What's the best thing about the holidays? Snow days? Eggnog? How about cash back on just about everything you need to make the holidays feel, well, holiday-y? With Rakuten, you get cash back on gifts for everyone on your list from stores you love, like Best Buy, Walmart, Sephora, and Dyson. You save even more when you stack up to 15% cash back on top of the season's biggest sales. And beyond the gifts, you can save on decor, travel, and maybe a little something for yourself. It is the most rewarding time of the year, after all. And when it's time to redeem your earnings, choose from Interact, PayPal, or Check. Join for free at Rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.
Every single day you hesitate, your marketing budget is bleeding out on platforms actively sabotaging your pipeline. Vanishing organic reach, skyrocketing ad costs, sudden algorithmic shadow bans that wipe out your revenue overnight. If you're still pouring money into channels that throttle your business, you are throwing capital straight into an incinerator. WMR.FM gives you the unfair B2B advantage your competitors don't want you to have. Zero corporate red tape. Zero platform restrictions. When you lock in with us, we don't just drop you into one quiet slot. We deploy your message across our entire network, weaponizing every flagship show and 20 years of on-demand archives. That's instant, guaranteed, unrelenting exposure to millions of high-income founders. C-suite executives.
and enterprise buyers with deep pockets ready to spend today. Sponsorship slots across our top feeds are strictly capped, and they move fast. Do not get locked out while your competitors take your market share. Email brasco at wmr.fm. That's B-R-A-S-C-O at wmr.fm. Secure your spot before it's gone. Sowing the seeds of cannabis and sounding the praise of our favorite plants, it's time to Hempresent. Our radio resident hemposapien Vivian McPeak will present a weekly platform for guests and listeners to Hempresent about hemp and cannabis from the legal, activist, and reformist route.
Let's round up and roll it up for our headmaster of hemp, Vivian McPeak. Welcome to the Hempresent Resistance, the weekly radio podcast where you can feel your knowledge void of cannabinoids and get your PhD in THC and CBD. You want to learn it. Seeking to defeat the alternative facts of Prohibition one interview at a time and advocating for the plant, the whole plant, nothing but their plant. Join me for a weekly read for radio rebellion against Prohibition as I speak with some of the principal risk takers, movers and shakers and history makers of the cannabis industry, culture and reform movement. I'm your host Vivian McPeak. I'm the executive director of the world's largest annual cannabis policy reform event, the Seattle Hemp Fest. Still kicking in its 28th year and found at HempFest.org. I'm also the author of the book Protestable, a 20-year retrospective of Seattle Hemp Fest.
From AHA Publishing, also found at HempFest.org. Today's guest on HempPresent is the illustrious John Sinclair, who is an American writer, poet, activist, and counterculture icon. John performs what has been described as jazz poetry, most often with the musical accompaniment of a variety of collaborators known as the Blue Scholars. In the late 1960s, Sinclair managed the seminal Detroit rock band, the MC5 or Motor City Five, which some consider to be one of the earliest influences of the punk rock genre. The MC5 was a favorite act of the radical political group, the Youth International Party, referred to as the Yippies. And during that time, Sinclair co-founded the White Panther Party, an anti-racist militant socialist organization and counterpart to the Black Panthers. In 1969, John Sinclair was prosecuted in one of the most high-profile cannabis possession cases of the decade. Sinclair received a sentence of 10 years in prison. John Sinclair...
Sinclair's case received much media attention and became a cause celebre for various rock stars and counterculture personalities of that time, and he was eventually released in 1972. The famed Ann Arbor Hash Bash, one of America's first and most renowned annual pot rallies, was originally a celebration of John's victory on appeal and his release. Most recently, Sinclair has opened an establishment called the Psychedelic Healing Shack, targeting Detroit, Michigan cannabis enthusiasts, and which features vegan food and even the services of a chiropractor, and I'd be remiss not to mention that John, along with myself, is a High Times Magazine Lester Grinspoon Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and as you already know, he's with me right now. Welcome, John, to him present. Thanks, Vivian, for what that's worth. John, there's so much to cover in such a short amount of time. I feel like we could do a whole show on any one subject we'll touch on today. But let's begin with the present and then go backwards. Let's begin with your new business. You recently opened up the Psychedelic Shack in Detroit with partner Adam Brook, who was for years the principal organizer of the Ann Arbor Hash Bash. What is the Psychedelic Shack about? What takes place there? And what is the mission and purpose of the new establishment?
Well, in the first place, the psychedelic shack is an existing establishment operated by Dr. Bob. He's a chiropractor and therapeutic masseur. And he invited me to come in and use his space. I wanted to have a coffee shop for years since they legalized medical marijuana in 2008 in Michigan. We should have a place where we could go. There's a lot of dispensaries, but the dispensary model here is you have to go in there and get the weed and get out. So they don't have anything. We aren't a dispensary. But, you know, if you want to smoke a joint, you can probably smoke a joint. We got designated for smoking weed.
So basically, though, it's a place to hang out. The coffee shops are in Amsterdam, for example, because we're going to sell no weed. And I know that marijuana business... But everybody in Michigan has got their own weight and they've had it for 80 years, you know. Yep, yep. Nobody's going to go without ear. I'll bet you that much. John, let's go back to the beginning and touch on your poetry. In the mid-60s, you were a jazz writer for Downbeat, reporting on the free jazz avant-garde movement, and one of the, quote, new poets to read at the legendary Berkeley Poetry Conference in 1965. When did you start writing and reciting poetry, and who were a few of your initial influences? Well, I started in the early 60s when I was an undergraduate in college. My influences were Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlingate, Charles Olson, Robert Kahn.
Really, Amiri Baraka. As it happens, John, I attended LeConte Junior High School in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. I played in a band with classmate Adam Holtzman, the son of Jack Holtzman at the time, president of Elected Records. He signed the MC5. Adam told me some wild, albeit uncorroborated, stories about the MC5, including one about the band taking off with musical equipment that the record label had rented for a recording session, and another about putting out... Jack Holtzman told lie after lie about the MC5. He lied to us when he said he would defend our record, and eventually we had to leave after six months. I couldn't deal with him. He was such a liar.
I imagine his son got the things at his knee. Yeah, he also said that they put out a fake live album. But I was going to ask you to comment on his plans. A fake live album. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, you're the man. How old was this kid? At the time, we were both about 13. Adam Holtzman? Adam Holtzman. Yeah, he's now a very well-known recording artist, piano player. But I was going to ask, how did you get hooked up with MC5? What's your most memorable moments about your time as their manager? Oh, there's so many. I got hooked up with them because I was a fan. I heard them play. They were fantastic. I became a fan. I saw them every time they played for a year.
Nice. And they could never get anywhere because they didn't have any management. And so I decided, teachers, I could do better than this. And I become friends with the Grateful Dead and their manager, Danny Rifkin and Rock Scully. And Rock Scully influenced me to think I could do this. So I decided to do it because I thought this is what they need more than anything. What can I do to help these guys? I could take care of their affairs. I knew how to do that from being a cultural organizer. I knew how to pay the rent. I knew how to rent a car. I knew how to book a gig, you know. The guitar strings and the drumsticks, you know, the amp sticks.
Nice. When I was a young stoner and the first time I heard the line kick out the jams, motherfuckers, I was sold on the MC5. Yeah, me too. I want to ask, how and why did the White Panthers come into being? Short of something like the Weathermen, I can't imagine a much more radical identity to be associated with in the late 60s. How did the White Panthers come to be? Well, we decided that there should be a movement among white youth to support the Black Panther Party. And so we responded to a call we had seen from U.E.P. Newton when somebody asked him what kind of white radicals do to support the Black Panther Party so they could form a White Panther Party.
So that's what we did. And did you take any heat on that? I mean, these were explosive. Heat? I did two and a half years in prison. What are you talking about? What do you mean by heat? What do you call heat? So I want to get to that. I want to get to that. Let's talk about your arrest and conviction for cannabis. How did you get busted? It was for two joints, right? Well, I had three. I was busted three times. The first time, I actually sold a guy $10 worth of weed. The second time, I let a guy take me to a guy's house and go in and get him some weed. $15 worth or $20 worth.
And the third time I gave two joints to an undercover police officer. And you spent several years in prison, right? They sentenced me to nine and a half to ten years for possession of two joints, and they wouldn't give me an appeal bond. Even though my appeal overturned the Michigan Marijuana Law successfully, but they held me in prison for two and a half years, and so that happened. What kind of effect did that have on you? Oh, come on. What kind of question is that? Is it TV or something?
Hey, man, people want to hear it. They want to hear the story. We used our goddamn brains. I was in prison for two and a half years. What do you think? I think that you were already pretty radical, but I think that must have radicalized you even more and been a traumatic experience for you. Well, yeah, sure. Your appeal in 1972, the United States versus U.S. District Court actually rendered a landmark decision. That's a different case. Okay. But this particular one rendered a landmark decision prohibiting the U.S. government's use of domestic electronic surveillance without a warrant.
How did it feel having one of the rare precedent-setting court victories about cannabis in that entire decade? What was that? Well, I guess these are two whole different things. That was a federal case that was centered on a conspiracy to blow up a CIA office on the University of Michigan campus. I was charged with conspiracy even though I had nothing to do with it. My friends did it. I was already in prison then for a marijuana possession.
I fought marijuana laws in Michigan for five years, continuously from the day I was arrested until the day I was released. So that was a long and bitter struggle. The other one was in federal court, and we challenged the prosecution by the Nixon Justice Department. We challenged it in every possible way. And we found that there were wiretapping without a warrant, and their name was national security. And we challenged this, and we challenged them to disclose who the wiretap was on and what was gained by the wiretap, and they wouldn't really be able to.
And so he went to the Supreme Court. We won in the Federal District Court in Detroit with Judge Damon Keith. He ruled on our behalf. And the government appealed this to the Supreme Court, and we won eight to nothing in the Supreme Court. But they could not have a wiretap with a rationale of national security without having a warrant. There would be no warrant. Wiretaps without warrants. That lasted all the way to the Bush era, you know. That is, Will. Things are finally changing. My guest is the infamous John Sinclair. We're going to take our first pause for the cause because there's still flaws in the laws. Hear a quick word from our sponsors and come back with more of John Sinclair.
Time to roll out for the people that let us represent. Hang loose. We're coming right back. The smoke is rising, and the next crop of podcasts devoted to cannabis providers and enthusiasts are ready to be harvested. Welcome to the Cannabis Radio Network, founded by respected rainmakers who have been producing award-winning podcasts for over a decade. Industry headlines, business updates, medical reports, marketing, and e-commerce education rolled up perfectly for your consumption. Let's grow together. The Cannabis Radio Network. Cannabisradio.com.
Ignite the conversation on some trending topics along the Cannabis Radio social media network. Join our crew of thousands on our Cannabis Radio page on Facebook or at Cannaradio, C-A-N-N-A radio on Twitter. Plus, look for our Facebook and Google Plus pages for all of our original programs and connect with Dr. Dina, Kyle Cushman, Dr. Mitch Earlywine, Nurse Heather, Doc Robb, the host of Gondrepreneur and more. Connect with the growing Cannabis Radio social crusade at Cannaradio on Twitter or search for Cannabis Radio on Facebook, Google Plus and Instagram and grow with us.
Oh, yeah. Get it on Android and I on iOS today. Marijuana Llama out. Got to tend to me on Crap Channel. Money don't make itself. Hey, Pink.
We're back to Hemp Presents, only on Cannabis Radio. Now, back to our headstrong hemperer of hemp, Vivian McPeak. And we're back with John Sinclair, who just lit up what I assume is a fat dude on the break here. Regular fat. Puff and tough, because this is Cannabis Radio. Yes. John, let's talk about the Blue Scholars. What do people experience at Blue Scholars' performance, and how can listeners support your work and check out your music and poetry?
Excuse me. Well, I write poetry. I set it to music. I get really good musicians, and they create music to go with my poetry, and then we perform it. So it's like a musical presentation, you know? They like it usually, even though it's not what they would have thought of. I've got about, oh, I don't know. I've got more than 25 albums I've made. They're all at CD Baby. You can download them there. CD Baby? Yeah, you don't have to buy them. You can look at them and then see them. They're all there under my name. How do you make any money doing that? Money. We said you were going to get money for being a poet.
Touche, man. Touche. I don't know. Bob Dylan's done pretty good probably for himself. Yeah, but he sings. I guess you could call it singing. I saw him not long ago. He's the man. He's the man. No, no. I know Bob Dylan. You had free John Sinclair buttons and posters and t-shirts were all over the place in the late 60s. I was in self-defense because I was in prison. Many counterculture icons were batting for you. You must have rubbed elbows with some wild folks back then. I was an activist. They were my comrades.
Nice. And some of them are still standing and some of them have... Not very many. Yep. Some of them have... Maybe we made 80. Yep. That was impressive. Yeah, man. That's my role model. Make 80. I'm 77. Yes. And you're still rocking. John, when all this stuff came down was the time of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. And we thought Richard Nixon was pretty crooked. Now we got Donald Trump. He was. What's your thoughts on Donald Trump? My thoughts.
He's an idiot. He's an idiot. He's a mocking. It's a mockery. Making a mockery of our whole country. You know, these people that watch too much television have taken over. It's just ugly and disgusting, as you can imagine. There's no peace and love going on, is there? Oh, I don't know. Not in the Trump camp. He's a racist dog, a pig, as we used to say. Are you surprised that there's not the kind of resistance these days that was going on? No, they don't resist anything. They love it. People, they love this. They had a resistance. That was about eight years ago now when they had that...
Occupy. And then they went back to their television shows or whatever they do. I don't know. What happened to them? Where did all these people go? Dancing with the Stars? Well, maybe that's it. I don't watch television, so I don't know what they do. I don't even watch movies. I'm a reality nut, you know. I don't know what's happening around me. Yeah, I'm the same way. The only television that I watch is stuff that's actually happened. I'm just not much into drama and escapism just because I'm an activist. No, no. You're a great activist. Well, thanks, John. We're addicted to what's actually going on because how can you change what's going on if you're not paying attention to it, right? Exactly correct.
And, man, there's a lot to change right now. But, you know, we have some pockets of resistance, you know, with the Standing Rock. Man, they're tiny. The only people who are doing anything in America is the fucking marijuana advocates. We're the last remaining Democrats. Hear, hear. We're using the law to change things that we don't like. You know, nobody else is doing that. What I'd like to point out, John, is I don't know. What if the people that were opposed to the police organized like that and got rid of the police like they are? Well, we do a show you can do it, but we also show that nobody else is doing it. That's sad, because look at how successful we've been. John, I don't know of another.
Another international political movement that has made the kind of progress the cannabis movement has made without a single act of violence. Without a single act of violence. This is the most peaceful revolution. No, of course not. Well, you're using the democratic process and not buying ads that lie or spying on people or intercepting their emails. You know, it's all straight up. Voting. No, no, we don't want this law. No, no, we won't live with that. That's what we've done. You'd think it would be a greater model, but it shows to me that the other people don't give a fuck. They don't care.
They like these wars that go on for 20 years. They love this shit. That's what makes me sick. Are you concerned about the corporatization of cannabis? Yeah. Well, I'm not concerned. I mean, I knew it would come, and here it is, you know. Right. Think the pot culture is going to be able to survive this mainstreaming? Does it matter? I don't know. It's a pot culture. I don't know if they have one. Do they have one? I don't know. I know my old friends. You know, I know people. I saw healthy pot culture when I was in Amsterdam multiple times and around here, but it seems like it's going to get them sore. Well, they just smoke weed. It's not no hell of a cultural thing like it used to be.
They don't even share their weed. When we had a podcast, it was sharing your weed with others. That's all I'm saying. We had a whole different approach to this, and it doesn't exist anymore. You know, when you say high times, I consider high times to be the main motor of destroying everything and making a commercial. And now what you're going to get is just read. If you've been reading high times the last 40 years, it's all a natural progression. At least they're selling real weed now. Remember when they were selling the pony weed? All my friends there have recently been let go. So I don't know anybody there anymore. I don't either, but I don't want to. And I couldn't even pick up their magazine and read it. You know, I'm like you. I'm a lifetime achievement.
They come here to my hometown of Flint, Michigan, and put on a cannabis custom. They don't even invite me. My hometown. So I don't even consider them in the same movement as I am. Well, it seems like there's a move. But I mean, it's just a commercialism. What's the best bud? Who won the cannabis? Who won? It's all just like sports or something. You know, it doesn't have nothing to do with weed. We just about getting high and creating something.
Excuse me, that's my outlook. I'll tell you what frustrates me, John, and that is that it's all about the industry now, and there's still people in prison, and there's still people losing their children over cannabis. And then I get all these emails about, this stock is worth this much, and, oh, look at this investment opportunity, and this business got bought by this company, and I'm like, people are still in prison, for Christ's sakes, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You were talking about the governor of Detroit, or I mean the mayor of Detroit. Well, not the mayor of Detroit. Detroit's in the fucking... Governor of Michigan. Yeah, Michigan's the new governor, attorney general, secretary of state. They're all women, they're all Democrats.
They're going to change this. The marijuana community, the activist community, the ones that passed the law last November were also very active in the state elections. And they backed the attorney general candidate when she was a disenguee. And they assured her nomination and then she won. For the first time in my lifetime, we got a real oar in with the state government, which has been very oppressive. We had a guy who called himself the tough nerd. He was our governor for the last few years. They got to pull a Republican House, Senate, and Supreme Court. It's like living in a nightmare politically. So now they just changed it through the electoral process. So one of the things that they've talked about is pardoning everybody who's in there for weed and dropping all the cases. That's what we need. That's what we need.
My view is today we need to dismantle the war on drugs in every particular so they can never do this to us again. This horrible crime that they've committed on us for the last 80 years by making up these lies that they've turned into laws and then sent armed thugs out to enforce them against us. All we were doing was smoking an herb and getting high. And it's all over the world. I'm bitter about it. It's all over the world because of America. We imported this injustice all over the globe. Yep, they certainly did and insisted that these people do this.
My guest is still John Sinclair, and we are still rocking this interview. We're going to take another quick pause, hear a word from our sponsors and advertisers, pay the rent, and then come back and make it real. Time to roll out for the people that let us come present. Hang loose. We're coming right back. Cannabis industry professionals want to gain some new leads, make genuine business connections, and get premier brand exposure? This is your opportunity. NCIA's new industry socials are kicking off in Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix in January. Register today using the promo code CannabisRadio20, all spelled in caps as one word, CannabisRadio20, to take 20% off at thecannabisindustry.org slash events. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Register today at thecannabisindustry.org slash events.
Not available for pre-order through crowdfunding for just $14 plus $10 shipping. Pouches, premium mixing and rolling pouches allow you to carry and prepare your herbs for consumption with discretion and ease. These stylish pouches are handcrafted using strong zips, long-wearing buffalo leather outside, and smooth, cheap skin inside. A portion of proceeds go to fund vital medical research into cannabis or ADHD. See a demo and get yours now on Indiegogo or pouches.com. That's P-O-U-C-H-Z dot com.
Are you ready to be inspired and educated by the best of the best in the cannabis industry while enjoying sunny South Florida? Then you cannot miss out on the second annual United States Cannabis Conference and Expo, August 2nd and 3rd at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami. The USCC Expo welcomes all cannabis business professionals, medical cannabis caregivers and clinicians, growers and dispensary owners to join us for another can't miss event. Sponsored by the radio and podcast leader for all things cannabis, CannabisRadio.com. Learn more at USCCExpo.com. We're back to Hemp Presents, only on Cannabis Radio. Now, back to our headstrong emperor of hemp, Vivian McBeak.
And we are, we're back. We're back with John Sinclair for the final segment of Hempresent. John, you have a long time host at your own radio program, the John Sinclair Radio Show. You also have... Well, I got my own radio station. Radio Free Amsterdam. I was getting to that. Yeah, I got 12 disc jockeys. Yeah, and you also have an album still kicking on Funky D Records. Yeah, yeah. How do people check all that stuff out? Well, I put it all on CD Baby. Well, my new record and the one before that are on Funky D Records out of Detroit. I think if you went to FunkyD.com, you could find out everything you needed to know. That's my producer, Martino DiLorenzo, Martin Gross.
Tino Gross. He goes by a lot of names because he's multi-talented. How about johnsinclair-seeds.com? Is that still going on? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of in a transitory period right now, but yeah, they did that to honor me in Amsterdam, and I'm duly honored.
Well, it's been a duly honor, John. It's an honor to have you on the show. I've been following you since I was too young to smoke cannabis, even though I was probably already smoking it. And as you said, you slept in my bed. I wasn't there, but you slept in my bed. No, no. We didn't sleep in the bed together, but you gave me your bed when I came to the hemp fest. I didn't hesitate. I was duly impressed.
Well, one activist has to take care of this. We stick together, man. That's a beautiful thing. I love your event. Tribes of One Nation. And John, I just want to thank you so much, my brother and my friend, for being on Hempresent, man. Thank you. I just want to invite people to listen to RadioFreeAmsterdam.org. I put up two hours every day. There's a 24-7 stream you can listen to just like a radio station. I highly recommend it. Blues, Jazz, and Reefers are spoken. Happy trails to you, my brother. Thank you. Keep up your good work, man. You know I will.
Now I want to get to a week. I know that. On CannabisRadio.com, that's the quote of the week, and here it is. Our program is cultural revolution through a total assault on culture, which makes use of every tool, every energy. By any means necessary. We can get our collective hands on our culture, our art, our music, our books, our posters, our clothing, the way our hair grows long, the way we smoke dope and fuck and eat and sleep. It's all one message. The message is freedom, and that is John St. Clair from 1969. That includes this installment on Cannabis Radio. I was on the right track, wasn't I, Bill? You were, bro. I want to thank Rasko, my man in the control room, all the Cannabis Radio sponsors and advertisers. Join me next week for some more.
Marijuana! Marijuana! The opinions expressed on this cannabis radio.com program are those of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff and management of cannabis radio.com. Any rebroadcast or redistribution without proper consent of cannabis radio.com is prohibited.
Every single day you hesitate, your marketing budget is bleeding out on platforms actively sabotaging your pipeline. Vanishing organic reach, skyrocketing ad costs, sudden algorithmic shadow bans that wipe out your revenue overnight. If you're still pouring money into channels that throttle your business, you are throwing capital straight into an incinerator. WMR.FM gives you the unfair B2B advantage your competitors don't want you to have. Zero corporate red tape. Zero platform restrictions. When you lock in with us, we don't just drop you into one quiet slot. We deploy your message across our entire network, weaponizing every flagship show and 20 years of on-demand archives. That's instant, guaranteed, unrelenting exposure to millions of high-income founders. C-suite executives.
and enterprise buyers with deep pockets ready to spend today. Sponsorship slots across our top feeds are strictly capped and they move fast. Do not get locked out while your competitors take your market share. Email Brasco at WMR.FM. That's Brasco at WMR.FM. Secure your spot before it's gone.