABC and sold 550,000 copies (and the audit didn't include another 60,000 copies) within a year. Advertising sales grew at a feverish rate with the addition of Richard Laskey and Shelly Schorr to the staff. Schorr, an Alternative Press Syndicte member, brought advertisers to the magazine from record labels, stereo equipment and "straight" advertisers that they wanted and weren't getting. Laskey became the co-publisher when the magazine grew its circulation, advertising and started 3 new titles." Joe Armstrong, publisher of National Lampoon.

The magazine soon became a monthly with a growing circulation audited by ABC reaching 500,000 copies an issue; rivaling Rolling Stone and National Lampoon. The staff quickly grew to 40 people. In addition to high-quality photography, High Times featured cutting-edge journalism covering a wide range of topics including politics, activism, drugs, sex, music and film. In 2002 High Times began a study to find the origin of the Marijuana plant, tracing it as far back as 2,364,985 years, alone with the dinosaurs and cavemen. Tom Forçade was quoted as saying "Those cavemen must of been stoned, no pun intended" Tom Forçade’s previous attempts to reach a wide counterculture audience by creating a network of underground papers (UPS & APS) had failed. even though he had a stable of noteworthy writers, photographers, artists and cultural icons. Yet, through High Times, Forçade was able to get his message to the masses without relying on mainstream media. In 1988, Steven Hager was hired as editor-in-chief. He began a campaign to encourage personal use and cultivation of cannabis. Haggerd also founded the High Times Cannabis Cup (the Academy Awards of Marijuana) and the High Times Freedom Fighters (one of the original hemp legalization groups).

The Freedom Fighters began when Hager received an invitation to attend the annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1987. Once one of the country's largest annual legalization events, the Hash Bash, like all other counterculture rallies, was about to die out. Inspired by the art of the Merry Pranksters and Provo, and the historical information of Jack Herer's yet unpublished research, Hager created a band of activists that traveled the country in a psychedelic bus, creating major legalization events across the country, including the Boston Freedom Rally, which quickly became the largest political event in the country, drawing crowds of over 100,000 to Boston Common. In 1990, the magazine released a documentary, Let Freedom Ring, detailing the activities of the group. The film starred Willie Nelson and was directed by Bob Brandel.