Thomas King Forçade (September 11, 1945 – November 17, 1978), also known as Gary Goodson, was an American underground journalist and

cannabis rights Cannabis rights or marijuana rights (sometimes more specifically cannabis consumer rights or stoner rights) are individual civil rights that vary by jurisdiction. The rights of people who consume cannabis include the right to be free from emplo ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

in the 1970s. He was the founder of ''

High Times ''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...

'' magazine and for many years ran the

Underground Press Syndicate The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines that operated from 1966 into the late 1970s. As it evolved, the Underground Press Syndicate crea ...

(later called the Alternative Press Syndicate) Forçade published several other publications, such as ''Stoned'', ''National Weed'', ''Dealer'' and others, that, veiled as

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

entertainment magazines, were laced with humor and savvy coverage of politics and popular culture, and served as a forum for some of the industry's best writers and artists. Many of Forçade's publications' writers went on to be published in premiere papers and magazines in North America.

Life and career

He was born in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. His father, engineer and

hot rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and ma ...

enthusiast Kenneth Goodson, died in a car crash when Forçade was a child. Forçade graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in 1967 with a degree in business administration. He went into the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

but was discharged after a few months. He used the skills he learned, however, to fly across the border for several years, trafficking drugs from Mexico and Colombia. He used the proceeds to form a

hippie commune An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

and underground magazine called ''Orpheus''. After this, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he first took over management of the

, a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines that he helped found. The name was changed to the Alternative Press Syndicate in 1973. Forçade was instrumental in the microfilming of the Underground Newspaper Collection. In 1970, Forçade was the first documented activist to use

pieing Pieing or a pie attack is the act of throwing a pie at a person. In pieing, the goal is usually to Humiliation, humiliate the victim while avoiding actual injury. For this reason the pie is traditionally of the cream pie, cream variety without a ...

as a form of protest, hitting Chairman Otto Larsen during the

President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography In 1969, the United States Supreme Court ruled in '' Stanley v. Georgia'' that people could view whatever they wished in the privacy of their own homes. In response, the United States Congress funded the President's Commission on Obscenity and Porno ...

. In summer 1974, he founded ''

'', and contributed funding to the

Yippie The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded on D ...

newspaper, ''Yipster Times'', (Chapter titled "''Zeitgeist: The Ballad of Tom Forçade''" by

Steve Conliff Steven Conliff (November 24, 1949 – June 1, 2006) was a Midwestern-based Native American writer, historian, social satirist, alternative-media publisher and political activist in the 1960s and 1970s. Conliff is chiefly remembered for throwing ...

) while also bankrolling the ailing ''Punk'' magazine.Armstrong, David (1981). ''A trumpet to arms: alternative media in America.'' J.P. Tarcher, ''High Times'' ran articles calling

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

a "medical wonder drug" and ridiculing the US

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

. It became a huge success, with a circulation of more than 500,000 copies a month and revenues approaching $10 million by 1977, and was embraced by the young adult market as the bible of the alternative life culture. By 1977 ''High Times'' was selling as many copies an issue as''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''and '' National Lampoon''. According to the 1990 nonfiction book ''12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols and America'', by Noel E. Monk, Forçade and his film crew followed the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

through their chaotic January 1978 concerts of the U.S. South and West, using high-pressure tactics in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the band's management and record company to let him document the tour.

Death

Forçade committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

by gunshot to the head in November 1978 in his

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

apartment after the death of his best friend, Jack Coombs. Forçade had attempted suicide before and bequeathed

trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the owner of property, or any transferable right, gives it to another to manage and use solely for the benefit of a designated person. In the English common law, the party who entrusts the property is k ...

to benefit ''High Times'' and

NORML The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Ac ...

. ''High Times''' former associate publisher, Rick Cusick, claims that, at Forçade's memorial — held on the roof of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

— mourners mixed a small amount of ashes from Forcade's

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

into a marijuana cigarette and they smoked it.

References

External links

Biography of Forçade from World War 4 Report
*
Tom Forçade Interview
(published posthumously in HiLife magazine, Sept 1979)
Yippies vs. Zippies: New Rubin book reveals ’70s counterculture feud
( ''The Villager'' article by Mary Reinholz, 25 February 2018)
''Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s''
by Sean Howe (book published August 29, 2023) {{DEFAULTSORT:Forçade, Tom 1945 births 1978 deaths 1978 suicides 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American writers American cannabis activists American male journalists American political writers American publishers (people) Cannabis writers American free speech activists Suicides by firearm in New York City University of Utah alumni Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Yippies