Founded in 1974 by renegade journalist and pot trafficker Tom Forcade, New York-based High Times is a cult publication with a loyal following and a steady base of advertisers who have always tinkered with the boundaries of legality and legitimacy.
But with recreational marijuana now legalized in two states, the cannabis movement is picking up steam – both as a political issue and a commercial enterprise for those involved in growing and promoting the plant.
High Times is no exception. The monthly magazine – whose staffers frequent grow houses and "dispensaries" that are still illegal in most states – has always operated with one eye toward law enforcement. But it's becoming more comfortable with its place in conventional publishing as the legalization movement spurs reader interest and emboldened cannabis fans pack its events. An outdoor expo High Times held this past weekend near Los Angeles drew 13,000. Many in attendance were openly puffing pot.
Legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington "is only going to make things better for High Times," says Dan Skye, the pen name of the magazine's editorial director. Skye refused to give is real name and wouldn't explain, saying only that the decision was "personal." Several other staffers use pseudonyms, perhaps fearful of legal jeopardy. "When a state legalizes, more people become aware of cannabis. People say 'What are you going to do when it's legalized?' But we're actually doing better."
The bulk of its revenue still comes from the magazine, which is owned by Trans-High Corporation. While the company has suffered along with the rest of the magazine industry as the print ad market shrinks, its page count has rebounded to about 150 in recent months, t! opping the levels seen before the 2008 financial crisis.
The magazine declined to provide circulation data and is not a member of any independent agency that collects subscription information. It it has told advertisers that it has a circulation of 235,000, according to Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi.
The desktop traffic of unique visitors at HighTimes.com in December totaled 534,000 hits, a modest figure but up 254% from a year ago, according to Comscore.
Skye declined to disclose Trans-High's financial information. Its major shareholder, Michael Kennedy, who started working for the company at its inception as chief counsel, couldn't be reached for comment.
High Times is seeking to seize the cannabis momentum in other areas beyond publishing. Cannabis Cup, the magazine's two-day trade show complete with a contest for the best marijuana strain, has expanded; it's now held in six cities a year. A Denver show, its largest event, drew 18,000 last year.
The shows feature open booths and outdoor activities. Smoking is allowed in certain areas. The judges who select the best marijuana smoke in an undisclosed dislocation.
With marijuana-related start-ups often unable to secure funding, High Times also launched last month a private investment firm – run by Kennedy - to encourage more entrepreneurs in what it hopes is an emerging niche.
"High Times was the one publication to take marijuana seriously when nobody else did," says Dale Sky Jones, executive chancellor at Oaksterdam University, a school for marijuana growers. It "was the safe place to go, where like-minded people could find other folks that shared that passion. And I daresay, personally, it ranks up there with Playboy as kind of the forbidden fruit growing up. You always wanted to look at it, but you never wanted to get caught with it."
A COLORFUL HISTORY
Befitting its outlaw image that the magazine is trying hard to shed, High Times' colo! rful hist! ory doesn't disappoint.
Forcade, the magazine's founder, killed himself in 1978 following a series of run-ins with law enforcement officials. In 1976, his attempt to hide a nine-ton load of marijuana in his Winnebago from police went awry when he accidentally drove it into a Florida swamp, according to a 2012 article on The Daily Beast. The article relied on a retrospective published on the magazine's 20th anniversary by former High Times editor Albert Goldman
In its early days, High Times reveled in and actively promoted its renegade reputation. The magazine often published stories about other topics – cocaine use, UFOs, guerrilla fighters in Mexico. One 1978 issue featuring President Carter on the cover – with an article insinuating that a White House doctor may have prescribed cocaine for medicinal purposes to the president – "sold off the hook," Skye says.
In 2005, the magazine's editors adopted a more laser-like focus on marijuana, with articles about grow houses, politics of legalization, popular dispensaries and product reviews. "Before we were just a stoners' magazine," Skye says. "We narrowed our focus to make sure we are addressing the audience all the time. We're now going on all fronts – hemp, industrial, medical, (political) issues. We don't cover whack job stories anymore."
With about 20 staffers in the newsroom and advertising, it's a lean operation that relies heavily on freelancers.
"The work they've done is extensive and far-ranging," says Al Byrne, co-founder of Patients Out of Time, a non-profit organization that advocates legalization of cannabis for medical purposes. "They've helped educate the public on what hemp is. But commingling of medical marijuana with the stoner image has been negative. They don't do that as often now."
EARLY TRADITIONS
But some of the early traditions endure. Borrowing from Playboy, High Times runs a centerfold marijuana photo each month. It also seeks to run frequent interviews with celebrities, though t! hey can b! e hard to come by, given the nature of the conversations the magazine seeks to hold.
Its relationship with law enforcement also remains tricky. While Skye says no editorial employees have been arrested for doing their jobs, an advertising executive, Matthew Woodstock Stang, was one of 40 individuals arrested and charged in New York in 2010 for distributing marijuana in the area in "a massive marijuana trafficking ring." He was convicted and sentenced to time served, ordered to forfeit $250,000 in proceeds from his criminal activities and fined $3,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.
"I've shot hundreds of grow rooms and seen pounds and pounds of cannabis," Skye says, perhaps explaining why he and others at High Times use pseudonym. "But (a police crackdown) is always a concern. There's always an amount of care."
Contributing: Gabrielle Kratsas
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