cannabisnews.com: Gorman Fights To Help Libertarians Legalize Pot





Gorman Fights To Help Libertarians Legalize Pot
Posted by CN Staff on June 13, 2002 at 19:05:23 PT
By Ron Bain 
Source: Boulder Weekly
He was the "crazy pothead" who ran for governor back in the mid-1990s, giving away free pot from the steps of the state capitol. In May 1995, after the election, Ken Gorman was arrested in Denver for having about 300 pounds of what he called "medical marijuana" in the back seat of his car. The arrest was quiet-as police had waited until the spotlight was off-and little was ever heard again about Gorman as he did his time behind bars. Today he roams free and has taken up political activism again, most recently serving as resident celebrity at a marijuana sit-in and Libertarian voter registration drive. 
"I would sell marijuana to anyone who claimed it was for medical use," Gorman, on parole now, tells Boulder Weekly about his propensity to distribute, sell and give away large amounts of pot. The funny thing about his three arrests, Gorman says, is that the Denver police had refrained from arresting him as long as they did. In 1994, Gorman was running a left-field campaign for governor as an independent write-in candidate "to tell the truth about marijuana." Gorman held monthly pot legalization rallies on the steps of the state capitol that kept getting bigger and bigger, mostly because of the attention he was getting in newspapers and on TV for throwing marijuana to the crowd. "Parents were sending their kids down to get free pot," Gorman recalls. "It was like I had a free ticket to do whatever I wanted. No one would arrest me. That was my intention: to get arrested and challenge the constitutionality of the drug war." It was a costly challenge. The drug war survived it, and Gorman did more than five years in jail, prison, a halfway house and wearing a modern ball and chain-the electronic location monitoring bracelet. He began parole with urinalysis in January. Not long after parole began, however, Gorman mysteriously dropped from the government's radar screen and the urinalysis tests stopped for three whole months. Inspired by this, Gorman began making noise in April about staging pot rallies again. The drug tests resumed. Today, based on information from his parole officer, Gorman believes he is the exclusive focus of an anti-drug task force named by Gov. Bill Owens. The governor did not respond to questions from Boulder Weekly. "The governor has formed an executive task force to monitor my every movement, and from now on my piss tests will be every two weeks," Gorman said. "I think they're blowing more smoke than I am." Gorman asserts that he had many on-the-road contacts with the Denver Police Department during his "15 minutes of fame" as a gubernatorial candidate in 1994. Although he distributed pot in the plain view of police, grabbing headlines for it, the police looked the other way. He was stopped on the road a few times, but never taken into custody during the campaign. "The first time I got stopped like that, I just about dropped my jaw," Gorman says today with a smile. "I usually had at least a few pounds in the backseat, ounces in the front seat, bongs on the dashboard, burning joints in the ashtray." In 1995-when the local media were no longer paying attention, Gorman says-he was arrested three times in quick succession. "That's an outrageous allegation," said a Denver Police spokesperson. "If he was a person running for such a position, why didn't he take the moral high ground and report these officers for not doing their jobs? I'm sure the officers didn't have one iota who this person was." Gorman was easily convicted of drug charges, and spent six months in the Jefferson County jail and 16 months in a Caņon City minimum-security facility. He says prison was actually pleasant, and that inmates and guards alike treated him with respect. "I was treated like a celebrity-even the guards called me Governor," Gorman says. "I had access to pot almost every single day I was in prison." Marijuana could be smelled in the prison daily, mixed with the sage that the Native American prisoners were allowed to burn, Gorman said. "The guards pretty much ignored marijuana, or they took it and smoked it," he says. The halfway house where he spent another 18 months was less pleasant. "The worst part of the whole experience was the halfway house," he says. "There, they all wanted to send you straight back to prison. They gave you too many classes, so that you couldn't work and support your family." Gorman, 56, says he first smoked marijuana in 1969 in Loveland. He cherishes the day he first toked up. "My first wife introduced me to it," Gorman says. "It has been a friend of mine for the rest of my life." Prior to his first inhale, Gorman was a straight-laced graduate of Denver's Lincoln High School (Class of 1964), and followed the footsteps of his father into the United States Air Force. Gorman became an air traffic controller, working in the Philippines, New Guinea and Vietnam. But, during the war, he was stationed at a long-range radar facility near Miyako Jima. "It was easier to kill everyone long distance, so I didn't have to see the bodies," he says, pausing with a grimaced look, processing the pain of having participated in war. "I got to travel extensively throughout the Pacific islands, including Japan and New Guinea. I was only in Vietnam by helicopter for five or 10 minutes at a time, so, no, I never smoked pot in Vietnam." After his Air Force discharge, Gorman joined the Federal Aviation Administration as a career air traffic controller. Air traffic controllers are stereotyped as a frazzled bunch, who juggle the fate of multi-million dollar airplanes and the lives of those onboard for inadequate pay and life-shortening stress. Gorman, however, seems mentally and physically healthy, and he's not angry about his years as a federal controller. He attributes his wellness to marijuana. Pot after work, he says, saved him from the stress that damaged the lives of so many of his colleagues, many of whom were alcohol dependent. "I smoked a lot of pot," Gorman says. "I didn't get stressed out. Smoke a joint after work, you don't get stressed." Controllers who used alcohol to unwind, Gorman says, were "destroying themselves and their families." Gorman left the federal system and a cushy assignment in Hawaii in August of 1981, after siding with his fellow controllers in a dispute with Reagan. "I went on strike with the rest of the controllers," Gorman says. "Reagan was really the start of my activism." Gorman describes his life of travel and adventure after "retiring" from the federal system as that of a mercenary revolutionary muckracker who helped depose a couple of despots, including Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. He claims to have helped "liberate" some American military arms for use by anti-Marcos rebels. "There's a lot of things I can't tell you about that," he says, with a proud gleam in his eye. "I don't want to be labeled a terrorist. But Marcos, he was the real terrorist, the way he looted the (Filipino) treasury. I got deported in February 1985; he was kicked out a month later." Gorman says he was roughed up and temporarily imprisoned naked in a pit under a quonset hut by some of Marcos' thugs who "emphatically" convinced him that Marcos wanted him to leave the Philippines but without formal deportation procedures. Perhaps his reputation from New Guinea had followed him. New Guinea is "very tribal" and Gorman, whose job there was to recruit (actually "buy") young men for Western-style schooling, became very chummy with the natives and almost went native himself. "I'd go out and party with them and do their drugs and wear their costumes," he recalls. Marijuana was available in New Guinea (it could be found growing between the more plentiful coffee plants, he says) but the natives favored a local stimulant called "beetlenut." The indigenous Guineas mix beetlenut, lime and mustard to get high. "It turns your spit red and makes you feel like you're walking with four feet off the ground," Gorman recalled. As in Colorado, Gorman became something of a flash-in-the-pan minor media celebrity in New Guinea. He wrote newspaper articles and voiced his pro-native opinions via radio, attacking exploitative missionaries, church and corporate land grabs, and the island's heavy-handed local government. He made comparisons to the history of Hawaii, a history of church and corporate exploitation of friendly natives. "They arrested me and put me on trial for all kinds of charges," Gorman says of the New Guinea government, led by Prime Minister Michael Somari. "They couldn't convict me except on one pornography charge. I had a Playboy." Photographic representations of female nudity are illegal in New Guinea, yet the island is rife with erotic statues and carvings of women, left by past, less-repressed generations. After the Playboy arrest, authorities gave Gorman a plane ticket to Manila, a small amount of cash, and escorted him to the plane. Playing by the rules of tribal politics, Gorman had developed close friendships with many of the tribal chieftains. "I treated them as equals, and showed them American films and TV," Gorman says. So when the annual tribal conference rolled around, Gorman was noticeably absent. Several chieftains demanded of Prime Minister Somari: "What happened to Gorman?" Gorman's close friend Pious Wingti called him in Manila, after the tribal conference, with surprising news. He told Gorman: "I'm prime minister now." "He said it was the fact that I had been kicked out by Somari that made the difference," Gorman says, explaining Wingti's election. Wingti asked Gorman to come back to New Guinea and negotiate on behalf of the island with Chinese textile manufacturers. Wingti promised Gorman that some of the judges who had tried him on the porno charge had been "chopped up" by angry tribesmen. A tall tale? Perhaps, but Gorman tells it well. Gorman's marijuana legalization activism started in 1992 after he had returned to Denver to do business-to-business sales for Video Professor. He read the painstakingly detailed history of the war against marijuana titled The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer (who offers a reward to anyone who can disprove his research). Gorman started a hemp products company that used an ad on the back page of Westword reading "Marijuana Free Delivery - No Joke, No Cops." "Medical patients got really upset with me," Gorman recalls of the response to his ad. "I would have loved to have sold them pot, but I was selling hemp products." He frequently repeats the Herer book's litany, detailing how the petrochemical industries supported the banning of hemp and how racist propaganda was used by publisher William Randolph Hearst and the original drug czar, Harry Anslinger, to sell marijuana prohibition to the public and to Congress. "There's no way to make me stop saying what I know to be the truth. Marijuana is the most dangerous plant to those industries," Gorman says, listing petroleum and pharmaceutical companies that would have to compete with legalized hemp and medical marijuana. The Bush, Clinton and Gore families are all heavily vested in these less-green industries, he argues. After Gorman's father died from cancer and his brother died of AIDS, he realized that they could have prolonged or saved their lives with medical marijuana. "I know for a fact that my brother smoked until the day he died. And his passing was much easier than my father's," Gorman says. "My father tried it one time and laughed for the first time in a year, but he wouldn't use it again-he was afraid of (legal) repercussions on my mother." After his brother died, Gorman decided that all gloves were coming off. In 1993, he began his series of smoke-ins on the capitol steps. "These were smoke-ins with emphasis on the smoking of joints in front of politicians' faces, not hemp rallies," Gorman says. At first, the numbers who attended were small-25 or so, he estimates-but Gorman's blatancy began drawing larger numbers. One 1993 rally featured Jack Herer himself, the most respected man in the legalization movement, and attracted 500 to 1,000 protesters. Gorman has found that the legalization activists in Colorado are mostly teen-agers and young adults. This concerns some parents because of Gorman's conviction on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, one of about seven or eight felonies he was convicted of after his gubernatorial campaign. "The police used a minor in the commission of a felony-a minor who was a six-foot-two, 200 pounds, bearded kid named James Ray Smith," Gorman explained. Gorman defends his relationships with kids, saying he's trying to show them the high road of drug legalization activism. "I've chastised a few young kids for coming out to smoke-ins just to get high," Gorman said. "I ask, 'Where are your parents?' There's absolutely no reason for kids to be using drugs the way they are were it not for the drug war itself. It ignores human nature. Every fourth-grader knows about drugs because of the DARE program, and by the sixth grade they've tried them." "I would dearly love to see their parents at these rallies. Many parents approve of their kids smoking pot, as opposed to drinking and smoking tobacco, but they can't come out of the closet. There's so much to lose to be identified as a person who uses marijuana." Although Gorman is often surrounded by young people who consider him something of a modern-day hero, he readily brushes off any suggestion that he might be a pedophile or someone who gets little kids high. "Absolutely not," he says, and immediately resumes his pitch (you can tell Gorman has worked in sales). "Kids have no fear. They never want to get old. The drug war gives them that teen-age opportunity to rebel against their parents and against society." Gorman's most recent spout of activism has been to support the growing list of Libertarian candidates who are ballot eligible in the 2002 election, including Rick Stanley for Senate and Boulder's Ralph Shnelvar for Governor. "I can pay my rent and buy my food, but the rest goes to anybody who will run against the drug war. Colorado is pivotal in tipping the scales one way or another nationally," Gorman says. "We're either going to have a police state which will end our right to vote, or there will be a state-by-state domino effect in toppling the drug war." On June 1, Gorman joined a host of straight-laced, wouldn't-touch-the-stuff Libertarian candidates-who looked out of place in their suits and ties-for a marijuana legalization rally that drew about 200 young people. Bands including "Dopehead" played, and the Libertarians provided fiery speeches throughout the six-hour event. Youth lined up to register as members of the Libertarian Party. Portions of the rally were filmed for -- http://www.pot-tv.net/ -- a Canadian pro-legalization Internet TV show. A current episode features Gorman being interviewed by Joel Petrie, the roaming cameraman and host for the show. "I was actually a Libertarian prior to running for governor," Gorman says. "But I looked at the numbers and didn't see any need" to seek the party's nomination. He promises the Libertarian Party that his activism will deliver their candidates some 300,000 votes in 2002.That claim may be reflective of past drug use, but who really knows? Regardless of how many votes Gorman can sway, count on him and the 50 or so ballot-qualified Libertarian candidates- all of whom have adopted the pro-legalization mantra popularized among Libertarians by Telluride Sheriff Bill Masters-to add a dimension of controversy and youthful energy to what would otherwise be a lackluster election year of two-party political incest. Complete Title: Pro-Drug Crusader: Ken Gorman Fights To Help Libertarians Legalize PotNewshawk: The GCWSource: Boulder Weekly (CO)Author: Ron BainPublished: May 13 - June 20, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Boulder WeeklyContact: letters boulderweekly.comWebsite: http://www.boulderweekly.com/DL: http://www.boulderweekly.com/coverstory.htmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Libertarian Partyhttp://www.lp.org/Sheriff: U.S. Drug Policy a Failure http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11575.shtmlSheriff Scoffs at Drug War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11526.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on June 14, 2002 at 20:06:13 PT
my letter to the paper
Reading your article about Ken Gorman, two thirds of the way through, it began to occur to me that the old axiom about pot smokers having a "de-motivational syndrome" has got to be another one of the lies fed to we the "sheeple" by government and prohibitionists.Good grief! This man has done so much it almost makes me tired just to read about it all. I'd hate to see what he could have done if he'd been turned loose on the world with motivation securely intact!
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Comment #6 posted by dddd on June 14, 2002 at 05:53:09 PT
..Why yes Letsgetfree.I saw them...
..out west there was no Stanley Cup delay,,and I watched Nightline,and PI.....What was interesting about Nightline,,is that there was NO mention of Enron!..it was as if Enron had nothing in common with the stock markets inside scammers....hmmmm,,,I wonder why we hear so little about Enron?....I wonder why no one from Enron has gotten busted?....dddd
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Comment #5 posted by Letsgetfree on June 14, 2002 at 05:26:32 PT
Did anyone see...
Politically Incorrect last night? If you did you might have noticed it was on later due to the Stanley Cup (damn hasek). Well if ya tuned in early like I did u maybe got to see a bit of Nightline. It was one of the SCARIEST things I've ever seen. They basically went to work on the stock market saying that while yes corporations and ceos are raking in the $$$ through insider trading and the like, please Sheeple don't lose faith in the market! Please these are only bad apples! they make everyone look bad! Enron was an abnormal blip! Well anyways the parts I saw were pretty much all like this, with the 2 person 'panel' pretty much saying the same thing: everything is alright go back to investing in the market. Now taken alone this story doesn't seem like much, but for some reason it really spooked me. I could hear what they were talking about, but it seemed to me all I could hear was "Everything is ok. Don't ask questions. See? We've got journalist who'll do that for you. And look at the answers! Everything is still fine see! Go back to investing in the market (also known as lining ceos pockets)."Anyways the point of all that is the media is fuct! anyone else see this? whadidya think?
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Comment #4 posted by qqqq on June 14, 2002 at 04:31:47 PT
Saint Gorman of Colorado
..this guy is a true inspiration....and he deserves sainthood,,,he is a hero!...After spending five years in the Graybar Hotel,,,sharing a room with some murdering rapist named Mongo,,,Gorman deserves sainthood!..
..yes,,it's true,,he went about things in a somewhat blatant,and ham-handed way...I'll bet he was thinking that surely millions of outraged supporters would come to his defense,,but we never heard of him,,(at least I didn't)...
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on June 13, 2002 at 23:28:21 PT
I get one per day, okay?
He promises the Libertarian Party that his activism will deliver their candidates some 300,000 votes in 2002. That claim may be reflective of past drug use, but who really knows?
F*ck you! And I really know.There, that's my quota for today!
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on June 13, 2002 at 23:25:26 PT
Like duh
Gorman was easily convicted of drug charges, and spent six months in the Jefferson County jail and 16 months in a Caņon City minimum-security facility. He says prison was actually pleasant, and that inmates and guards alike treated him with respect.
Because they know the difference between a criminal and a political prisoner, even if the leaders of our political system pretend there is no difference.The people are with us, it's just the leaders who are bought out by the machine.
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Comment #1 posted by Prime on June 13, 2002 at 23:23:05 PT
You go Gov!!
"I can pay my rent and buy my food, but the rest goes to anybody who will run against the drug war...."A true American patriot in my book. Couple more leaders like Ken and we can get out of this nightmare. His stories about handing out pamphlets at malls around Denver are incredibly enlightening, as well as hysterical. Ken moderates the activism board on Yahooka.http://www.yahooka.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum&f=10
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