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Tom Forçade

Thomas King Forçade (September 11, 1945 – November 17, 1978), born Gary Goodson in Phoenix, Arizona, was an American countercultural journalist and cannabis advocate renowned for establishing the Underground Press Syndicate and launching High Times magazine, which popularized marijuana culture and legalization efforts.^[1]^[2] Forçade, who adopted his pseudonym while immersed in the 1960s underground scene, took control of the Underground Press Syndicate in 1969, transforming it into a network that connected hundreds of alternative publications and generated significant revenue through shared advertising and content syndication.^[3] He financed these operations—and later High Times, founded in 1974 with initial seed money from illicit ventures—primarily through large-scale marijuana smuggling, including a notable 1971 operation importing tons of cannabis from Colombia using unconventional methods like submarines, as well as running underground "smoke-easies" in New York that reportedly earned thousands nightly.^[3]^[2] His activism featured bold, disruptive tactics, such as hurling a pie at a member of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in 1970 and crashing official hearings to challenge drug policy enforcers, embodying a defiant stance against establishment authority.^[2] Forçade's High Times quickly became a commercial success, often dubbed the "Playboy of pot" for its blend of advocacy, cultivation guides, and lifestyle content, though his leadership was marked by volatility, legal scrapes—including arrests for smuggling and disturbances—and growing paranoia amid personal and financial strains.^[3] He died by self-inflicted gunshot wound in his New York office at age 33, ruled a suicide.^[3]^[2]

Early Life

Family Background and Childhood

Thomas King Forçade was born Kenneth Gary Goodson on September 11, 1945, in Phoenix, Arizona.^[1] His father worked as a military engineering contractor.^[4] In 1957, when Goodson was 11 years old, his father died in a car crash while on assignment at a nuclear facility in southern Arizona, leaving a significant impact on the family's dynamics.^[5] ^[2] Raised in the conservative milieu of mid-century Phoenix, Goodson exhibited early signs of rebellion following his father's death. As a teenager, he was known locally as "Junior" and gained a reputation as a hot-rod enthusiast and troublemaker, often engaging in reckless antics that foreshadowed his later countercultural pursuits.^[6] ^[2] These formative experiences in a straitlaced environment contributed to his eventual rejection of mainstream norms, though details of his mother's influence or any siblings remain sparsely documented in available records.^[2]

Education and Initial Radicalization

Goodson attended the University of Utah from 1963 to 1966, where he studied business amid a conservative upbringing in Phoenix, Arizona.^[7] During this period, he engaged with the socialist Utah Free Press, an early outlet in the burgeoning underground press scene that challenged mainstream narratives on issues like the Vietnam War and civil liberties.^[7] Post-graduation, Goodson joined the Air National Guard in the mid-1960s to evade the Vietnam draft, acquiring skills in piloting small aircraft before his discharge, reportedly due to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.^[2] Returning to Phoenix, he increasingly diverged from conventional paths, experimenting with LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and cannabis starting in 1967 during the Summer of Love, experiences that aligned him with countercultural experimentation and anti-establishment sentiments.^[4] A subsequent raid on a commune he was associated with further politicized him against perceived governmental overreach, prompting his adoption of the alias Thomas King Forçade—derived from a family surname—and the launch of the radical publication Orpheus from a converted school bus, financed in part by smuggling marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border.^[7]^[4] Forçade's radicalization deepened through Orpheus, which critiqued authority and promoted drug culture, leading him to infiltrate the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) by claiming its authorship; by late 1968, he had maneuvered into its unpaid directorial role, coordinating over 100 alternative newspapers nationwide.^[2] This position exposed him to nationwide dissident networks but also federal scrutiny, culminating in a February 1969 police raid on Orpheus' offices after an undercover agent's infiltration, which destroyed printing equipment and seized materials, reinforcing his view of systemic repression against independent media.^[7] The incident, amid broader crackdowns on underground outlets, solidified Forçade's commitment to defiant journalism as a tool for cultural insurgency.^[8]

Underground Press Involvement

Founding and Operation of UPS/APS

The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) originated in 1966 as a cooperative network initiated by pioneering underground newspapers such as the East Village Other, Los Angeles Free Press, Berkeley Barb, Fifth Estate, and The Paper, aimed at sharing content and resources to amplify countercultural voices amid a Supreme Court decision expanding press freedoms.^[9]^[10] Tom Forçade assumed de facto control of UPS in 1969, transforming it into a centralized news service by establishing headquarters near Union Square in New York City, where he coordinated article syndication, microfilming for archival preservation, and bulk distribution to member publications.^[3]^[11]^[2] Under Forçade's direction, UPS expanded rapidly, growing from dozens to approximately 300 affiliated papers by 1972, reaching an estimated 20 million readers through weekly exchanges of features on anti-war protests, drug culture, and critiques of establishment institutions.^[9] Operations involved collecting submissions from contributors, editing for syndication, and mailing physical copies or negatives to outlets, often funded by member dues and Forçade's personal resources from informal ventures; the New York office doubled as a hub for counterculture networking, featuring psychedelic decor and concealed marijuana supplies.^[3]^[2] Challenges included law enforcement raids, such as a 1969 infiltration and bust at the Phoenix UPS office that seized materials and exposed internal vulnerabilities, yet Forçade maintained operations by emphasizing autonomy and rapid adaptation.^[12] In 1973, following a Boulder conference of alternative media representatives, UPS evolved into the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS) to broaden its scope beyond strictly underground outlets, continuing syndication until the late 1970s amid declining counterculture cohesion and Forçade's shift toward High Times.^[13]^[3] Forçade envisioned APS fostering "a daily underground paper in every city and a weekly in every town," prioritizing unfiltered dissent over commercial viability.^[10]

Networking and Distribution Strategies

Upon assuming leadership of the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) in 1969, Tom Forçade centralized operations at a loft headquarters on New York's West 17th Street, transforming the loose confederation into a more coordinated network that facilitated content sharing among member publications.^[11] This shift enabled UPS to function akin to an alternative wire service, permitting affiliated newspapers to reprint articles from one another with proper attribution, thereby amplifying the reach of countercultural reporting without requiring centralized printing or mailing of physical copies.^[6] Forçade's networking strategies emphasized expansion through financial support and alliances, quietly providing seed money to launch or sustain diverse additions to the syndicate, including gay and feminist titles, prison newspapers like Angry Arts, and Native American outlets such as Akwesasne Notes.^[11] He forged key partnerships, notably with the Liberation News Service (LNS), integrating its dispatches into UPS distribution channels to supply member papers with shared political and cultural content focused on anti-war efforts and social dissent.^[10] These ties, combined with published directories listing member publications, fostered a web of mutual promotion and resource exchange across hundreds of outlets, growing UPS to approximately 300 affiliated papers by the early 1970s.^[9] Distribution relied on a decentralized model leveraging the syndicate's permissionless reprint policy, which circumvented traditional media gatekeepers and allowed rapid proliferation of subversive ideas via local printing and street-level sales in head shops, campuses, and urban enclaves.^[14] Forçade anticipated this infrastructure's scalability, predicting in 1969 that it would soon support a daily underground paper in every major city and weeklies in smaller towns, a vision realized through the network's emphasis on collaborative amplification over proprietary control.^[10] This approach not only evaded government scrutiny but also sustained the underground press's resilience amid raids and censorship attempts targeting printers and distributors.^[3]

Conflicts with Mainstream and Rival Press

Forçade's leadership of the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) positioned it in direct opposition to mainstream media outlets, which he viewed as complicit in government censorship and cultural conformity. In 1970, he protested the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography by throwing a cream pie at its chairman, Otto N. Larsen, during a congressional hearing, decrying obscenity laws that targeted underground publications for their explicit content on drugs, sex, and anti-war dissent.^[11] This act symbolized broader resistance to federal efforts to suppress countercultural expression, as underground papers faced obscenity charges and distribution bans under statutes enforced by mainstream-aligned authorities. Forçade also pursued legal battles for White House press credentials, challenging the Nixon administration's exclusion of alternative journalists amid surveillance and harassment campaigns against UPS affiliates, a fight that established precedents for press access later invoked in cases like CNN v. Trump.^[3]^[15] Within the underground network, Forçade's authoritarian management style sparked disputes with member publications, particularly over resource control and editorial direction. He unilaterally sold microfilm rights of UPS content to Bell & Howell for library distribution, generating revenue but alienating affiliates who prioritized autonomy over commercialization.^[11] Ideological rifts emerged as Forçade emphasized libertarian themes like drug legalization over the dominant anti-war militancy of papers such as the Berkeley Barb, leading some editors to criticize his focus as diluting revolutionary politics.^[3] In one notable clash, Forçade ejected materials from a UPS office belonging to editor Ed Rosenthal, prompting resignations and highlighting tensions between his pragmatic distribution strategies and the collective ethos of rival collectives.^[3] These frictions culminated in the 1972 rebranding of UPS to the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), partly to differentiate from mainstream media's co-optation of countercultural aesthetics, such as lifestyle features mimicking underground irreverence.^[2] Forçade's lawsuits against figures like Abbie Hoffman, following a controversial "Abbie Guilty!" headline in syndicate-affiliated coverage of Hoffman's legal troubles, further strained relations with political radicals who accused him of betraying underground solidarity for personal vendettas.^[11] Despite these conflicts, Forçade's confrontations secured greater visibility for alternative media, though they underscored the syndicate's vulnerability to internal fragmentation amid external pressures.

Counterculture Activism

Protest Tactics and Public Stunts

Forçade employed theatrical and confrontational tactics to challenge authority, drawing media attention to issues of censorship, drug prohibition, and cultural exploitation within the counterculture movement. His approach often involved direct action and symbolic gestures, reflecting a strategy of disruption over traditional petitioning, aimed at exposing perceived hypocrisies in government and corporate institutions.^[11] On May 14, 1970, Forçade participated in hearings of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in Washington, DC, where he threw a pie into the face of chairman Otto N. Larsen, marking the first documented use of pieing as political protest. This act protested censorship of underground media and pornography regulations, which Forçade viewed as tools to suppress dissent; he was arrested but the incident amplified Underground Press Syndicate visibility.^[11]^[16] In August 1970, Forçade intercepted the Medicine Ball Caravan—a countercultural tour promoting peace and music—near Boulder, Colorado, deploying fireworks and smoke bombs to confront organizers over alleged corporate sponsorship and exploitation of the hippie ethos. The clash, captured on film for the documentary Medicine Ball Caravan, highlighted tensions between authentic activism and commercialized counterculture.^[11] In 1971, Forçade co-founded the Rock Liberation Front with activist A.J. Weberman and led an occupation of producer Phil Spector's office to demand the release of funds from the Concert for Bangladesh for famine relief, successfully pressuring distribution to humanitarian organizations and critiquing rock industry profiteering.^[11] Forçade's tactics extended to marijuana advocacy, funding Yippie smoke-ins such as the July 4 event in Washington, DC, and protests at national political conventions, including Kansas City in 1976, where demonstrators advocated legalization amid broader anti-drug war messaging. These actions, often blending humor, spectacle, and illegality, positioned Forçade as a bridge between underground journalism and street-level defiance, though they drew legal repercussions and internal counterculture criticism for recklessness.^[11]

Drug Smuggling and Early Advocacy

In the late 1960s, Forçade began engaging in marijuana smuggling operations, primarily transporting cannabis from Mexico and Colombia into the United States via planes and boats.^[3] These activities escalated in the early 1970s, with notable hauls including 30 tons of marijuana flown from Colombia in 1972 using a DC-6 aircraft.^[3] Profits from these ventures, often involving tons of Colombian marijuana landed along the Florida coast or through the Everglades, provided crucial funding for his countercultural initiatives, including the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS).^[11] ^[3] Forçade faced legal scrutiny for his smuggling, including a grand jury subpoena related to conspiracy charges, which he dismissed as "conspiracy bullshit" amid his ongoing operations.^[17] These illicit revenues not only sustained UPS—reorganized under his control in 1969—but also bankrolled early marijuana reform efforts, such as seed funding for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) upon its founding in 1970.^[11] ^[3] His advocacy intertwined with smuggling proceeds, manifesting in support for Yippie smoke-ins and promotion of legalization through UPS-distributed publications that challenged marijuana prohibition.^[11] Forçade attended the 1969 LEMAR "New World Drug Symposium" in Buffalo, aligning with early activists pushing for decriminalization amid arrests tied to hashish importation.^[18] By channeling smuggling gains into these causes, he positioned himself as a financier of cannabis rights, prioritizing direct action over mainstream reform tactics.^[11]

Interactions with Political Figures

Forçade engaged in direct confrontational activism against government officials during the hearings of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography on May 14, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Dressed in his signature black attire, he presented an open letter accusing the commission of censorship by listing 45 suppressed publications and then threw a pie at Chairman Otto N. Larsen, initiating the Yippie tactic of pie-ing as political protest.^[11] This act targeted the Nixon administration's oversight of the commission, originally established under President Johnson, highlighting Forçade's opposition to perceived federal overreach on free expression and underground media.^[11] In 1972, Forçade participated in protests against President Richard Nixon's renomination at the Republican National Convention in Miami, resulting in his arrest on charges including possession of a firebomb with intent to incinerate the convention center, though he was later cleared after surrendering to authorities.^[19] He was also arrested for attempting to steal a portrait of former President Lyndon B. Johnson during the demonstrations, actions that underscored his anti-establishment stance amid broader antiwar and countercultural unrest.^[11] These encounters with law enforcement under Nixon's administration intensified Forçade's distrust of federal power, as documented in FBI surveillance files and subsequent legal proceedings.^[3] Forçade's influence extended to critiquing the Carter administration through High Times, which in 1978 exposed drug policy advisor Dr. Peter Bourne snorting cocaine at a NORML fundraiser, contributing to Bourne's resignation and a subsequent hardening of White House anti-drug policies.^[11] While not a personal meeting, this journalistic intervention demonstrated Forçade's indirect leverage over executive branch figures, aligning with his advocacy for marijuana decriminalization amid shifting federal attitudes.^[11] No evidence indicates direct negotiations with Bourne or other Carter officials, but the reporting amplified counterculture pressures on drug policy.^[20]

High Times Magazine

Launch and Editorial Vision

High Times magazine was launched by Tom Forçade in 1974, with its first issue published that year after an initial print run of approximately 25,000 copies that sold out rapidly.^[2] The publication quickly gained media attention, including coverage from Newsweek and Time at its launch party, marking an immediate commercial success that exceeded Forçade's expectations.^[2] Forçade funded the venture with around $20,000 derived from his drug smuggling operations, initially conceiving it as a one-off parody akin to a cannabis-themed spoof of National Lampoon rather than a sustained periodical.^[3] Forçade's editorial vision positioned High Times as a dedicated platform for cannabis enthusiasts, emphasizing practical guides like joint-rolling techniques alongside political advocacy for drug policy reform, including congressional testimonies on substances like hashish.^[2] The magazine featured monthly "centerfolds" showcasing rare drugs, blending humor, lifestyle content, and countercultural rebellion to legitimize the stoner subculture and challenge prohibitive laws.^[2] Forçade aimed to create a niche impervious to mainstream co-optation, aspiring to mirror Playboy's cultural impact but centered on marijuana, which he viewed as a means to propagate the "weed gospel" and alleviate personal ennui, stating, “I needed something to keep me from killing myself out of boredom.”^[2] This approach rejected sanitized portrayals, favoring radical honesty to celebrate cannabis as both recreational and politically subversive.^[3]

Commercial Expansion and Revenue Streams

High Times achieved rapid commercial viability shortly after its October 1974 launch, becoming profitable within its first year through a combination of newsstand sales, subscriptions, and advertising targeted at the burgeoning counterculture market.^[3] Initial funding for the publication derived from Forçade's personal resources, including profits from cannabis smuggling operations, which allowed the magazine to establish a New York headquarters and hire professional editorial and sales staff to facilitate national distribution.^[21] By 1977, circulation reached 250,000 copies per issue, reflecting aggressive marketing and appeal to marijuana enthusiasts amid shifting cultural attitudes toward drug use.^[3] Revenue streams diversified beyond print sales, with advertising from head shops, paraphernalia manufacturers, and related vendors forming a core pillar; these ads capitalized on the magazine's niche audience and generated substantial income as cannabis culture expanded.^[3] Forçade also leveraged affiliated ventures, such as Amorphia East, which marketed mail-order hemp rolling papers and contributed to the publication's financial ecosystem by tapping into accessory demand.^[3] Newsstand sales peaked at approximately 500,000 copies monthly by the late 1970s, underscoring the magazine's transition from underground parody to mainstream countercultural staple.^[3] By 1978, the year of Forçade's death, High Times had evolved into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, with annual revenues exceeding $5 million, driven by sustained print demand and ad revenue amid growing acceptance of marijuana in American society.^[3]^[21] This expansion marked a pragmatic pivot for Forçade, who modeled aspects of the operation after business magnates like Howard Hughes, prioritizing scalability while maintaining an irreverent editorial tone.^[22]

Content Innovations and Cultural Impact

High Times under Forçade's editorship pioneered explicit cultivation guides, such as the "Grow Your Own" sections, which provided step-by-step instructions for home marijuana production, demystifying the process for amateur growers at a time when such information was scarce and illegal.^[3] These features departed from mainstream journalism's avoidance of drug-related advocacy, instead embracing practical, hands-on content that treated cannabis cultivation as a legitimate skill akin to gardening.^[3] The magazine also innovated with the Trans-High Market, a regular section listing prevailing street prices for cannabis, hashish, mushrooms, and LSD across U.S. cities and Europe, offering readers real-time market intelligence that reflected underground economic realities.^[23] Editorial content blended investigative reporting with irreverent satire, as seen in the Fall 1974 issue's profile of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a smuggling collective involved in hashish importation and LSD distribution, which combined factual exposé with countercultural admiration for their anti-establishment exploits.^[23] Forçade's vision emphasized an informal tone covering sex, drugs, and rock music, rejecting sanitized narratives in favor of unfiltered depictions that mirrored the era's hedonistic ethos, thereby differentiating High Times from staid periodicals.^[23] This approach included lifestyle elements like paraphernalia reviews and drug preparation recipes, positioning the publication as a hybrid of guidebook and provocateur.^[3] Culturally, High Times exerted influence by normalizing cannabis as a recreational and communal staple, serving as a de facto bible for the pro-pot movement and fostering a shared identity among users through its aspirational portrayal of stoner life.^[3] By 1977, circulation reached approximately 500,000 copies per issue, amplifying advocacy for decriminalization amid shifting public attitudes post-1970s referenda in states like Oregon and Alaska.^[3] The magazine's unapologetic stance contributed to the commodification of counterculture, transitioning radical drug experimentation into a marketable subculture that informed later legalization efforts, while providing small-scale dealers and enthusiasts with actionable intelligence that sustained informal networks.^[23] Its impact extended to alternative journalism, modeling defiant, reader-empowering formats that prioritized subcultural truths over institutional norms.^[22]

Personal Struggles

Mental Health and Paranoia

Thomas King Forçade was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia during his time in the Air National Guard, resulting in his discharge prior to relocating from Arizona in the mid-1960s.^[2] This early diagnosis aligned with accounts from contemporaries who described him as inherently suspicious of others, a trait evident from his youth.^[2] Forçade exhibited a history of mental health challenges, including bipolar disorder, for which he was prescribed lithium, though he frequently neglected to take it.^[18] His family background included patterns of depression and manipulative behaviors, contributing to his personal struggles.^[18] In professional settings, this manifested as erratic leadership, oscillating between tyrannical outbursts over perceived slights and charismatic inspiration, fostering an environment of unease among High Times staff.^[2] Paranoia intensified in the 1970s amid legal pressures from drug-related arrests and broader countercultural disillusionment, with Forçade expressing fears of government infiltration and surveillance—concerns partially grounded in documented FBI operations against dissident press but amplified by his predisposition.^[3] His secretive persona, including reluctance to be photographed or publicly linked to High Times, fueled mutual suspicions that he might himself be an informant, though no evidence substantiates this.^[18] Substance use, including quaaludes alongside habitual cannabis consumption, exacerbated depressive episodes and instability, as he reportedly relied on marijuana to mitigate interpersonal discomfort without addressing underlying conditions.^[3]^[18]

Legal Troubles and Drug Dealing

Forçade was actively involved in marijuana smuggling and distribution during the late 1960s and early 1970s, amassing significant profits that funded his journalistic endeavors. In the early 1970s, he operated an illegal "smoke-easy" on Greenwich Street in New York City, where he sold marijuana in bulk quantities, reportedly earning around $5,000 per night.^[2] He was also suspected of smuggling after crashing a small plane in Mexico, though no formal charges resulted from the incident.^[2] Associates described him as a "marijuana kingpin," with operations that drew federal attention but evaded major prosecutions.^[24] His legal troubles were relatively minor compared to his underground activities, primarily consisting of a 1970 arrest in Newport, Rhode Island, for disturbing the peace. The charge stemmed from disruptive behavior during Hunter S. Thompson's antics at the America's Cup yacht race, leading to Forçade's banishment from the city.^[2] Forçade faced a grand jury subpoena related to conspiracy to smuggle narcotics, which he publicly dismissed as baseless, asserting that his operations left no time for mere planning.^[17] No conviction followed from this inquiry. Government agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, subjected Forçade to extensive surveillance and harassment due to his drug ties and activism. An anonymous tip in February 1977 alleged his involvement in marijuana and LSD trafficking, prompting further scrutiny, though it yielded no arrests.^[3] Offices of his Underground Press Syndicate were raided multiple times, such as in Phoenix in the early 1970s, ostensibly for drugs, but authorities found none and seized only files and subscriber lists instead.^[8] In April 1978, he purchased a 1946 Beechcraft D18 aircraft explicitly for future marijuana smuggling runs.^[25] Despite these pressures, Forçade avoided felony convictions for drug offenses, channeling his smuggling proceeds into advocacy while publicly demanding arrest to test marijuana prohibition's constitutionality.^[26] His evasion of serious legal repercussions reflected both operational caution and the era's uneven enforcement against counterculture figures.^[15]

Relationships and Interpersonal Conflicts

Forçade, born Gary Goodson in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1945, experienced early family loss when his father died in 1956, leaving him to grow up in a conservative household that contrasted sharply with his later countercultural pursuits.^[2] Details on his sibling relationships remain limited, though his sister later provided biographical researchers access to childhood documents revealing a psychologically complex early life.^[15] In his adult personal life, Forçade maintained a compartmentalized approach to friendships across subcultures, including drug smuggling networks and underground press circles, often resetting contacts to preserve secrecy amid his paranoia.^[15] Romantically, he pursued Gabrielle Schang, a former Berkeley Barb reporter, though she initially rejected him for poet Ed Sanders; by the mid-1970s, Schang became his common-law wife and served as an editor for his Alternative Media project, interviewing him shortly before his death in 1978.^[11] Forçade reportedly married two women during his life, though specifics on these unions are scarce and guarded.^[15] Forçade's contrarian and paranoid tendencies strained many interpersonal ties, with contemporaries suspecting him of being a government provocateur as early as 1969, eroding trust in activist circles.^[15] He clashed with writer Hunter S. Thompson, a friend whose patience wore thin; in 1970, during coverage of the America's Cup Yacht Race, Thompson ejected Forçade from their boat for excessive outrageousness, later describing the incident as banishing him from Newport after an arrest for disturbing the peace.^[2] Professionally, Forçade's leadership at High Times and the Underground Press Syndicate bred conflicts with staff and colleagues, whom he alternately treated as exciting collaborators—such as on Everglades plane trips—and as targets of fury over perceived slights or mistakes, earning him a reputation as an "evil" boss.^[2] A UPS employee recalled him as a "very strange dude," reflecting broader unease.^[2] Tensions escalated with Yippie figures like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin; in 1972, Forçade formed the rival Zippies to protest their support for McGovern at the Miami conventions, partly fueled by lingering sexual rivalry over Schang with Sanders.^[11] His dispute with Hoffman over unpaid editing fees for Steal This Book—initially demanding $5,000, settled at $1,000—culminated in a public press conference and lawsuit, producing competing editions and deepening the personal rift.^[11] These episodes, often amplified by Forçade's diagnosed paranoia from his Air National Guard discharge, underscored a pattern of volatility that isolated him even as it propelled his influence.^[2]

Death and Aftermath

Events Precipitating Suicide

In spring 1978, Forçade organized a marijuana smuggling flight that ended in tragedy when his close associate and pilot Jack Coombs—also known as Jack O'Lantern Coombs—crashed the plane upon approach, striking trees at low altitude and bursting into flames, resulting in Coombs's death. Forçade, who had arranged the operation, blamed himself for the loss, marking the onset of a profound emotional decline.^[11]^[27] This personal catastrophe coincided with professional upheaval at High Times. In March 1978, the shooting of Larry Flynt, a key investor and distributor linked to the magazine's operations, prompted the abrupt termination of its primary distribution agreement, plunging the publication into economic disarray and threatening its viability.^[11] Forçade's preexisting manic-depressive condition, influenced by seasonal affective disorder, worsened through the summer and into fall, shifting from periods of high energy to deepening despondency. By November, insomnia gripped him, compounded by escalating paranoia rooted in years of underground activities and perceived threats; he resorted to Quaaludes for sleep. These layered stressors—grief over Coombs, financial peril, and mental deterioration—intensified his isolation, despite his common-law relationship with Gabrielle Schang.^[11]

Circumstances of Death

On November 17, 1978, Thomas King Forçade, aged 33, died by suicide in his apartment in Manhattan, New York, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head using a pearl-handled .22 caliber revolver.^[28]^[1] The gunshot was ruled self-inflicted by authorities, with no evidence of foul play reported in contemporary accounts.^[2] Forçade had established a trust prior to his death to manage High Times magazine and his estate, facilitating its continuation under new leadership following the discovery of his body.^[28] While some later speculation has questioned the suicide ruling amid Forçade's paranoid tendencies and involvement in illicit activities, biographer Sean Howe and primary sources affirm the self-inflicted nature based on forensic evidence and lack of contradictory proof.^[22]

Legacy and Reassessments

Influence on Alternative Journalism

Thomas King Forçade, under the pseudonym Tom Forçade, assumed leadership of the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) in 1969, transforming it into a national network that connected over 125 underground newspapers by 1970 and eventually expanded to 300 publications with an estimated 20 million readers.^[9]^[11] This syndicate facilitated content sharing, advertising revenue, and mutual defense against government suppression, amplifying countercultural voices ignored by mainstream outlets such as the East Village Other, Los Angeles Free Press, and Berkeley Barb.^[9]^[18] Forçade's efforts included establishing a UPS news bureau in Washington, D.C., in 1971 to cover national events from an alternative perspective and securing microfilming deals with Bell & Howell for archival preservation, which generated revenue and ensured long-term accessibility of underground publications.^[29]^[11] He aggressively defended press freedoms, most notably through the 1974 lawsuit Forcade v. Knight, where he challenged the Secret Service's denial of White House credentials; the federal court ruling established requirements for notice, rebuttal rights, and written decisions in credential denials, setting a precedent cited in later cases like CNN v. Trump (2018).^[29]^[18] In 1974, Forçade founded High Times magazine, which debuted with a print run of 20,000 copies that sold out immediately and grew to monthly circulation exceeding 500,000 by 1978, grossing $5 million annually through innovative distribution via head shops and advertisements from figures like Larry Flynt.^[18]^[11] The publication revolutionized alternative journalism by blending investigative reporting—such as exposés on international drug cartels—with practical guides on cannabis cultivation and strain reviews, thereby educating readers and contributing to decriminalization efforts in 11 U.S. states between 1975 and 1978.^[29]^[18] Forçade's syndicate evolved into the Alternative Press Syndicate, supporting niche outlets in gay, feminist, and punk subcultures, and funded ventures like Punk magazine, fostering a self-sustaining model for independent media that prioritized subcultural documentation over mainstream conformity.^[11] His work exposed FBI surveillance of underground journalists and emphasized First Amendment protections, influencing ongoing defenses of alternative media against institutional overreach.^[29]^[18]

Role in Cannabis Normalization

Forçade founded High Times magazine in October 1974, using profits from his marijuana smuggling operations to launch a publication that openly advocated for cannabis legalization and celebrated its use as a liberating cultural force rather than a mere criminal vice.^[30]^[3] The magazine featured grow guides, user testimonials, and countercultural content that portrayed cannabis positively, helping to destigmatize it within underground and increasingly broader audiences by framing it as integral to personal freedom and social rebellion.^[31] This approach contrasted with prevailing prohibitionist narratives, positioning cannabis as a substance worthy of open discussion and enjoyment, which contributed to shifting perceptions among readers exposed to its glossy, Playboy-parodying format.^[3] A key aspect of Forçade's efforts involved substantial financial support for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which he began funding personally after meeting founder Keith Stroup in 1972.^[6] He provided direct contributions, such as a $10,000 cash donation in the mid-1970s, and directed High Times to issue monthly checks to NORML—initially $3,000, later increasing to $5,000—along with free advertising space in every edition to promote legalization campaigns.^[6] Forçade's will further ensured ongoing support by bequeathing assets to NORML, reflecting his prioritization of marijuana reform as a core countercultural cause.^[31] These resources enabled NORML to challenge marijuana prohibition through legal defenses, public advocacy, and ballot initiatives, amplifying efforts to normalize cannabis by contesting its criminal status on policy grounds.^[6] Forçade also engaged in direct activism, such as organizing the People's Pot Party at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, where participants openly sold and consumed marijuana to protest prohibition and draw media attention to reform demands.^[6] By integrating such confrontational tactics with High Times' media platform, which reached hundreds of thousands of subscribers by the late 1970s, Forçade helped foster a subculture that viewed cannabis as a symbol of resistance against government overreach, laying groundwork for later public acceptance and policy shifts toward decriminalization and legalization in various states.^[3]^[30] His uncompromising stance—rooted in personal experience as a dealer and user—prioritized empirical challenges to anti-cannabis laws over accommodation, influencing a generation of advocates who advanced normalization through cultural visibility and sustained lobbying.^[32]

Criticisms of Lifestyle and Ideology

Forçade's personal lifestyle attracted criticism for its self-destructive elements, particularly his escalating cocaine use in the mid-1970s, which fueled paranoia and volatile mood swings after High Times generated substantial revenue. Associates portrayed him as prone to "evil" rages over perceived slights, often appearing red-eyed and intoxicated while berating staff for imagined errors, contrasting with bouts of lavish generosity like funding extravagant outings.^[2] This pattern alienated colleagues and contributed to a workplace environment marked by fear, exemplified by incidents where he brandished firearms during disputes.^[2] Critics within countercultural circles highlighted Forçade's interpersonal recklessness, including physical confrontations; Abbie Hoffman reportedly punched him amid ideological tensions in the early 1970s, while Hunter S. Thompson expelled him from a 1970 America's Cup event for behavior deemed excessively outrageous.^[33] His earlier drug-dealing operations, such as running a clandestine "smoke-easy" in the late 1960s, were derided by competitors as sleazy and impersonal, likened to a "whorehouse without beds."^[2] Such habits, combined with a diagnosed predisposition to paranoia—possibly schizophrenic, as noted during his 1960s Air National Guard discharge—undermined his credibility as a stable advocate for personal freedom.^[2] Ideologically, Forçade's advocacy for unfettered drug access and anti-authoritarian anarchy faced scrutiny for fostering division rather than unity in leftist movements. His leadership of the Zippie faction in the late 1960s involved aggressive attacks on Yippie figures like Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, prompting suspicions among activists that he was a government infiltrator sowing discord to discredit the broader antiwar effort.^[23] Detractors argued this chaotic approach reflected personal ego over principled strategy, with his performative protests—such as pieing a Federal Obscenity Commission member in 1970—appearing more disruptive than substantive in advancing cannabis reform or free expression.^[2] While High Times under Forçade emphasized marijuana culture, his own hard-drug indulgence raised questions about selective libertarianism, implicitly endorsing lifestyles that empirical outcomes, including his 1978 suicide, revealed as perilously unstable.^[2]^[23]

References

[1]
Thomas King Forcade (1945-1978) - Find a Grave Memorial
Thomas King Forcade. Original Name: Gary K. Goodson; Birth: 11 Sep 1945. Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA. Death: 17 Nov 1978 (aged 33).Missing: Forçade exact
[2]
The founder of High Times was wilder than Hunter S. Thompson
Sep 16, 2023 · Thomas King Forçade was really Gary Goodson, born in 1945 and raised in conservative Phoenix, Ariz. His father died when Goodson was 11.Missing: biography facts
[3]
How 'High Times' Became the 'Playboy' of Weed - Rolling Stone
Aug 26, 2023 · In 1969, the mysterious Tom Forçade insinuated himself into the top echelons of countercultural politics by taking control of the ...
[4]
The Uncrowned King of Radical - Hiii Magazine
THE METAMORPHOSIS. Kenneth Gary Goodson, aka Thomas King Forcade, was born in Phoenix, Arizona, the son of a military engineer contractor. Everyone called him ...Missing: Forçade family background childhood
[5]
Tom Forcade: A One Man Revolution is Born - Salt Baked City News
... Tom. In 1957, when Tom was only 11 years-old, his father tragically died in a car crash while away on work at a nuclear facility in southern Arizona. The ...
[6]
A Founder Looks at 50: Tom Forcade, Michael J. Kennedy and High ...
May 29, 2020 · His real name was Gary Goodson, but back when he was a teenager in Arizona everyone called him Junior. Junior Goodson was a hotrod hell raiser ...Missing: Forçade background childhood
[7]
The Long Fall of High Times - Politico
Sep 4, 2020 · In 1978, Forcade committed suicide at the age of 33 by shooting himself in the head. It was the end of an era. Forcade's staff marked it ...Missing: father | Show results with:father
[8]
Recalling the days when Phoenix cops cracked down on the ...
Oct 3, 2023 · “Everybody fucking freaks out, and he announces, 'I'm Tom Forcade, the head of the Underground Press Syndicate.' “Everybody goes, Uh oh! A ...
[9]
Tom Forçade and the Underground Press - by Kathleen McCook
Mar 16, 2025 · He was the founder of High Times magazine and for many years ran the Underground Press Syndicate (later called the Alternative Press Syndicate).
[10]
The Campaign Against The Underground Press | by Geoffrey Rips ...
In 1969, Tom Forcade of the Underground Press Syndicate predicted that soon there would be "a daily underground paper in every city and a weekly in every town.Missing: Forçade origins
[11]
TOM FORÇADE: UNSUNG HERO OF THE COUNTER-CULTURE
Mar 31, 2007 · Forçade built a media empire, revolutionized journalism, mainstreamed marijuana and helped found the legalization movement before his untimely ...
[12]
Over the Counterculture - PHOENIX magazine
Oct 1, 2014 · In 1969, Forcade was running the Phoenix office of the UPS when it was infiltrated by an undercover narcotics agent and raided by local police ...Missing: Forçade | Show results with:Forçade
[13]
Underground Press Syndicate - Connexions.org
For many years the Underground Press Syndicate was run by Tom Forcade, who later founded High Times magazine. After a 1973 meeting of underground and ...Missing: Forçade | Show results with:Forçade<|control11|><|separator|>
[14]
Underground newspapers: The social media networks of the 1960s ...
The Underground Press Syndicate was a network of underground newspapers formed in 1966 by the publishers of the East Village Other, the Los Angeles Free Press, ...
[15]
List of people who have been pied - Wikipedia
May 13, 1970, President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography · Tom Forçade · André-Joseph Léonard · Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, April 6, 2011, A ...Missing: exact | Show results with:exact
[16]
An Interview With "Agents of Chaos" Author Sean Howe - InsideHook
Sep 18, 2023 · An interview with Sean Howe, author of "Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forcade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s."Missing: family | Show results with:family
[17]
Whatever happened to pieing powerful people in the face?
Dec 31, 2022 · It wasn't just Small who took up the pie plate from Forçade—radical activists around the U.S. seized on pieing as their newest form of protest, ...
[18]
Flashback: On Meeting Thomas King Forcade - High Times Magazine
Mar 6, 2015 · “I need representation. Grand Jury invitation. Conspiracy to smuggle dope. Conspiracy bullshit. No time to conspire. Too busy smuggling… We are ...Missing: hashish | Show results with:hashish
[19]
How the seeds for 'High Times' magazine were planted in Phoenix
Oct 3, 2023 · Author Sean Howe discusses his biography of Az-born Thomas King Forcade, founder of the legendary marijuana publication.
[20]
Agents of chaos : : Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the...
Agents of chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the paranoid end of the 1970s (Book) ; Author: Howe, Sean, ; Published: New York : Hachette Books, 2023.Missing: childhood | Show results with:childhood
[21]
It's (Still) NORML to Smoke Pot - Leaf Magazines
Mar 3, 2022 · In 1978, NORML and the Carter Administration began heated discussions over the Administration's ... Thompson, Tom Forçade, Christie Hefner ...
[22]
Tom Forçade - Cannabis Museum Amsterdam
Pioneering Underground Journalism. Forçade's entry into the world of alternative media began with his involvement in the Underground Press Syndicate—an ...
[23]
Sean Howe on High Times Magazine and Its Enigmatic, Larger-than ...
Sep 29, 2023 · Four years later, he exited this lifetime via a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Or, perhaps, that's even still in question?) Sean Howe takes ...
[24]
Freedom, Madness and High Times - CounterPunch.org
Sep 8, 2023 · A new biography of Forcade, titled Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s and written by Sean ...
[25]
Exclusive Book Excerpt: That Time Tom Forcade Tried to Kidnap Sid ...
Oct 17, 2023 · Forcade wondered how he might place him into rehab and even considered smuggling him to Jamaica, where Forcade had contacts. “The idea was not ...Missing: drug | Show results with:drug
[26]
The Crash - by John Holmstrom
Mar 13, 2024 · Tom was really never the same after Jack's death.” Sean Howe's exhaustively-researched book (Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forcade, High Times ...Missing: childhood | Show results with:childhood
[27]
Tabla de contenidos para 45th Anniversary en High Times - Zinio
... convictions ... marijuana smuggler Thomas King Forçade. Forçade ... He demanded to be arrested in order to challenge the constitutionality of cannabis prohibition ...
[28]
[PDF] C A N N A B I S - Highness Capital
... Forçade continued to smuggle drugs, and in 1978 it was during one of these operations that his close friend Jack O'Lantern Coombs died in a plane crash. Tom ...
[29]
Thomas King Forcade - NNDB
Founded High Times with $12K, to instant success. Forcade committed suicide ... Risk Factors: Marijuana, Cocaine, Depression. New! NNDB MAPPER, Create a ...Missing: Forçade precipitating
[30]
Glass, Pie, Candle, Gun - Longreads
May 13, 2019 · Tom Forcade was a renegade journalist willing to throw a pie—or a lawsuit—in the face of anyone restricting his constitutional freedoms ...
[31]
High Times Magazine is riding legalization to high profits | TIME
Forty years ago a drug-smuggling, leftist radical who went by the alias Tom Forçade launched an underground magazine called High Times.Missing: hashish | Show results with:hashish
[32]
How Legal Weed Destroyed a Counterculture Icon - POLITICO
Sep 4, 2020 · To avoid embarrassing his family, he began going by the name Thomas King Forcade. Standing 5 feet 7 and weighing just 120 pounds, Forcade made ...Missing: Forçade | Show results with:Forçade
[33]
Exhale, Stage Left - The Washington Post
Jan 3, 2005 · The money came from Tom Forcade, the legendary pot smuggler who founded High Times, the marijuana magazine, in 1974 and helped bankroll ...
[34]
https://ew.com/books/high-times-magazine-facts-founder-thomas-forcade-biography/