The San Marcos Seven (or San Marcos 7) were seven demonstrators—Angela Atkins, Jody Dodd, Daniel Rodrigues Scales, Bill O’Rourke, Joe Gaddy, Jeffrey Stefanoff, and Joe Ptak—convicted of

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

possession of cannabis following protests at the

San Marcos, Texas San Marcos ( ) is a city and the county seat of Hays County, Texas, United States. The city's limits extend into Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties, as well. San Marcos is within the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area and on the Interstate 35 ...

, police station in March, 1991. Three of the protesters (Gaddy, Stefanoff, and Ptak) pleaded not guilty and were convicted by juries; two received prison sentences and one received probation. The four who pleaded guilty were given deferred adjudication and were sentenced to do community service work. While incarcerated, Gaddy and Stefanoff went on hunger strikes. A protest camp supporting the San Marcos Seven grew outside the

Hays County Hays County is located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. Hays County is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its official population had reached 241,067. The county seat is San Marcos. Ha ...

Law Enforcement Center in June, 1993, while Stefanoff was incarcerated.

Background

Jeffrey Sefanoff, a Vietnam War Army veteran, and musician and painter Joe Ptak, before conspiring to get arrested for cannabis at the police station, published the ''Hays County Guardian'', a free newspaper that focused on social justice issues. Stefanoff and Ptak sued Texas State University when the school tried to bar them from distributing the paper and won at the appeals court level, and the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

refused to hear the university's appeal.Conference index page
/ref> Brett Stahl, a San Marcos businessman, was arrested in 1992 for marijuana possession when he went to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office to buy tax stamps for the cannabis. During the same week in 1991 as the San Marcos Seven protests, a drug policy forum sponsored by the Associated Student Government was held at Texas State University. Joe Gaddy was arrested on the day before the forum began.

Civil disobedience

Over nine days beginning March 12, 1991, nine people came to the sheriff's office in Hays County, Texas, to smoke a joint in acts of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

protesting laws against marijuana. The seven who were arrested for smoking marijuana in the parking lot, Gaddy, Stefanoff, Angela Atkins, Ptak, Jody Dodd, Daniel Rodriguez Scales, and Bill O’Rourke, were charged with Class B misdemeanors, punishable in Texas by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Four of the protesters agreed to plea bargains and were ordered to do community service work and three went to trial. The civil disobedience was cooperative between protesters and police. Two of the nine protesters were not arrested for marijuana possession. One of them did not bring enough marijuana to be arrested. And one of them was on parole and was talked out of getting arrested by a sheriff's deputy. The seven who were arrested were employed as

house painter A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

s, construction workers, graduate students,

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

s, and chimney sweeps. They became known as the “San Marcos Seven.”

Trials

Gaddy, who was 29 at the time of his arrest, was the first to stand trial for

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

possession. Howard Warner was the judge. Activists wearing pro-hemp shirts packed the courtroom. He was convicted, served a four-month prison sentence, and was fined $700. Gaddy said of the near-maximum sentence, that he felt he was being made an example, and that he felt the only way to highlight the need to change the law was by breaking it. The '' Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' speculated that Gaddy's sentence may have been influenced by the fact that his trial took place during national

Red Ribbon Week Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, smoking, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States. It began as a tribute to fallen DEA special agent Enrique Camerena in 1985. According t ...

, which honors Enrique Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover agent who was tortured and murdered. Stefanoff, 38 at the time of arrest, was the second to stand trial. The judge was Warner. The jury deliberated for just 20 minutes. Stefanoff was sentenced to six months in jail. Ptak, 33, was the last to stand trial. He was sentenced to probation, and paid a fine.

Responses to trial outcomes

Hunger strikes

Gaddy started a hunger strike when his sentence began on November 14, 1991. He was put under medical supervision, and wrote a letter to Governor Ann Richards asking for a pardon. On November 22, about 30 supporters demonstrated outside the jail, chanting “Let Joe go.” He ended his hunger strike after 18 days, on December 2, when Sheriff Paul Hastings carried out a court order to feed Gaddy intravenously and had a needle inserted into his arm. Stefanoff said he wore clothing woven from hemp fabric when he arrived at the jail, on June 3, 1993. He started a hunger strike when his sentence began, and said he would not eat until President Bill Clinton publicly accepted literature and a brochure about the usefulness of

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

from him. Stefanoff was put under medical supervision and ended his hunger strike on July 6, after 34 days.

Hemp City

During Stefanoff's hunger strike, his supporters camped out in front of the jail in a tent city called Hemp Town, which grew as followers joined. Ptak was awarded '' High Times'' magazine's Freedom Fighter of the Month for his leadership in facilitating the demonstration. Vicki Hartin was another local leader. Stahl was one of the supporters during the encampment outside the jail and he started a hunger strike at the same time as Stefanoff, which lasted 16 days. A half-dozen tents on the lawn next to the police station housed 20 activists. The ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'' wrote that the protesters regard hemp as a “miracle herb” with great potential as a source of fuel, fiber and medicine. Nationally,

Green Panthers Green Panthers is a United States cannabis rights advocacy organization founded in Washington, D.C., in 1990 by Terry Mitchell and Loey Glover. Green Panthers headquarters moved in 1993 to Cincinnati, Ohio. The Green Panthers flag is a white fi ...

coordinated publicity and public relations for the Hemp City protest. According to Stahl, the tent city was in front of the jail for more than a month, until they were evicted by sheriff's deputies on July 7, 1993. They moved their tents across the street to the main square in front of the county courthouse in San Marcos until they were asked to leave by police on July 9. Then they relocated to Five Mile Dam, a county park just outside San Marcos, where Hemp City remained for another month, until August, 1993.

Arrests of supporters

On July 4, 1993, Billy Jack Williams turned himself in for marijuana possession in an act of civil disobedience in support of Stefanoff inside the jail. Williams was freed after posting a bond. Two days later, on July 6, 1993, Stahl was arrested for trespassing when he refused to leave the jail property. A jury, in 1994, found Stahl not guilty of trespassing.

Stefanoff's lawsuit

Stefanoff filed a lawsuit against Hays County, and the sheriff personally, for refusing to release him early for good conduct. The case was dismissed in 1998.

After 1993

Ptak was arrested and stood trial in 1996 for possession of 1.5 grams of marijuana. He mounted a successful legal defense on grounds of

medical necessity Medical necessity is a legal doctrine in the United States related to activities that may be justified as reasonable, necessary, and/or appropriate based on evidence-based clinical standards of care. In contrast, unnecessary health care lacks such ...

, which he said was the first such successful defense in Texas. In 1997, Stefanoff was arrested for possessing about 2 pounds of marijuana. At his trial he offered a medical necessity defense and said that he used marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder as a Vietnam War Army veteran. The jury found him guilty. He appealed the conviction and sentence and lost. In 1997, Ptak and Stefanoff continued their free speech activism and started a pirate radio station called Micro KIND Radio 105.9 FM. Stefanoff ran unsuccessfully for Hays County commissioner, and sheriff. Rodriguez Scales ran for mayor, justice of the peace, and council in San Marcos. Dodd, a student at the time of the protests, became employed by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In 2000, at a march and rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin that included about 300 people, Stefanoff encouraged people to engage in civil disobedience, like he did, as a way of forcing the end to cannabis prohibition.

Notes

References

* Associated Press ** '' Kerrville Daily Times'', p. 3, (October 24, 1991).
Protestor gets jail time for smoking pot at lockup
. ** '' Kerrville Daily Times'', p. 2, (November 22, 1991).
State hunger striker moved to Hays County jail
. ** '' The Paris News'', p. 3, (November 24, 1991).
Marijuana supporters lead vigil outside jail
. ** '' The Paris News'', p. 2, (April 16, 1993).
Marijuana activist gets day in court
. ** '' The Paris News'', p. 5, (June 3, 1993).
Protester begins jail term
. ** ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

'', p. B1, (June 17, 1993).
'Spacey' Hunger Striker Protests Marijuana Laws
. ** '' New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung'', p. 3, (July 8, 1993).
Pro-marijuana demonstration over after four weeks
. * Barneburg, Tina (March 16, 1991). "3 puff marijuana in front of police". ''

'', p. 7A. * Borden, Keefe (December 5, 1991). "Steak, potatoes end 18-day hunger strike". ''

'', p. 2F. * Dodge, Larry (1994).
A chat with Brett
. ''The FIJActivist Number 17. Autumn 1994'', pp. 18–22. * Donald, Mark (March 22, 2001).
Joint Effort
. '' Dallas Observer''. * Hartin, Vicki (July 1991). "Freedom Fighters of the Month: The San Marcos Seven". '' High Times''. * Hiott, Debbie (July 7, 1993). "No protesters allowed: Demonstrators who support San Marcos inmate, use of hemp asked to leave jail grounds". ''

'', p. B1. * Kushibab, Pete (2003).
Forum Analysis In Public Colleges and Universities
. ''24th Annual National Conference of Law & Higher Education'', pp. 11–12. * MacCormack, John (July 2, 1993). "Marijuana-law protest sprouts outside jail". ''

'', p. 10D. * New York Times, The (April 10, 1991).
San Marcos Journal; A Move for Marijuana Where the 60's Survive
. * Potter, Karen (November 28, 1991).
Legalized-pot drive claims ecology goal: Texas protesters stage smoke-ins, hunger strikes
. '' Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', p. 24. * Price, Asher (March 18, 2005).
Hemp Petition Makes the Rounds: 15 Years After Pot Arrests, Demonstrators Switch Tactics
. ''

''. *

Prison Legal News ''Prison Legal News'' (''PLN'') is a monthly American magazine and online periodical published since May 1990. It primarily reports on criminal justice issues and prison and jail-related civil litigation, mainly in the United States. It is a proj ...

(April 1999).
Denial of Good Time Because of Jury Sentencing Choice Violates Equal Protection
, p. 21. * Pyle, Emily (June 22, 2001).
The Death and Life of Free Radio: Austin Microradio Lived Fast and Died Young. Will the Movement Live to Broadcast Another Day?
. '' The Austin Chronicle''. *

(July 7, 1993)."20 Hays County marijuana-law protesters issued tent city eviction notices", p. 12C. * Strahan, Amy (May 7, 2000).
Demonstrators urge marijuana legalization
. '' Amarillo Globe-News''. * Texas Observer, The (February 19, 1999)
Left Field: Sputnik, The Busch Beat, The Bush Beat, KIND Radio
. * Turner, Allen (January 13, 1996).
Ponytailed Candidate Runs Texas Sheriff's Race On Pro-marijuana Platform
. '' Houston Chronicle''. * Weinberg, Bill (October 1993). "Freedom Fighters of the Month: Hemp City & the San Marcos Hunger Strikers". '' High Times'', pp. 26–34. {{Portal bar, Cannabis, Law, Texas 1991 in cannabis 1993 in cannabis 1991 in Texas 1993 in Texas 1991 protests 1993 protests American cannabis activists Cannabis in Texas People convicted of cannabis offenses Protests in Texas San Marcos, Texas