1 00:00:08,245 --> 00:00:13,205 Speaker 1: School of Humans. Do you want to join me here? 2 00:00:13,205 --> 00:00:16,485 Speaker 1: Whence you be seated, please, Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, 3 00:00:16,525 --> 00:00:19,525 Speaker 1: I would like to summarize for you the meeting that 4 00:00:19,605 --> 00:00:22,005 Speaker 1: I have just had with the bipartisan leaders, which began 5 00:00:22,045 --> 00:00:25,885 Speaker 1: at eight o'clock and was completed two hours later. I 6 00:00:26,005 --> 00:00:29,165 Speaker 1: began the meeting by making this statement, which I think 7 00:00:29,205 --> 00:00:33,085 Speaker 1: needs to be made to the nation. America's public enemy 8 00:00:33,205 --> 00:00:38,605 Speaker 1: number one in the United States is drug abuse. In 9 00:00:38,725 --> 00:00:41,645 Speaker 1: order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary 10 00:00:41,685 --> 00:00:51,805 Speaker 1: to wage a new, all out offensive. Depending on your 11 00:00:51,845 --> 00:00:54,325 Speaker 1: age or interest in history, that voice and speech may 12 00:00:54,325 --> 00:00:57,205 Speaker 1: sound familiar to you. This is a press conference with 13 00:00:57,325 --> 00:01:01,965 Speaker 1: President Richard Nixon, also known as Tricky Dickey. Nixon was 14 00:01:02,005 --> 00:01:04,645 Speaker 1: elected president in nineteen sixty eight, and in June of 15 00:01:04,765 --> 00:01:09,525 Speaker 1: seventy one, Nixon declares public enemy number one drug abuse. 16 00:01:10,525 --> 00:01:13,085 Speaker 1: Drugs and the people who distribute them are the most 17 00:01:13,365 --> 00:01:20,205 Speaker 1: dangerous enemies to the public. The war on drugs has begun. Now, 18 00:01:20,285 --> 00:01:23,445 Speaker 1: drugs are put into categories based on how dangerous they 19 00:01:23,445 --> 00:01:28,125 Speaker 1: are thought to be LSD and pot. The foundations of 20 00:01:28,125 --> 00:01:32,445 Speaker 1: the psychedelic Revolution of the nineteen sixties are considered the 21 00:01:32,485 --> 00:01:38,965 Speaker 1: most Dangerous Schedule one. So Nixon increases federal funding for 22 00:01:39,085 --> 00:01:44,005 Speaker 1: drug control agencies and proposes super strict measures like mandatory 23 00:01:44,045 --> 00:01:48,445 Speaker 1: prison sentencing for drug crimes. Nixon also creates the d EA, 24 00:01:48,645 --> 00:01:53,045 Speaker 1: the Drug Enforcement Administration in nineteen seventy three. And in 25 00:01:53,085 --> 00:01:55,405 Speaker 1: the middle of it all is my dad building up 26 00:01:55,445 --> 00:02:00,685 Speaker 1: his smuggling business in Marine County, California. This is disorganized crime. 27 00:02:00,925 --> 00:02:12,165 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rainbow Valentine do Young, free and groovy, 28 00:02:13,805 --> 00:02:26,005 Speaker 1: making it up. We rolled along, rolling along far Country, 29 00:02:26,445 --> 00:02:32,725 Speaker 1: the Golden Ganging Dot, New York State, making it up 30 00:02:33,005 --> 00:02:46,565 Speaker 1: as we roll. It's the summer of nineteen seventy three 31 00:02:47,365 --> 00:02:50,005 Speaker 1: and we are living in Mill Valley. You're nestled in 32 00:02:50,045 --> 00:02:55,565 Speaker 1: the red wood. Just a hot producer tip. When you 33 00:02:55,605 --> 00:02:59,365 Speaker 1: blow your nose, put some space between the storytelling and 34 00:02:59,365 --> 00:03:02,405 Speaker 1: the nose blowing so I can cut it out. I 35 00:03:02,445 --> 00:03:06,885 Speaker 1: didn't even think about That's why, ah, Dad. One day 36 00:03:06,925 --> 00:03:11,085 Speaker 1: we'll figure out how to record perfectly. So in nineteen 37 00:03:11,125 --> 00:03:13,965 Speaker 1: seventy one, when Nixon declares the war on drug dealers 38 00:03:13,965 --> 00:03:16,725 Speaker 1: and drug abuse, my dad has been living with my 39 00:03:16,765 --> 00:03:19,605 Speaker 1: mom and her small daughter, Vertica for a while, taking 40 00:03:19,645 --> 00:03:22,445 Speaker 1: on the role of father and he needs to start 41 00:03:22,485 --> 00:03:25,885 Speaker 1: providing for his new family. Anyway, I needed to make money. 42 00:03:25,925 --> 00:03:28,965 Speaker 1: I wanted to make money, and so I started doing 43 00:03:30,405 --> 00:03:33,845 Speaker 1: smaller time deals ten pounds of this or twenty pounds 44 00:03:33,845 --> 00:03:35,605 Speaker 1: of that or whatever. And so if you're doing it's 45 00:03:35,645 --> 00:03:39,485 Speaker 1: quite a small time selling a satchel here, say it, right, 46 00:03:39,885 --> 00:03:42,045 Speaker 1: you know, a box full of ten pounds of this 47 00:03:42,285 --> 00:03:45,645 Speaker 1: or and you'd sell it? Announces maybe, no, never, I 48 00:03:45,685 --> 00:03:48,245 Speaker 1: didn't do that, but I would sell at least a 49 00:03:48,325 --> 00:03:51,725 Speaker 1: pound that. It's you're still sort of larger. You're never small, right. 50 00:03:52,285 --> 00:03:54,685 Speaker 1: He goes over to a dealer's house who is the 51 00:03:54,725 --> 00:03:57,485 Speaker 1: boyfriend of one of my mom's North Beach belly dancer 52 00:03:57,565 --> 00:04:00,485 Speaker 1: friends from the early sixties. Now, this guy sells pot, 53 00:04:00,525 --> 00:04:04,645 Speaker 1: acid coke. He's a reasonable sized dealer. My dad's at 54 00:04:04,685 --> 00:04:06,965 Speaker 1: his house and he and a bunch of other smuggler 55 00:04:07,005 --> 00:04:10,085 Speaker 1: type guys and music guys are playing cards when and 56 00:04:10,285 --> 00:04:12,925 Speaker 1: there's a knock on the door, and all of a sudden, well, 57 00:04:12,965 --> 00:04:17,765 Speaker 1: these cops come busting in. So they arrest me, along 58 00:04:17,805 --> 00:04:25,205 Speaker 1: with everybody else, and my dad has a gram of 59 00:04:25,245 --> 00:04:28,285 Speaker 1: coke in the pocket of his sergeant Pepperesque jacket, which 60 00:04:28,325 --> 00:04:31,205 Speaker 1: was a gift from the film producers of Alice's Restaurant, 61 00:04:31,565 --> 00:04:34,405 Speaker 1: Arlo Guthrie's nineteen sixty nine cult classic that my Dad 62 00:04:34,445 --> 00:04:38,565 Speaker 1: was an extra. Luckily, the coat is hanging on the rack, 63 00:04:39,045 --> 00:04:41,685 Speaker 1: so when it's seized by the cops, my dad is 64 00:04:41,725 --> 00:04:46,885 Speaker 1: literally not in possession of any drugs. Dad sacrifices his 65 00:04:47,005 --> 00:04:50,445 Speaker 1: precious coat in exchange for freedom, and to this day, 66 00:04:50,445 --> 00:04:52,965 Speaker 1: he still misses it and I always look for it 67 00:04:52,965 --> 00:04:56,765 Speaker 1: in the San Francisco thrift's stores. My dad and the 68 00:04:56,805 --> 00:04:58,805 Speaker 1: rest of the gang are hauled down to the jailhouse, 69 00:04:58,925 --> 00:05:00,565 Speaker 1: but the cops let him go with a warning that 70 00:05:00,565 --> 00:05:02,845 Speaker 1: he'll get a summons. Says he didn't have any drugs 71 00:05:02,885 --> 00:05:05,645 Speaker 1: directly on him. He was just hanging out with a 72 00:05:05,725 --> 00:05:10,085 Speaker 1: drug dealer, and luckily Dad and I former filmmaker and 73 00:05:10,205 --> 00:05:12,965 Speaker 1: candlemaker from New York, was in a relationship with one 74 00:05:12,965 --> 00:05:16,205 Speaker 1: of the most well connected people in San Francisco, my mom. 75 00:05:17,885 --> 00:05:21,485 Speaker 1: My mom was a quiet, beautiful powerhouse in the inner 76 00:05:21,525 --> 00:05:24,845 Speaker 1: circle of the San Francisco music scene. At this point, 77 00:05:24,965 --> 00:05:28,525 Speaker 1: she's a jeweler for San Francisco rock Stars. She knew 78 00:05:28,565 --> 00:05:31,245 Speaker 1: everyone in the San Francisco sixty scene. From the rock 79 00:05:31,325 --> 00:05:34,445 Speaker 1: stars to the smugglers, to the lawyers, because all she 80 00:05:34,525 --> 00:05:38,845 Speaker 1: knew was huge time lawyers. She didn't know he's small time. No, no, 81 00:05:38,965 --> 00:05:42,485 Speaker 1: she didn't, right, she knew all these guys, these guys 82 00:05:42,805 --> 00:05:48,605 Speaker 1: who represented yeah, smugglers busted for five thousand pounds of 83 00:05:48,725 --> 00:05:52,445 Speaker 1: pot or whatever it was, or this or that. Now, 84 00:05:52,485 --> 00:05:54,925 Speaker 1: even though he got off, this arrest taught my dad 85 00:05:55,045 --> 00:05:58,165 Speaker 1: an important lesson. If he was going to be a smuggler, 86 00:05:58,405 --> 00:06:00,965 Speaker 1: he had to start taking it much more seriously and 87 00:06:01,085 --> 00:06:03,925 Speaker 1: become a true professional, you know, and now and talking 88 00:06:03,965 --> 00:06:07,085 Speaker 1: about it, I could say, Okay, you've been You've given 89 00:06:07,165 --> 00:06:11,965 Speaker 1: up your child stuff. I was conscious enough to learn 90 00:06:12,045 --> 00:06:16,325 Speaker 1: to be aware and cautious about parts of things. Getting 91 00:06:16,365 --> 00:06:19,925 Speaker 1: busted is a smuggler's worst nightmare, and in the early 92 00:06:19,965 --> 00:06:23,525 Speaker 1: seventies it becomes a much more common experience because Nixon 93 00:06:23,565 --> 00:06:28,005 Speaker 1: has declared drugs public Enemy number one. Remember, just a 94 00:06:28,045 --> 00:06:32,085 Speaker 1: few years ago, LST was perfectly legal, but now busting 95 00:06:32,165 --> 00:06:37,725 Speaker 1: drugs and smugglers is an American priority. They are the enemy. 96 00:06:37,765 --> 00:06:41,725 Speaker 1: In order to defeat this enemy, which is causing such 97 00:06:41,805 --> 00:06:45,725 Speaker 1: great concern, and correctly so, to so many American families, 98 00:06:46,365 --> 00:06:50,845 Speaker 1: money will be provided to the extent that it is necessary, 99 00:06:50,885 --> 00:06:56,285 Speaker 1: under the extent that it will be useful. The criminalization 100 00:06:56,365 --> 00:06:59,205 Speaker 1: of pot has a very long and very deliberate history. 101 00:06:59,805 --> 00:07:02,165 Speaker 1: It started in the early nineteen thirties at the end 102 00:07:02,205 --> 00:07:05,885 Speaker 1: of alcohol prohibition, and it leads to today when pot 103 00:07:05,925 --> 00:07:10,485 Speaker 1: is categorized as a Schedule one drug. Schedule one drugs 104 00:07:10,525 --> 00:07:13,805 Speaker 1: are substances, chemicals, and drugs that are defined as drugs 105 00:07:13,805 --> 00:07:18,045 Speaker 1: with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential 106 00:07:18,125 --> 00:07:24,645 Speaker 1: for abuse. Incredibly, cocaine and methamphetamine also known as crystal meth, 107 00:07:24,965 --> 00:07:34,365 Speaker 1: are Scheduled two. One of the leading experts on the 108 00:07:34,405 --> 00:07:37,725 Speaker 1: history of pot criminalization is my dad's friend, Bill Panzer. 109 00:07:37,965 --> 00:07:40,805 Speaker 1: Bill Panzer has practiced law in California for over twenty 110 00:07:40,805 --> 00:07:43,245 Speaker 1: five years and has been my dad's go to pot 111 00:07:43,245 --> 00:07:46,925 Speaker 1: attorney since his longtime attorney, civil rights activist Bernie Siegel, 112 00:07:47,045 --> 00:07:50,965 Speaker 1: passed away. Cannabis has been used, you know, for five 113 00:07:51,005 --> 00:07:54,965 Speaker 1: thousand years, at least met medicinally, and in this country. 114 00:07:55,045 --> 00:07:59,325 Speaker 1: What happened was, you know, we had alcohol prohibition in 115 00:07:59,325 --> 00:08:03,445 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, and when that got repealed, there was 116 00:08:03,485 --> 00:08:06,205 Speaker 1: a guy named Harry Anslinger who had been working on 117 00:08:06,245 --> 00:08:10,245 Speaker 1: alcohol prohibition for the federal government helping to enforce alcohol prohibition, 118 00:08:11,285 --> 00:08:15,765 Speaker 1: and when that was repealed, he was appointed head of 119 00:08:15,805 --> 00:08:18,525 Speaker 1: the Bureau of Narcotics, which is the forerunner of today's 120 00:08:18,565 --> 00:08:23,485 Speaker 1: DA Viewer of Narcotics. As a small, little federal agency, 121 00:08:24,405 --> 00:08:27,925 Speaker 1: didn't have much of budget, didn't have much power, and 122 00:08:28,005 --> 00:08:31,205 Speaker 1: he basically wanted to have a job for himself, so 123 00:08:31,325 --> 00:08:36,165 Speaker 1: he decided that since alcohol prohibition been repealed, he was 124 00:08:36,245 --> 00:08:40,085 Speaker 1: going to go after cannabis when alcohol is re legalized. 125 00:08:40,205 --> 00:08:44,045 Speaker 1: This guy, Harry Anslinger, the former prohibition enforcer, was probably 126 00:08:44,045 --> 00:08:47,085 Speaker 1: concerned about his job security and he purportedly starts spreading 127 00:08:47,245 --> 00:08:50,565 Speaker 1: fictional stories about pot, allegedly with the help of William 128 00:08:50,645 --> 00:08:54,685 Speaker 1: Randolph Hurst, the newspaper baron and purveyor of yellow journalism, 129 00:08:55,045 --> 00:09:00,205 Speaker 1: which is journalism based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. Now, 130 00:09:00,245 --> 00:09:03,845 Speaker 1: according to many historians, billionaire Hurst was on board to 131 00:09:03,885 --> 00:09:07,645 Speaker 1: help spread lies about pot all things pot related because 132 00:09:07,925 --> 00:09:11,525 Speaker 1: Hurst had invested heavily in the timber industry in order 133 00:09:11,565 --> 00:09:15,285 Speaker 1: to make his newspapers, and hemp fiber was proving to 134 00:09:15,325 --> 00:09:17,765 Speaker 1: be more durable and a cheaper way to make paper 135 00:09:17,925 --> 00:09:21,885 Speaker 1: than timber. Not cool for timber investments. So he and 136 00:09:21,925 --> 00:09:26,645 Speaker 1: his newspapers allegedly become instrumental in spreading graphic, histrionic, murder 137 00:09:26,765 --> 00:09:30,845 Speaker 1: rape stories about cannabis. These high school boys and girls 138 00:09:30,885 --> 00:09:34,445 Speaker 1: are having a hop at the local soda fountain. Innocently, 139 00:09:34,565 --> 00:09:38,885 Speaker 1: they dance, innocent of a new and deadly menace lurking 140 00:09:38,965 --> 00:09:45,045 Speaker 1: behind closed doors, marijuana, the burning weed when its roots 141 00:09:45,205 --> 00:09:49,845 Speaker 1: in hell. Now. The most famous piece of antiweed propaganda 142 00:09:50,045 --> 00:09:54,045 Speaker 1: is Reefer Madness, which is actually quite amusing. The nineteen 143 00:09:54,085 --> 00:09:57,645 Speaker 1: thirty six film is a megamelodrama about pot smoking high 144 00:09:57,645 --> 00:10:02,045 Speaker 1: schoolers whose theatrical descent into pot smoking addiction includes hit 145 00:10:02,125 --> 00:10:07,445 Speaker 1: and run, rape, murder, suicide, hallucinations in total madness Smoky 146 00:10:07,565 --> 00:10:10,965 Speaker 1: with the sole destroying refer they find a moment's pleasure, 147 00:10:11,405 --> 00:10:22,325 Speaker 1: but at a terrible price debt, violence, murder, suicide. With 148 00:10:22,485 --> 00:10:26,045 Speaker 1: help from the nation's newspaper billionaire Baron, all Harry ann 149 00:10:26,085 --> 00:10:29,125 Speaker 1: Slinger has to do is convince states to pass anti 150 00:10:29,205 --> 00:10:32,325 Speaker 1: cannabis laws, because at the time, the Fed still don't 151 00:10:32,325 --> 00:10:35,365 Speaker 1: have the power to do that. So in the nineteen thirties, 152 00:10:35,525 --> 00:10:40,125 Speaker 1: Harry embarks on a ruthless anti marijuana pr campaign, starting 153 00:10:40,165 --> 00:10:44,085 Speaker 1: in the Southwest. At that time, cannabis was usually known 154 00:10:44,125 --> 00:10:48,525 Speaker 1: as hamp or India hamp or cannabis, and he started 155 00:10:48,525 --> 00:10:51,205 Speaker 1: in the Southwest, where they were prejudiced against the Mexican 156 00:10:51,245 --> 00:10:55,405 Speaker 1: migrant farm workers who called it marijuana. He with the 157 00:10:55,445 --> 00:10:58,525 Speaker 1: help of William Randolph Hurst, who made up these stories 158 00:10:59,125 --> 00:11:02,525 Speaker 1: about like Mexican farm workers that would smoke the marijuana 159 00:11:02,805 --> 00:11:05,245 Speaker 1: and then rape the farmer's daughter and chop up the 160 00:11:05,245 --> 00:11:08,325 Speaker 1: farmer and his family would hatchet. They started making up 161 00:11:08,325 --> 00:11:12,765 Speaker 1: these stories and putting them in the local papers to 162 00:11:12,885 --> 00:11:17,725 Speaker 1: try and drum up, you know, anti Mexican, discriminatory kind 163 00:11:17,725 --> 00:11:23,365 Speaker 1: of attitudes and get behind making marijuana illegal. I have 164 00:11:23,485 --> 00:11:26,805 Speaker 1: some friends who insist on calling pot cannabis. They never 165 00:11:26,885 --> 00:11:30,045 Speaker 1: used the word marijuana, And when Bill told me about 166 00:11:30,045 --> 00:11:34,765 Speaker 1: Harry's very intentional smear campaign, I understood why marijuana is 167 00:11:34,805 --> 00:11:43,245 Speaker 1: a word specifically chosen to spread and incite racism. Now, 168 00:11:43,245 --> 00:11:46,565 Speaker 1: while they couldn't make cannabis illegal, Harry and Slinger and 169 00:11:46,685 --> 00:11:51,485 Speaker 1: his growing team of cannabis prohibition enthusiasts found ways to 170 00:11:51,565 --> 00:11:55,365 Speaker 1: make it impossible for people to legally possess it. Nineteen 171 00:11:55,485 --> 00:11:58,805 Speaker 1: thirty seven, they came up with this great idea that 172 00:11:58,925 --> 00:12:03,085 Speaker 1: although we can't make marijuana illegal. We can set up 173 00:12:03,085 --> 00:12:06,885 Speaker 1: attack and require people have tax stamps and then just 174 00:12:07,005 --> 00:12:11,605 Speaker 1: not print any tax stamps. That was the first attempt 175 00:12:11,645 --> 00:12:15,725 Speaker 1: to make it federally illegal, and that stood until I 176 00:12:15,805 --> 00:12:20,125 Speaker 1: believe it was nineteen sixty eight. In nineteen sixty eight, 177 00:12:20,245 --> 00:12:24,845 Speaker 1: Tim Leary got busted driving into the United States in 178 00:12:25,005 --> 00:12:28,445 Speaker 1: his Volkswagen with his family from Mexico. They had a 179 00:12:28,525 --> 00:12:30,325 Speaker 1: little bit of weed on them. Ah. This is the 180 00:12:30,405 --> 00:12:35,445 Speaker 1: same Timothy Leary, former Harvard professor drug activist Millbrook affiliated 181 00:12:35,565 --> 00:12:40,485 Speaker 1: LSD pioneer who we talked about in the last episode. Okay, 182 00:12:40,485 --> 00:12:42,725 Speaker 1: So Leary gets arrested and takes this case to the 183 00:12:42,765 --> 00:12:46,925 Speaker 1: Supreme Court, stating that the nineteen thirty seven Marijuana Tax 184 00:12:47,045 --> 00:12:52,165 Speaker 1: Act is unconstitutional. Leary challenged the Marijuana Tax Act and said, 185 00:12:52,205 --> 00:12:57,525 Speaker 1: it requires you to incriminate yourself, requires me to self 186 00:12:57,565 --> 00:13:01,925 Speaker 1: declare that I am growing or possessing cannabis, and that 187 00:13:01,965 --> 00:13:04,925 Speaker 1: would violate the Fifth Amendment. And the Supreme Court agreed 188 00:13:05,645 --> 00:13:08,645 Speaker 1: and knocked out the Tax Act of nineteen thirty seven, 189 00:13:09,005 --> 00:13:13,165 Speaker 1: and in response to that, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act. 190 00:13:13,365 --> 00:13:17,765 Speaker 1: President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act CSA into law 191 00:13:17,805 --> 00:13:21,485 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy calling for the regulation of certain drugs 192 00:13:21,485 --> 00:13:25,885 Speaker 1: and substances. Now, the CSA outlines five schedules to classify 193 00:13:26,005 --> 00:13:30,005 Speaker 1: drugs based on their medical application and potential for abuse. 194 00:13:31,085 --> 00:13:33,885 Speaker 1: Schedule one drugs are considered the most dangerous, as they 195 00:13:33,965 --> 00:13:38,125 Speaker 1: purportedly pose a very high risk for addiction with little 196 00:13:38,205 --> 00:13:41,845 Speaker 1: evidence of medical benefits. They also come with the longest 197 00:13:41,885 --> 00:13:45,565 Speaker 1: prison sentence. Schedule one was supposed to be a temporary 198 00:13:45,565 --> 00:13:50,205 Speaker 1: placeholder for cannabis, and even a Nixon appointed committee advised 199 00:13:50,205 --> 00:13:54,045 Speaker 1: that cannabis should not be a Schedule one. They didn't 200 00:13:54,045 --> 00:13:56,445 Speaker 1: know what to do with cannabis, so initially they put 201 00:13:56,485 --> 00:14:00,445 Speaker 1: it in Schedule one with the agreement that they were 202 00:14:00,485 --> 00:14:05,045 Speaker 1: going to appoint a committee to research cannabis and report 203 00:14:05,085 --> 00:14:07,565 Speaker 1: back to Congress as to where it really should be scheduled. 204 00:14:08,205 --> 00:14:12,845 Speaker 1: That committee appointed by Nixon was headed by Schaeffer. Now 205 00:14:12,885 --> 00:14:16,565 Speaker 1: that's Raymond Schaeffer, a Republican who had served in the 206 00:14:16,605 --> 00:14:19,445 Speaker 1: Senate and was the former governor of Pennsylvania. And the 207 00:14:19,525 --> 00:14:23,005 Speaker 1: Schaeffer Commission to testimony looked at the science on it 208 00:14:22,965 --> 00:14:26,445 Speaker 1: and everything, and they came out of the report that 209 00:14:26,525 --> 00:14:28,685 Speaker 1: it should not be in Schedule one that the most 210 00:14:28,765 --> 00:14:32,805 Speaker 1: dangerous thing about cannabis was getting arrested for it. This 211 00:14:33,045 --> 00:14:35,925 Speaker 1: was surprising because nobody expected that result, because this was 212 00:14:35,965 --> 00:14:38,605 Speaker 1: a conservative committee that was basically hand picked to come 213 00:14:38,605 --> 00:14:40,845 Speaker 1: back and say that it's the evil weed. The report 214 00:14:40,925 --> 00:14:46,525 Speaker 1: Schaeffer presented to Congress was called Marijuana a Signal of Misunderstanding, 215 00:14:47,085 --> 00:14:51,205 Speaker 1: and in it he calls for the decriminalization of marijuana possession. 216 00:14:52,005 --> 00:14:56,325 Speaker 1: It even favored totally ending marijuana prohibition. But then the 217 00:14:56,365 --> 00:14:59,445 Speaker 1: White House just ignores it, suppresses the report and pretends 218 00:14:59,485 --> 00:15:02,085 Speaker 1: like it never happened. Somewhere I think I heard they 219 00:15:02,085 --> 00:15:04,845 Speaker 1: only printed up four hundred copies of it, the minimal allowed, 220 00:15:04,885 --> 00:15:08,485 Speaker 1: and that was it. Why was Nixon so anti getting 221 00:15:08,485 --> 00:15:10,445 Speaker 1: this information out? Like, what was that stake for him? 222 00:15:10,485 --> 00:15:14,645 Speaker 1: I mean, Nixon hated hippies and black people and Jews, 223 00:15:15,445 --> 00:15:18,685 Speaker 1: and he was hippies and black people and Jews who 224 00:15:18,725 --> 00:15:25,045 Speaker 1: smoked marijuana. Real God fearing Americans drank alcohol. So Harry Anslinger, 225 00:15:25,085 --> 00:15:29,285 Speaker 1: the marijuana prohibitionists, got his way. Pot and pot smugglers 226 00:15:29,365 --> 00:15:34,525 Speaker 1: like my dad were officially public Enemy number one. I'm 227 00:15:34,605 --> 00:15:38,885 Speaker 1: Ramo Valentine, you're listening to disorganized crime we'll be right back. 228 00:15:47,645 --> 00:15:50,085 Speaker 1: This is the environment in which my dad started taking 229 00:15:50,165 --> 00:15:53,885 Speaker 1: his smuggling career much more seriously, when marijuana had been 230 00:15:53,925 --> 00:15:58,165 Speaker 1: totally vilified, even though a Republican Commission chairman reported that 231 00:15:58,205 --> 00:16:01,725 Speaker 1: the most dangerous thing about marijuana was getting arrested for it. 232 00:16:05,525 --> 00:16:08,165 Speaker 1: Over the next two years, Dad's building up his business. 233 00:16:09,245 --> 00:16:11,725 Speaker 1: How any freelancer will tell you, business is based on 234 00:16:11,765 --> 00:16:14,725 Speaker 1: who you know. And for the next few years, my 235 00:16:14,845 --> 00:16:16,885 Speaker 1: dad got to know more peeps and Marine in San 236 00:16:16,925 --> 00:16:20,525 Speaker 1: Francisco through his partner, my mom. He met people through 237 00:16:20,605 --> 00:16:23,005 Speaker 1: music bands like The Grateful Dead. He was part of 238 00:16:23,005 --> 00:16:26,365 Speaker 1: a weekly poker game with Elton Kelly, Stanley, Mouse, David Gets, 239 00:16:26,365 --> 00:16:29,685 Speaker 1: and Big Daddy Tom donaghue, the rock and roll record producer, 240 00:16:29,685 --> 00:16:33,125 Speaker 1: promoter and rock and roll disc jockey. Anyway, Big Daddy 241 00:16:33,125 --> 00:16:35,445 Speaker 1: Tom Donahue had a Mill Valley mansion with a non 242 00:16:35,485 --> 00:16:38,125 Speaker 1: stop party twenty four seven, and my parents would go 243 00:16:38,165 --> 00:16:42,725 Speaker 1: hang out, make friends. That's how freelance business works. Biga 244 00:16:42,765 --> 00:16:46,605 Speaker 1: New York City transplant amidst the pot industry of Marine County, California, 245 00:16:46,845 --> 00:16:50,565 Speaker 1: was a major asset. My dad is a people person 246 00:16:50,565 --> 00:16:52,805 Speaker 1: who stays in touch with all his trust to childhood 247 00:16:52,805 --> 00:16:56,845 Speaker 1: friends still in New York. They loved getting high, making money, 248 00:16:56,925 --> 00:17:02,125 Speaker 1: and turning people on good pot. A thriving smuggling business 249 00:17:02,125 --> 00:17:06,365 Speaker 1: for Marinto New York organically evolves. Parents and big sister 250 00:17:06,645 --> 00:17:09,365 Speaker 1: moved from San Francisco to San an Salmo and Marin County. 251 00:17:16,725 --> 00:17:19,165 Speaker 1: Most of the musicians and big dealers are living in 252 00:17:19,205 --> 00:17:22,325 Speaker 1: Marine And as my dad says, he melted into the 253 00:17:22,365 --> 00:17:25,445 Speaker 1: scene such a hippy thing to say. I love it. 254 00:17:25,525 --> 00:17:29,205 Speaker 1: I being very fortunate in the scene that I came 255 00:17:29,285 --> 00:17:33,325 Speaker 1: right into was at the top of the top. So yeah, 256 00:17:33,325 --> 00:17:36,045 Speaker 1: I mean I was just introduced to big time people 257 00:17:36,085 --> 00:17:40,605 Speaker 1: and so that was that was life in the direction 258 00:17:40,845 --> 00:17:44,245 Speaker 1: I guess I chose. Pot was and still is part 259 00:17:44,285 --> 00:17:47,765 Speaker 1: of the fabric of the culture of northern California. It's 260 00:17:47,765 --> 00:17:51,245 Speaker 1: as common and intrinsic as church is to the South, 261 00:17:51,645 --> 00:17:55,605 Speaker 1: film to La or corn to Iowa. So my dad 262 00:17:55,685 --> 00:17:58,445 Speaker 1: was getting busier making real money. He did a quick 263 00:17:58,485 --> 00:18:02,405 Speaker 1: deal involving pink coke. The manufacturers of the cocaine had 264 00:18:02,445 --> 00:18:04,365 Speaker 1: made an error and the entire batch was pink. It 265 00:18:04,485 --> 00:18:06,605 Speaker 1: wasn't white. It was so good pink because they had 266 00:18:06,645 --> 00:18:09,965 Speaker 1: fucked up how they processed it. Apparently I didn't know 267 00:18:10,085 --> 00:18:14,165 Speaker 1: this then, but they're they're, they're, they're presenting it as 268 00:18:15,045 --> 00:18:20,685 Speaker 1: rose cocaine, you know whatever. My dad sold a kilo 269 00:18:20,765 --> 00:18:23,365 Speaker 1: of rose cooke in one day and made four thousand dollars. 270 00:18:23,925 --> 00:18:26,525 Speaker 1: Four thousand dollars in nineteen seventy two is the equivalent 271 00:18:26,525 --> 00:18:29,565 Speaker 1: to over twenty four thousand dollars today. This is the 272 00:18:29,605 --> 00:18:33,005 Speaker 1: only time my dad says he sold coke. After this experience, 273 00:18:33,005 --> 00:18:35,285 Speaker 1: he vowed he'd never do it again because the coke 274 00:18:35,325 --> 00:18:39,765 Speaker 1: guys were sketchy. So the smuggler and I, he really 275 00:18:39,805 --> 00:18:41,925 Speaker 1: loved that I got rid of it. The next thing 276 00:18:41,925 --> 00:18:45,325 Speaker 1: he did was invite me down to He was from 277 00:18:45,485 --> 00:18:50,165 Speaker 1: La so he says, hey, come on down, we'll talk 278 00:18:50,205 --> 00:18:53,965 Speaker 1: about more stuff. What I do remember is going down 279 00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:57,325 Speaker 1: there and staying at his house and sleeping over it, 280 00:18:57,645 --> 00:18:59,605 Speaker 1: and in the middle of the fucking night, he comes 281 00:18:59,685 --> 00:19:02,845 Speaker 1: roaring through carrying a gun because he thought he heard 282 00:19:02,885 --> 00:19:06,325 Speaker 1: somebody fucking coming through the door, which he didn't. Nothing happened, 283 00:19:06,645 --> 00:19:09,245 Speaker 1: but that that was it for me, you know intern, 284 00:19:09,365 --> 00:19:14,205 Speaker 1: Holy shit, guns, fuck this. And all these guys involved 285 00:19:14,245 --> 00:19:16,685 Speaker 1: in this whole scene were older guys. They all scared 286 00:19:16,725 --> 00:19:22,085 Speaker 1: me anyway, because they were adults and these are not 287 00:19:22,285 --> 00:19:24,605 Speaker 1: my These are not people I want to be around. 288 00:19:24,965 --> 00:19:28,645 Speaker 1: You're dealing with guns, you know. Fuck this? Yeah, your 289 00:19:28,765 --> 00:19:35,445 Speaker 1: world was not good. Integrity, handshakes, friendship, music, well, so 290 00:19:35,525 --> 00:19:38,365 Speaker 1: to speak. Listen, there were plenty of pot dealers who 291 00:19:38,365 --> 00:19:43,005 Speaker 1: were major fucking Slee's bag assholes. Also, I mean there 292 00:19:43,045 --> 00:19:46,365 Speaker 1: was lots of money rolling around, and consequently, you know, 293 00:19:46,445 --> 00:19:49,045 Speaker 1: good people were good people and bad people were just 294 00:19:49,245 --> 00:19:52,365 Speaker 1: But I very clearly you know that was it for me. 295 00:19:52,765 --> 00:19:56,205 Speaker 1: Side note, Pot being a schedule one drug feels so ridiculous, 296 00:19:56,285 --> 00:19:59,405 Speaker 1: a complete odds with a collective opinion of my parents, 297 00:19:59,445 --> 00:20:02,245 Speaker 1: my parents, friends, and my friend's parents, also known as 298 00:20:02,285 --> 00:20:07,565 Speaker 1: the Psychedelic Pioneers aka the counterculture Insider, because all hippie 299 00:20:07,565 --> 00:20:12,165 Speaker 1: elders agree that cocaine and heroine destroyed the joyful, peace 300 00:20:12,205 --> 00:20:16,645 Speaker 1: loving world famous San Francisco counterculture scene. So you saw 301 00:20:16,805 --> 00:20:21,645 Speaker 1: the scene, the music scene destroy destroying by artistic heroes, 302 00:20:21,725 --> 00:20:24,685 Speaker 1: by cocaine and hard drugs. Yeah, hard drugs, cocaine and 303 00:20:24,805 --> 00:20:27,525 Speaker 1: hard drugs. Of all these people who were all these 304 00:20:28,645 --> 00:20:30,965 Speaker 1: you know, I look at the whole what I look 305 00:20:31,005 --> 00:20:34,485 Speaker 1: back on now and look at what happened in San Francisco, 306 00:20:35,525 --> 00:20:38,805 Speaker 1: and this whole thing exploded and then got destroyed. It 307 00:20:38,925 --> 00:20:44,805 Speaker 1: exploded with acid, exploded positively and amazingly with acid, and 308 00:20:44,885 --> 00:20:50,685 Speaker 1: it was completely poisoned by hard drugs, which was despicable. 309 00:20:51,085 --> 00:20:55,565 Speaker 1: We listened to the dead behind the backstage, and the 310 00:20:55,685 --> 00:20:58,365 Speaker 1: cocaine was disgusting, and you know, and it was all 311 00:20:58,365 --> 00:21:04,285 Speaker 1: the shit. I grew up with very strong anti cocaine 312 00:21:04,285 --> 00:21:08,645 Speaker 1: and anti heroine rule drug rules, no cokeer heroine. But 313 00:21:08,645 --> 00:21:11,285 Speaker 1: you can totally smoke pot or like lsd yes just 314 00:21:11,325 --> 00:21:15,405 Speaker 1: come to us mushrooms. Great division quest Back to pot. 315 00:21:15,485 --> 00:21:17,525 Speaker 1: It's nineteen seventy three and my parents are living in 316 00:21:17,525 --> 00:21:20,405 Speaker 1: Mill Valley near the library. They're a house up a 317 00:21:20,485 --> 00:21:23,285 Speaker 1: steep hill with over fifty steps to the front door. 318 00:21:24,245 --> 00:21:28,125 Speaker 1: A load called lime green Mexican comes in and Dad remembers, 319 00:21:28,165 --> 00:21:31,645 Speaker 1: the lime green is wonderful pot. Lots of pot that 320 00:21:31,685 --> 00:21:35,125 Speaker 1: flowed in was like it. Literally they called it bricks 321 00:21:35,165 --> 00:21:38,605 Speaker 1: because they were they were pressed. So it was such 322 00:21:38,685 --> 00:21:42,365 Speaker 1: poor pot to begin with, and it was pressed in 323 00:21:42,445 --> 00:21:45,005 Speaker 1: these presses that came in bricks, so you'd have a 324 00:21:45,045 --> 00:21:48,725 Speaker 1: two pound brick. So it ran the gamut of quality 325 00:21:48,765 --> 00:21:53,365 Speaker 1: and quality control was really important, and at that point 326 00:21:53,365 --> 00:21:58,325 Speaker 1: in life and time fifty years ago, the most popular 327 00:21:59,045 --> 00:22:01,365 Speaker 1: we all knew of and liked was a very light 328 00:22:01,445 --> 00:22:06,685 Speaker 1: green lime green Mexican sativa. It was light, it was 329 00:22:06,725 --> 00:22:12,525 Speaker 1: almost gold green, and was a very nice uphead with 330 00:22:12,805 --> 00:22:17,685 Speaker 1: no physical characteristics. So that was like the legendary lime green. 331 00:22:17,885 --> 00:22:20,965 Speaker 1: My dad remembers hauling fifty pound bales of lime green 332 00:22:21,005 --> 00:22:23,725 Speaker 1: Mexican up the fifty plus steps to the front door. 333 00:22:23,965 --> 00:22:25,965 Speaker 1: He did at least five hundred pounds of lime green, 334 00:22:26,045 --> 00:22:29,445 Speaker 1: so that's a lot of steps. I remember carrying these 335 00:22:29,525 --> 00:22:33,725 Speaker 1: giant garbage bags, fifty pound bales up to the house 336 00:22:34,605 --> 00:22:37,085 Speaker 1: and then it'd be rolling out. But because of where 337 00:22:37,085 --> 00:22:39,005 Speaker 1: we lived, nobody could see it anyway, and it was 338 00:22:39,045 --> 00:22:41,445 Speaker 1: on a quiet, secluded street even though it was close 339 00:22:41,645 --> 00:22:46,245 Speaker 1: right downtown. So these bales would move up, they'd move down. 340 00:22:46,925 --> 00:22:50,005 Speaker 1: It was very funny, you know, jeez. I go back 341 00:22:50,005 --> 00:22:55,325 Speaker 1: to that time, I'm twenty six years old or twenty seven, 342 00:22:55,725 --> 00:22:59,685 Speaker 1: twenty six, twenty seven, you know it, gentle times and 343 00:22:59,965 --> 00:23:11,565 Speaker 1: lovely pot and just living in that same year, in 344 00:23:11,645 --> 00:23:14,685 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, my dad lands his biggest trip so far, 345 00:23:15,245 --> 00:23:18,325 Speaker 1: remember trips or deals from start to finish. It's the 346 00:23:18,365 --> 00:23:21,765 Speaker 1: big Panama Read trip. This trip, my dad moves the 347 00:23:21,805 --> 00:23:25,565 Speaker 1: seven hundred pounds of Colombian pot. So my parents named 348 00:23:25,605 --> 00:23:28,245 Speaker 1: this load Panama Read, which was a kind of generic 349 00:23:28,325 --> 00:23:31,165 Speaker 1: term for various kinds of pot. Panama Read was later 350 00:23:31,285 --> 00:23:33,525 Speaker 1: made famous by a song written by Peter Rowan in 351 00:23:33,605 --> 00:23:57,245 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three Animal on his later on at summer 352 00:23:57,285 --> 00:23:59,485 Speaker 1: camp in the nineteen eighties, Peter Rowan showed up and 353 00:23:59,485 --> 00:24:02,325 Speaker 1: he taught Panama Read to all the campers, and of 354 00:24:02,325 --> 00:24:04,485 Speaker 1: course I took it literally. I thought it was about 355 00:24:04,525 --> 00:24:07,965 Speaker 1: a cowboy. It's a pretty good song. It's pretty catchy. 356 00:24:09,005 --> 00:24:12,285 Speaker 1: Now here's how the first Panama Red trip worked. It's 357 00:24:12,365 --> 00:24:15,085 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. My mom is pregnant with me, my 358 00:24:15,125 --> 00:24:17,725 Speaker 1: big sister is between four and five, and my dad 359 00:24:17,765 --> 00:24:20,525 Speaker 1: gets a hold of seven hundred pounds of pot from 360 00:24:20,525 --> 00:24:24,325 Speaker 1: a Big Bay area smuggler. They're living and working out 361 00:24:24,325 --> 00:24:27,005 Speaker 1: of the rental Mill Valley house with the fifty plus 362 00:24:27,045 --> 00:24:30,205 Speaker 1: steps to the front door. My dad met the Brooklyn 363 00:24:30,205 --> 00:24:34,165 Speaker 1: Boys through Nicki Sunshine, the East Coast Acid King, and 364 00:24:34,245 --> 00:24:37,245 Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Boys would come over, pay my dad for 365 00:24:37,285 --> 00:24:39,565 Speaker 1: the product and take it to New York City in 366 00:24:39,645 --> 00:24:44,085 Speaker 1: big old cars with big trunks, Chevies or Plymouths. They 367 00:24:44,125 --> 00:24:46,965 Speaker 1: would buy it outright, drive it to New York City, 368 00:24:47,085 --> 00:24:50,805 Speaker 1: and then come back for more. The first Panama Red 369 00:24:50,805 --> 00:24:54,325 Speaker 1: trip of seven hundred pounds earns my parents fifteen thousand dollars, 370 00:24:54,645 --> 00:24:57,005 Speaker 1: which is the equivalent to more than eighty two thousand 371 00:24:57,085 --> 00:24:59,805 Speaker 1: dollars today. So my dad is working with people who 372 00:24:59,845 --> 00:25:05,405 Speaker 1: are surprisingly organized for disorganized crime and meticulous. Each box 373 00:25:05,685 --> 00:25:10,365 Speaker 1: is expertly packaged and exactly ten pounds. Just love this 374 00:25:10,685 --> 00:25:13,925 Speaker 1: pot because it was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, and it was 375 00:25:14,085 --> 00:25:18,605 Speaker 1: really upper stuff. It was just very pretty stuff, well 376 00:25:18,645 --> 00:25:22,765 Speaker 1: well manicured, well manicured into little buds, and they it 377 00:25:22,885 --> 00:25:27,325 Speaker 1: smelled beautiful, It smelled like chocolate. And it was so consistent, 378 00:25:27,925 --> 00:25:32,125 Speaker 1: which is a pretty unusual thing with hippies doing pot trips. 379 00:25:33,165 --> 00:25:36,205 Speaker 1: Consistency is not what they were known for in the 380 00:25:35,885 --> 00:25:39,845 Speaker 1: early days, necessarily, and so we ended I ended up 381 00:25:39,885 --> 00:25:43,325 Speaker 1: doing seven hundred pounds of it. I remember these numbers 382 00:25:43,365 --> 00:25:45,805 Speaker 1: because it was that was a lot of it seemed 383 00:25:45,845 --> 00:25:50,125 Speaker 1: like a really pretty good amount of pot. Explain how 384 00:25:50,205 --> 00:25:52,765 Speaker 1: this happened and where you picked it up? How did 385 00:25:52,805 --> 00:25:56,965 Speaker 1: you get it? I don' understand right. So there's fishing 386 00:25:57,005 --> 00:25:59,525 Speaker 1: all over the West coast, so fishing fishing boats and 387 00:25:59,605 --> 00:26:03,805 Speaker 1: then fishermen. Different of these guys are approached and a 388 00:26:03,965 --> 00:26:07,525 Speaker 1: main boat would come up and be thirty miles fifty 389 00:26:07,525 --> 00:26:12,885 Speaker 1: miles offshore, and then a smaller fishing boat would meet 390 00:26:12,925 --> 00:26:17,125 Speaker 1: it wherever and off float onto the smaller boat. You 391 00:26:17,165 --> 00:26:22,045 Speaker 1: could fit ten thousand pounds on not huge boats. It's 392 00:26:22,085 --> 00:26:24,885 Speaker 1: good size, but not huge boats. So when it came 393 00:26:24,965 --> 00:26:27,205 Speaker 1: off the boats onto the trucks, it would go to 394 00:26:27,605 --> 00:26:30,485 Speaker 1: a central warehouse generally, unless it was so big it 395 00:26:30,525 --> 00:26:34,725 Speaker 1: had to go to several different warehouses. And then from 396 00:26:34,805 --> 00:26:39,365 Speaker 1: there I would be dealing with people who had who 397 00:26:39,845 --> 00:26:43,245 Speaker 1: were at that step who had to warehouses and then 398 00:26:43,285 --> 00:26:52,805 Speaker 1: moved to meet or others like it. To celebrate the 399 00:26:52,845 --> 00:26:55,845 Speaker 1: completion of the first Panama Red Trip, my parents embark 400 00:26:55,925 --> 00:26:58,645 Speaker 1: on a vacation to Hawaii and leave five year old 401 00:26:58,685 --> 00:27:03,365 Speaker 1: verticat Grandma's house. Giddy on financial success, they splurge on 402 00:27:03,405 --> 00:27:07,125 Speaker 1: a helicopter ride from Mill Valley to the San Francisco Airport. 403 00:27:08,485 --> 00:27:11,165 Speaker 1: It's about a forty minute drive from Mill Valley to 404 00:27:11,165 --> 00:27:15,245 Speaker 1: the airport without traffic. Who takes a helicopter for that 405 00:27:15,325 --> 00:27:18,845 Speaker 1: short a journey. Well, that's exactly what the helicopter meet 406 00:27:18,845 --> 00:27:22,005 Speaker 1: and greeters thought. Anyone taking a helicopter has to have 407 00:27:22,045 --> 00:27:25,085 Speaker 1: a lot of money. And my twenty seven year old 408 00:27:25,165 --> 00:27:28,365 Speaker 1: dad doesn't look like an old moneyed Californian with his 409 00:27:28,565 --> 00:27:33,525 Speaker 1: giant jewfro an ARTSI handembridered cowboy shirt and leather fringe jacket. Oh, 410 00:27:33,605 --> 00:27:38,325 Speaker 1: he was clearly part of the bohemian hippie counterculture. Okay, 411 00:27:38,365 --> 00:27:40,965 Speaker 1: so my dad is psyched for Hawaii and he decides 412 00:27:41,005 --> 00:27:44,005 Speaker 1: to bring some party favors with him on this trip. Yeah, 413 00:27:44,045 --> 00:27:46,525 Speaker 1: I thought, okay, well I'll bring a little bit with me, 414 00:27:46,605 --> 00:27:48,405 Speaker 1: and I brought, oh, I don't know, a couple of 415 00:27:48,485 --> 00:27:53,845 Speaker 1: grams of pot and a couple of capsules of mescaline 416 00:27:54,725 --> 00:28:01,525 Speaker 1: and maybe a tiny amount of hash. And I actually 417 00:28:01,605 --> 00:28:03,285 Speaker 1: I wrapped it all up and I hid it in 418 00:28:03,405 --> 00:28:08,565 Speaker 1: a nut cracker doll. Who brings the nutcracker doll to Hawaii? 419 00:28:08,925 --> 00:28:11,245 Speaker 1: I mean absurd? Right, Well, there are a lot of 420 00:28:11,285 --> 00:28:14,965 Speaker 1: macadamia nuts in Hawaii. A holiday nutcracker is never on 421 00:28:15,005 --> 00:28:19,605 Speaker 1: anyone's tropical vacation packing list. So my parents get off 422 00:28:19,605 --> 00:28:23,605 Speaker 1: the helicopter, walk into the terminal and encounter some bad luck. 423 00:28:23,965 --> 00:28:29,405 Speaker 1: We land at the airport and walk into the terminal 424 00:28:30,005 --> 00:28:34,405 Speaker 1: and there's there's this place there where they they're absolutely 425 00:28:34,565 --> 00:28:38,285 Speaker 1: going through your luggage like you just got back from 426 00:28:39,485 --> 00:28:42,245 Speaker 1: from the Golden Triangle or something like that. I mean, 427 00:28:42,285 --> 00:28:45,285 Speaker 1: they're they're inspecting it, like you're going through customs from 428 00:28:45,285 --> 00:28:48,045 Speaker 1: who knows where. They're going through my luggage and they 429 00:28:48,085 --> 00:28:51,565 Speaker 1: find this thing and they open it and they and 430 00:28:51,925 --> 00:28:54,845 Speaker 1: they open it and what's this? I don't know, you 431 00:28:54,885 --> 00:28:58,085 Speaker 1: know what you're supposed to say? It's drugs? They say, okay, 432 00:28:58,125 --> 00:29:02,205 Speaker 1: young man, welcome with us. So Taffy is is what watching? 433 00:29:02,685 --> 00:29:08,125 Speaker 1: While I'm getting busted. I hold my dad off in 434 00:29:08,165 --> 00:29:11,085 Speaker 1: handcuffs as my mom watches from the other side of security. 435 00:29:11,805 --> 00:29:14,525 Speaker 1: My mom pops to action and calls her rockstar pot 436 00:29:14,565 --> 00:29:19,485 Speaker 1: lawyer and the bail bondsman. Okay, So, after successfully smuggling 437 00:29:19,565 --> 00:29:23,165 Speaker 1: almost a ton of pot across the country, my dad 438 00:29:23,165 --> 00:29:25,445 Speaker 1: gets busted on his home turf for a couple of 439 00:29:25,485 --> 00:29:28,005 Speaker 1: grams of pot and a few hits of mescaline, which 440 00:29:28,045 --> 00:29:30,805 Speaker 1: is a nature forward psychedelic drive from Poti. I just 441 00:29:30,925 --> 00:29:37,045 Speaker 1: finished selling seven hundred pounds and I get busted for 442 00:29:37,325 --> 00:29:40,485 Speaker 1: two grams. That is dodging a bullet. My friend I 443 00:29:40,725 --> 00:29:46,325 Speaker 1: ended up having to I pled guilty to some misdemeanor 444 00:29:46,445 --> 00:29:50,565 Speaker 1: pot But they started out by wanting a felony for 445 00:29:50,605 --> 00:29:54,205 Speaker 1: the psychedelics, for the one capsule of mescaline or something 446 00:29:54,285 --> 00:29:58,605 Speaker 1: like that, and eventually a deal was cut to where 447 00:29:58,925 --> 00:30:03,045 Speaker 1: I would get four weekends in the Redwood City jail. 448 00:30:06,405 --> 00:30:10,365 Speaker 1: My dad gets sentenced to four weekends in jail, which 449 00:30:10,365 --> 00:30:11,885 Speaker 1: I didn't know was the thing, but yes, it is 450 00:30:11,965 --> 00:30:14,725 Speaker 1: jail on the weekends. It's like a month long weekend workshop, 451 00:30:14,765 --> 00:30:16,805 Speaker 1: but you go to jail instead of the ceramics studio. 452 00:30:16,885 --> 00:30:19,885 Speaker 1: I'm making shop or writing a retreats. When I served 453 00:30:19,885 --> 00:30:23,925 Speaker 1: the sentence, I would Taffy would drive me down and 454 00:30:23,965 --> 00:30:27,205 Speaker 1: I check into the jail. I would take I can't 455 00:30:27,205 --> 00:30:30,845 Speaker 1: remember if I would get so stoned or some sleeping 456 00:30:30,885 --> 00:30:33,885 Speaker 1: pills or something. The place was like a zoo. They 457 00:30:33,965 --> 00:30:37,725 Speaker 1: put me in this tank with all these mother rapers 458 00:30:37,725 --> 00:30:42,285 Speaker 1: and father rapers, and you know, and here I am 459 00:30:42,445 --> 00:30:46,445 Speaker 1: there and I didn't even talk to these people. And 460 00:30:46,685 --> 00:30:48,645 Speaker 1: I guess there were bunks in the place, but the 461 00:30:48,685 --> 00:30:52,165 Speaker 1: place was so crawling with people. They left the lights 462 00:30:52,245 --> 00:30:55,445 Speaker 1: on all the time, and I didn't have a bunk. 463 00:30:55,485 --> 00:30:58,685 Speaker 1: I ended up sleeping on the dining table. And the 464 00:30:58,805 --> 00:31:02,965 Speaker 1: fucking guards they were really assholes. They would I was 465 00:31:02,965 --> 00:31:05,405 Speaker 1: supposed to get out at six o'clock on Sunday evening, 466 00:31:05,845 --> 00:31:08,845 Speaker 1: and they would fuck around and they just sort of 467 00:31:08,885 --> 00:31:12,165 Speaker 1: played games, and I got out whenever. It was maybe 468 00:31:12,165 --> 00:31:15,485 Speaker 1: an hour later, half an hour later, and Taffy would 469 00:31:16,045 --> 00:31:19,485 Speaker 1: be waiting down in the middle of Redwood City at 470 00:31:19,485 --> 00:31:22,165 Speaker 1: the jail. Whatever you go, gets Chinese food in the 471 00:31:22,205 --> 00:31:26,525 Speaker 1: city on the way home. Probably this is a very happy, 472 00:31:26,605 --> 00:31:29,205 Speaker 1: go lucky story the way my dad tells it. And 473 00:31:29,285 --> 00:31:32,245 Speaker 1: in the next twenty years, my dad's smuggling career grows, 474 00:31:32,365 --> 00:31:38,045 Speaker 1: along with increasingly serious prison sentences for pot. Pot sentencing 475 00:31:38,125 --> 00:31:41,765 Speaker 1: laws and my dad are like contrary fraternal twins, both 476 00:31:42,005 --> 00:31:45,645 Speaker 1: growing in the pot industry in totally opposite ways. The 477 00:31:45,685 --> 00:31:48,005 Speaker 1: more successful my dad grows as a pot smuggler, the 478 00:31:48,085 --> 00:31:54,205 Speaker 1: more serious the pot laws grow. You're listening to Disorganized Crime. 479 00:31:54,565 --> 00:32:11,245 Speaker 1: I'm Rainbow Valentine. We'll be right back. Despite these arrests 480 00:32:11,365 --> 00:32:14,645 Speaker 1: and the ever looming war on drugs, my dad made 481 00:32:14,645 --> 00:32:19,485 Speaker 1: the choice to remain a smuggler. It came with enormous risks, 482 00:32:20,205 --> 00:32:25,205 Speaker 1: but it was lucrative, flexible, and fun. Now, the main 483 00:32:25,285 --> 00:32:28,005 Speaker 1: reason my dad gives for working as a pot smuggler 484 00:32:28,245 --> 00:32:31,645 Speaker 1: is freedom, and the prevailing philosophy in our household of 485 00:32:31,685 --> 00:32:35,965 Speaker 1: freelancers is that money is freedom. My dad and his 486 00:32:36,005 --> 00:32:39,245 Speaker 1: smuggling associates were driven by an even bigger force in 487 00:32:39,285 --> 00:32:42,805 Speaker 1: their line of work. Money is enticing. But the children 488 00:32:42,885 --> 00:32:46,805 Speaker 1: of the nineteen sixties counterculture felt betrayed by the US government, 489 00:32:47,165 --> 00:32:50,285 Speaker 1: a feeling kindled by the ongoing Vietnam War and fed 490 00:32:50,325 --> 00:32:54,565 Speaker 1: by what they saw as the government's hypocrisy and antagonism. 491 00:32:54,645 --> 00:32:57,325 Speaker 1: So my mom told me this hilarious story getting an 492 00:32:57,325 --> 00:33:02,245 Speaker 1: insider's perspective into the FBI in the sixties. One time 493 00:33:02,285 --> 00:33:06,125 Speaker 1: I picked up an FBI agent in Chinatown in a bar. 494 00:33:06,405 --> 00:33:09,645 Speaker 1: If you could believe this, this is a story I 495 00:33:09,685 --> 00:33:12,405 Speaker 1: am here. Yeah, it's like one of the times I 496 00:33:12,445 --> 00:33:14,325 Speaker 1: was living alone, and so I picked him up and 497 00:33:14,405 --> 00:33:17,205 Speaker 1: took him home. Right, he had a trench coat. What 498 00:33:17,405 --> 00:33:19,845 Speaker 1: was under the trench coat though, that was the real question. 499 00:33:19,885 --> 00:33:23,645 Speaker 1: Close he had close up. But this was like nineteen 500 00:33:23,805 --> 00:33:27,685 Speaker 1: sixty six and during that time, and he told, you know, 501 00:33:27,765 --> 00:33:32,245 Speaker 1: we had a trist and then he told me that 502 00:33:32,325 --> 00:33:36,685 Speaker 1: he worked for this this government, and that you know, 503 00:33:36,765 --> 00:33:39,925 Speaker 1: there were rooms and rooms of people listening with like 504 00:33:40,205 --> 00:33:43,485 Speaker 1: microphones to everything going on, and there was a surveillance 505 00:33:43,565 --> 00:33:46,565 Speaker 1: going on. So that sinched it for me, because this 506 00:33:46,605 --> 00:33:50,685 Speaker 1: guy was a real guy. It wasn't like the village 507 00:33:50,765 --> 00:33:53,845 Speaker 1: voice telling you that shit was happening. It was this 508 00:33:54,005 --> 00:33:57,925 Speaker 1: real guy telling me that like shit was happening. That 509 00:33:58,045 --> 00:33:59,725 Speaker 1: was the only time I picked up a guy in 510 00:33:59,765 --> 00:34:02,365 Speaker 1: a bar, though. I want to tell you, my parents 511 00:34:02,365 --> 00:34:05,645 Speaker 1: also saw many of their peers sent of Vietnam or 512 00:34:05,645 --> 00:34:10,725 Speaker 1: they both felt was pointless, classist and maliciously dishonest. Dennis 513 00:34:10,805 --> 00:34:14,565 Speaker 1: McNally or in nineteen sixties counterculture historian from last episode, 514 00:34:14,725 --> 00:34:17,965 Speaker 1: So this really potent thing about anger and the bitterness 515 00:34:18,085 --> 00:34:21,405 Speaker 1: of the nineteen sixties youth and the counterculture. What happened 516 00:34:21,405 --> 00:34:25,205 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties was that there are four or 517 00:34:25,205 --> 00:34:27,805 Speaker 1: five things that, whether you're conscious of it or not, 518 00:34:28,725 --> 00:34:32,445 Speaker 1: as an American, you're taught to believe in. One of them, 519 00:34:32,805 --> 00:34:39,245 Speaker 1: for instance, is that America is uniquely great and wonderful 520 00:34:39,645 --> 00:34:43,285 Speaker 1: and can do no wrong and if it's American, it's good. 521 00:34:43,965 --> 00:34:47,645 Speaker 1: So yeah, that more comes in on all this because 522 00:34:48,285 --> 00:34:52,245 Speaker 1: remember in the nineteen sixties, when I was getting ready 523 00:34:52,245 --> 00:34:54,405 Speaker 1: to go to college and going to college and facing 524 00:34:54,405 --> 00:34:58,005 Speaker 1: the draft. I was the son of a military veteran, 525 00:34:58,045 --> 00:35:03,765 Speaker 1: as most people of my age, because most Americans who 526 00:35:03,765 --> 00:35:08,605 Speaker 1: were service age in the nineteen forties served in World 527 00:35:08,685 --> 00:35:14,445 Speaker 1: War Two and defeated a really horrible foe, and we're 528 00:35:14,525 --> 00:35:16,765 Speaker 1: very proud of that as well they should do. And 529 00:35:16,845 --> 00:35:20,405 Speaker 1: the fact is that the assumption was that if America 530 00:35:20,485 --> 00:35:22,845 Speaker 1: was going to go to war, that it was necessary. 531 00:35:23,365 --> 00:35:26,925 Speaker 1: And that's what got Lyndon Johnson in deep, deep trouble 532 00:35:27,765 --> 00:35:32,805 Speaker 1: my fellow Americans. Not long ago, I received a letter 533 00:35:32,885 --> 00:35:39,085 Speaker 1: from a woman in the Midwest. She wrote, very muster, President, 534 00:35:40,405 --> 00:35:44,005 Speaker 1: in my humble way, I am writing to you about 535 00:35:44,045 --> 00:35:47,685 Speaker 1: the crisis in Vietnam. I have a son who is 536 00:35:47,725 --> 00:35:51,485 Speaker 1: now in Vietnam. My husband served in World War Two. 537 00:35:52,765 --> 00:35:57,845 Speaker 1: Our country was at war. But now this time it's 538 00:35:57,885 --> 00:36:01,365 Speaker 1: just something that I don't understand. This is President Lyndon B. 539 00:36:01,525 --> 00:36:05,125 Speaker 1: Johnson's news conference from nineteen sixty five, where he's defending 540 00:36:05,525 --> 00:36:11,205 Speaker 1: the Vietnam War. Why most young Americans born into a 541 00:36:11,365 --> 00:36:16,965 Speaker 1: land exultant with hope and with golden promise toil and 542 00:36:17,165 --> 00:36:22,325 Speaker 1: suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place. 543 00:36:24,045 --> 00:36:28,365 Speaker 1: The answer, like the war itself, is not an easy one. 544 00:36:29,685 --> 00:36:33,605 Speaker 1: We have learned at a terrible and a brutal cost 545 00:36:34,165 --> 00:36:41,405 Speaker 1: that retreat does not bring safety, and weakness does not 546 00:36:42,165 --> 00:36:47,525 Speaker 1: bring peace. Lennon Johnson decided that he couldn't lose a war, 547 00:36:48,805 --> 00:36:51,765 Speaker 1: and that the idea that America could lose. So he 548 00:36:51,845 --> 00:36:54,525 Speaker 1: kept putting more and more resources in the Vietnam, and 549 00:36:54,605 --> 00:36:59,205 Speaker 1: it became more and more obvious that he was rung 550 00:36:59,685 --> 00:37:02,325 Speaker 1: and that a we weren't going to win the war, 551 00:37:03,125 --> 00:37:05,925 Speaker 1: we had a business being in the war, and so 552 00:37:06,045 --> 00:37:09,685 Speaker 1: forth and so on. So if you're a teenager in 553 00:37:09,685 --> 00:37:13,845 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties and you suddenly discover that, gee, the 554 00:37:13,925 --> 00:37:18,405 Speaker 1: government's been lying to us, and then you are forced 555 00:37:19,525 --> 00:37:23,085 Speaker 1: you're you're forced to start challenging all kinds of assumptions. 556 00:37:24,045 --> 00:37:27,085 Speaker 1: One of them is that all drugs are bad, right, 557 00:37:27,165 --> 00:37:30,725 Speaker 1: That was one of the messages from America. And you know, 558 00:37:30,765 --> 00:37:34,165 Speaker 1: people tried pot and I went jeeus makes me eat 559 00:37:34,165 --> 00:37:35,845 Speaker 1: a lot of ice cream. But other than that, you 560 00:37:35,885 --> 00:37:40,125 Speaker 1: know where I don't quite see the damage share And 561 00:37:40,285 --> 00:37:46,805 Speaker 1: that that that left us with um an enormous gap 562 00:37:47,485 --> 00:37:51,245 Speaker 1: in belief in challenging the you know, the the traditional 563 00:37:51,285 --> 00:37:56,565 Speaker 1: American beliefs. My parents grew up in Harry An Slinger's America. 564 00:37:56,765 --> 00:38:00,005 Speaker 1: Remember he was the guy who spread the antimerajuana propaganda 565 00:38:00,045 --> 00:38:04,845 Speaker 1: after prohibition, but their personal drug experiences were the opposite 566 00:38:04,925 --> 00:38:08,685 Speaker 1: of what the government asserted was the truth about marijuana. 567 00:38:08,805 --> 00:38:11,885 Speaker 1: I could say, oh, drugs changed my life. They did, 568 00:38:12,525 --> 00:38:18,005 Speaker 1: but absolutely positively. It opened my eyes to seeing that 569 00:38:18,045 --> 00:38:21,525 Speaker 1: there was more to the real world, to the real world, 570 00:38:21,765 --> 00:38:25,645 Speaker 1: not to some pollucinatory other world. More to the real 571 00:38:25,685 --> 00:38:30,485 Speaker 1: world than just the experience of being where you are 572 00:38:30,805 --> 00:38:34,765 Speaker 1: right at that moment. It brought out as end quality 573 00:38:35,605 --> 00:38:40,005 Speaker 1: of going inside and not outside and letting your boundaries disappear. 574 00:38:40,725 --> 00:38:44,805 Speaker 1: I think it opened up life into art. Thought it 575 00:38:44,885 --> 00:38:50,005 Speaker 1: was soothing in a sea of chaos because it was 576 00:38:50,605 --> 00:38:57,685 Speaker 1: very just. Life is chaos, life is very fearful. During 577 00:38:57,725 --> 00:39:01,805 Speaker 1: a nineteen ninety four interview, President Nixon's domestic policy chief 578 00:39:02,205 --> 00:39:07,445 Speaker 1: John Erlickman suggested the War on drugs campaign had ulterior motives. 579 00:39:07,885 --> 00:39:11,885 Speaker 1: Keep in mind, Erlickman did have a complicated relationship with Nixon. 580 00:39:12,365 --> 00:39:15,965 Speaker 1: Nixon was immediately pardoned for Watergate, and Erlickman ended up 581 00:39:15,965 --> 00:39:19,205 Speaker 1: in prison for a year and a half. However, in 582 00:39:19,245 --> 00:39:23,405 Speaker 1: the interview published in Harper's magazine, Erlickman explained that the 583 00:39:23,525 --> 00:39:28,885 Speaker 1: Nixon campaign had two enemies. Erlichman is quoted as saying, 584 00:39:29,845 --> 00:39:33,325 Speaker 1: the anti war left and black people. We knew we 585 00:39:33,325 --> 00:39:35,725 Speaker 1: couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war 586 00:39:35,925 --> 00:39:39,005 Speaker 1: or black. But by getting the public to associate the 587 00:39:39,045 --> 00:39:43,005 Speaker 1: hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing 588 00:39:43,045 --> 00:39:47,485 Speaker 1: both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest 589 00:39:47,525 --> 00:39:50,685 Speaker 1: their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and 590 00:39:50,885 --> 00:39:54,885 Speaker 1: vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did 591 00:39:54,885 --> 00:39:57,725 Speaker 1: we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course 592 00:39:57,765 --> 00:40:03,765 Speaker 1: we did. Now. My dad and most of his smuggling 593 00:40:03,805 --> 00:40:08,765 Speaker 1: colleagues felt and still feel their work was honorable. They 594 00:40:08,845 --> 00:40:13,085 Speaker 1: felt deceived by the government. To them, the government was 595 00:40:13,125 --> 00:40:16,645 Speaker 1: the bad guy. So if they're subverting the bad guy, 596 00:40:17,285 --> 00:40:22,885 Speaker 1: what harm are they actually doing. I think the government's 597 00:40:22,925 --> 00:40:27,365 Speaker 1: success and rightful righteousness in World War Two led to hubris, 598 00:40:27,405 --> 00:40:30,605 Speaker 1: and hubris leads to a desire for more power, and 599 00:40:30,725 --> 00:40:34,845 Speaker 1: power corrupts, so corruption leads to a pushback at some point, 600 00:40:35,125 --> 00:40:40,045 Speaker 1: because energy isn't stagnant. It ebbs and flows, pulses, moves 601 00:40:40,085 --> 00:40:43,445 Speaker 1: like a fractal laser hippie light show. There is cause 602 00:40:43,485 --> 00:40:45,805 Speaker 1: and effect in a never ending game of ping pong. 603 00:40:46,965 --> 00:40:49,285 Speaker 1: So let's find out how the energy moved in my 604 00:40:49,365 --> 00:40:55,445 Speaker 1: dad's industry. So now it's the early seventies. My dad 605 00:40:55,445 --> 00:40:59,005 Speaker 1: has a life partner, a little kid, his partner's pregnant, 606 00:40:59,125 --> 00:41:01,925 Speaker 1: and he's in his late twenties. He's been doing small 607 00:41:01,965 --> 00:41:04,965 Speaker 1: to medium deals with anywhere from fifty to a couple 608 00:41:05,005 --> 00:41:08,285 Speaker 1: thousand pounds a pot, storing merchandise in the house, and 609 00:41:08,365 --> 00:41:13,125 Speaker 1: working with whoever comes along, people who might be sloppy, careless, stoned, 610 00:41:13,485 --> 00:41:16,525 Speaker 1: or all three. He's been a kid and treating the 611 00:41:16,565 --> 00:41:21,485 Speaker 1: business like a breezy lemonade stand childishly. But in nineteen 612 00:41:21,525 --> 00:41:24,085 Speaker 1: seventy four, on the dark and stormy night, when my 613 00:41:24,165 --> 00:41:27,205 Speaker 1: parents lost all their money but gained a child me, 614 00:41:28,325 --> 00:41:31,925 Speaker 1: my dad knew he had to change careers or change 615 00:41:31,925 --> 00:41:36,685 Speaker 1: his business model. I lost my complete completely lost my 616 00:41:36,765 --> 00:41:40,965 Speaker 1: self esteem. Taffy and I split up. I thought I 617 00:41:41,005 --> 00:41:44,485 Speaker 1: was so worthless and I failed and I failed my family, 618 00:41:44,805 --> 00:41:48,365 Speaker 1: you know. Coming up in episode four, my dad loses 619 00:41:48,405 --> 00:41:52,805 Speaker 1: everything and is forced to rebuild. I'm Rainbow Valentine and 620 00:41:52,845 --> 00:41:58,645 Speaker 1: you're listening to Disorganized Crime. Disorganized Crime Smuggler's Daughter is 621 00:41:58,645 --> 00:42:02,725 Speaker 1: written and recorded by Me Rainbow Valentine. Our producers are 622 00:42:02,765 --> 00:42:07,125 Speaker 1: Gabby Watts and Taylor Church. Exactly To producers are Brandon Barr, 623 00:42:07,165 --> 00:42:10,685 Speaker 1: Brian Lavin, Elsie Crowley and Me at School of Humans, 624 00:42:10,845 --> 00:42:14,045 Speaker 1: and Connell Burn and Charles Bryant at iHeartRadio. Our music 625 00:42:14,125 --> 00:42:16,725 Speaker 1: is by Gabby Lala and Claire Campbell, with original theme 626 00:42:16,765 --> 00:42:20,285 Speaker 1: by Mark Karen and Me. Special thanks to Peter Rowan 627 00:42:20,365 --> 00:42:22,925 Speaker 1: for the use of his song Panama Red. You can 628 00:42:22,925 --> 00:42:30,125 Speaker 1: follow us online at Disorganized Crime podcast dot com. Right 629 00:42:30,525 --> 00:42:36,125 Speaker 1: novel the story Do It As with Me Tam by 630 00:42:36,925 --> 00:42:45,485 Speaker 1: Stephen Princess of the Red Dreams, Keep It Real, Handshake, 631 00:42:45,605 --> 00:42:50,285 Speaker 1: Seals the Deal, Wrap the Stack, the seal of the Meal, 632 00:42:50,685 --> 00:42:57,085 Speaker 1: and Going Up. These are gold in a Doobie, Young, 633 00:42:57,245 --> 00:43:05,565 Speaker 1: Rich and Groovey Making it Up. We rold along in 634 00:43:05,805 --> 00:43:17,525 Speaker 1: Love Fower Country Roll, Rolling Love fer Country Roll, Rolling 635 00:43:17,725 --> 00:43:21,165 Speaker 1: Love Far Country Roll