High Times

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.[8] Through High Times, Forçade was able to get his message to the masses without relying on mainstream media.[9][10] 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.[11][2] 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).[12] The magazine was initially distributed by Homestead Book Company[13] and Big Rapids Distribution.

High Times was at the beginning funded by drug money from the sale of illegal marijuana,[14] But the magazine found an audience, becoming a monthly publication with a growing circulation, and the staff quickly grew to 40 people.

High Times founder Forçade committed suicide in November 1978.[15][16] He bequeathed trusts to benefit High Times and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).[3] (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),[17] 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.[2]

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."[18] 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.

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.[19]

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.[20] Hager became the first editor to publish and promote the work of hemp activist Jack Herer.[21]

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.[2] 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.

In the late 1980s Mike Edison began writing "Shoot the Tube," a featured column about television and politics for High Times. In 1998 Edison was named the magazine's publisher, and later took control of the editorial side of the magazine as well. As editor and publisher, he caused a furor among staffers by putting Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on the cover, and then leaking to the New York Post's Page Six gossip column that thousands of dollars of pot had gone missing from the photo shoot.[22] After taking the magazine to new heights in sales and advertising,[23] Edison was instrumental in producing High Times' first feature film, High Times' Potluck.[24] Edison left High Times in 2001.

In 2000, the magazine established the Stony Awards to recognize and celebrate notable stoner films and television episodes about cannabis. Six High Times Stony Awards ceremonies were held in New York City beginning in 2000, before the Stonys moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Award winners received a bong-shaped trophy.[25] Starting in 2002, the Stonys presented the Thomas King Forçade Award for "stony achievement" in film.[26]

In 2003, Steven Hager was fired by High Times' board of directors, as the magazine shifted focus from marijuana to more literary content, hiring John Buffalo Mailer as executive editor.[27][28] A succession of editors followed, including David Bienenstock, Rick Cusick, and Steve Bloom.[29] Mailer left the magazine within a year.[27]

In 2004, High Times returned to its roots, releasing the CD High Volume: The Stoner Rock Collection. Hager was rehired, first as the creative director, and then in 2006, back in the position of editor-in-chief,[29] but by 2009 he had returned to the role of creative director.[30]

In November 2009, High Times celebrated its 35th anniversary.[31]

Hager was again let go by the magazine in 2013, eventually suing High Times for defrauding him of his ownership shares in the company.[5]

In October 2014, the magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party attended by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon.[2] In 2014, the High Times website was read by 500,000 to five million users each month.[32][33]

In January 2017, the magazine announced it would be permanently relocating from New York to Los Angeles.[14] This followed the legalization of marijuana in several West Coast states, including California.[34] In the summer of 2017, High Times was acquired by a group of investors led by Oreva Capital for $42 million.[35][5]

High Times acquired cannabis media company Green Rush Daily, Inc. on April 5, 2018.[36] The deal was valued at $6.9 million. Green Rush Daily founder Scott McGovern joined the magazine as Senior Executive Vice President.[37]