High Times is an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing division, High Times Books, and its own record label, High Times Records.
From 1974 to 2016, High Times was published by Trans High Corporation (THC). Hightimes Holding Corp. took over the parent company and magazine in 2017.
Overview
High Times covers a wide range of topics, including politics, activism, drugs, sex, music, and film; as well as photography.
Like Playboy, each issue of High Times contains a centerfold photo; however, instead of a nude woman, High Times typically features a cannabis plant.
Publication history
Origins
Forçade's previous attempt — via the Underground Press Syndicate/Alternative Press Syndicate — to reach a wide counterculture audience of underground papers had failed, even though he had the support of several noteworthy writers, photographers, and artists. Through High Times, Forçade was able to get his message to the masses without relying on mainstream media. Forçade was quoted as saying, "Those cavemen must've been stoned, no pun intended."
High Times was originally meant to be a joke: a single-issue lampoon of Playboy, substituting marijuana for sex. The first issue appeared in the summer of 1974.
The magazine's first editor was Ed Dwyer, who had earlier written the text of the Woodstock music festival program booklet (as well as the Woodstock film program booklet). The magazine was initially distributed by Homestead Book Company and Big Rapids Distribution.
High Times was at the beginning funded by drug money from the sale of illegal marijuana, But the magazine found an audience, becoming a monthly publication with a growing circulation, and the staff quickly grew to 40 people.
Financial struggles and legal battles
High Times founder Forçade committed suicide in November 1978. He bequeathed trusts to benefit High Times and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). (Forçade had been a supporter of NORML since the organization's founding in 1970.)
Following Forçade's death, under the editorship of Larry Sloman (from 1979 to 1984), the magazine consistently struggled against marijuana prohibition laws, and fought to keep itself alive and publishing in an anti-cannabis atmosphere. Reflecting the time period, High Times began to feature positive coverage of cocaine as a recreational drug.
The magazine's former associate publisher, Rick Cusick, said the only way High Times managed to stay in business and never miss a publication date for over four decades was, "Really, really good lawyers, even though everybody knew I was talking about just one — Michael Kennedy." Michael John Kennedy served as the General Counsel and Chairman of the Board for High Times for over 40 years until his death in 2016, when his wife and board member, Eleanora Kennedy, took the reins.
Mainstream success and the Hager era
In 1987, High Times was audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation as reaching 500,000 copies an issue, rivaling Rolling Stone and National Lampoon.
In 1988, Steven Hager was hired as the magazine's editor. He is most famous for removing the promotion of hard drugs (e.g., cocaine and heroin) from the magazine, and instead concentrating on advocating personal cultivation of cannabis. Hager became the first editor to publish and promote the work of hemp activist Jack Herer.
In 1988, under Hager's leadership, the magazine created the Cannabis Cup, a cannabis awards ceremony held every Thanksgiving in Amsterdam that later expanded to a number of U.S. cities. He also formed the High Times Freedom Fighters, the first hemp legalization group. The High Times Freedom Fighters were famous for dressing up in Colonial outfits and organizing hemp rallies across the United States. One rally, The Boston Freedom Rally, quickly became the largest political event in the country, drawing an audience of over 100,000 to the Boston Common.
In 1997, the magazine and Hager founded the Counterculture Hall of Fame, with inductions were held annually on Thanksgiving as part of the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup event.