Tossing Firecrackers at the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards - An Interview With Paul Krassner

by Preston Peet- special to drugwar.com

Paul Krassner reads from his script

May 7, 2002

There's no such thing as being off-duty

During what were supposed to be Friday night off-duty from editing and reporting hours, I attended the Seventh Annual Firecracker Alternative Books Awards, held May 4th at North 6, a club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My having an article on CIA and US government drug trafficking connections in Disinformation’s “You Are Being Lied To“, one of the ‘Best Non-Fiction Book’ Firecracker award nominees, (it lost to "Fast Food Nation", by Eric Schlosser, published by Houghton Mifflin), was a good excuse to draw me out to the awards party and presentation, but the chance to meet, and possibly share a smoke and conversation with the emcee of the evening, the legendary Paul Krassner, was an added incentive I was not about to pass up.

Krassner gives Ed Rosenthal his
Special Recognition Firecracker Award

Having a couple of stories included in an upcoming Krassner-edited book from High Times, “Magic Mushrooms and Other Highs- From Toad Slime to Ecstasy,” I’d exchanged the odd email or two with Krassner, but hadn’t yet the pleasure of meeting him face to face. I was not disappointed in any way, finding Krassner to be sociable, talkative, and entirely willing to share a bowl or two before going onstage to present awards.

Rosenthal proudly shows off his award to all
and sundry.

Although I wasn’t supposed to be working, due to a scheduled presenter not showing up I was recruited to give away the Firecracker award for ‘Best Drug Book’ of the year, (“Junkie Love” by Phil Shoenfelt, from Twisted Spoon Press). This gave me unlimited access to backstage, where besides meeting two other people I greatly appreciated meeting, Lee Renaldo, the guitarist for the influential and innovative Sonic Youth, and Ed Rosenthal, the renowned pro-marijuana author and current federal pot case defendant, I took the opportunity to ask Krassner a few informal questions.

Krassner and Lee Renaldo deep in a
musical moment.

Exchanging points of view

Preston- I’m really interested in your views on culture. I know I’ve asked you this before, when I did the N’SYNC story for High Times. Seems like today there could be more use by culture of the arts, or that there’s a disconnect between the culture and the arts, that arts are being used more by the corporations rather than by the people. I mean, you write in your book that “our culture was our politics.” It doesn’t seem like there’s much mainstream promotion of that going on today, or perhaps there's too much of it come to think of it. What's your take on this?

Paul Krassner- Well, I think tomorrow here in NYC there’s going to be a marijuana watch, I mean, marijuana march. (laughs) Actually, there’s going to be both a marijuana march and watch tomorrow. That’s one example. Then the next day there’s going to Cubans on parade, Israelis on parade, and a bicycle race. They are communities. What gave the 60s a sense of community was that a group of people all had the same values and goals about certain things. Sometimes it would become more overlapping. We’d see the same people at a civil rights demonstration that we’d see at an anti-war rally. Now the difference is there’s perhaps hundreds of different causes that have reached the mainstream awareness.

Preston- So it is harder to focus?

PK- I don’t know. I think it may be the, what’s the phrase they always use, Special Interests. I think perhaps that the people working against the death penalty don't have time to work with the people who are for wages for house work, or that the people who are working on gay rightsdon't have time to work on abortion rights, or that the people who want to save the world have time to save the forests. Everybody has their own priorities for whatever reasons. So it might be more scattered. The line I use in my new book is instead of “we shall overcome,” I say, “we shall overlap.” I think that if there could be some kind of coalition it would be a powerful force. That might be the trick. That might be the trend, except on certain issues there would be separation, like how the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will separate progressives who agree on other issues. But I think there are libertarians who may not be pot smokers who don’t want the anti-pot laws.

Preston- You quoted Lenny Bruce in your latest book, "Murder at the Conspiracy Convention", (Barricade Books), saying during a speech in I believe 1960 that all the kids who were smoking pot then were going to grow up to be the lawyers and politicians, so pot would be legal in 10 years. But of course, it’s not. We’re 40 years on now and it is still illegal. Do you think you are going to see pot legalization?

PK- In my lifetime? There are certain places where it is in effect legal, because it’s not a priority on prosecutors’ lists. It’s a process. I think medical marijuana is a step forward. Ideally it shouldn’t be that way. It’s not impossible. The decades now are going to be looked back on as a barbaric time, just as we now look back at certain times, like the Dark Ages. It’s like the singer-song writer Harry Chapin said, "If you don’t act like there’s hope, there is no hope." So even if that’s a placebo, it works, and you feel better while you do what you have to do anyway, because the alternative is to be passive. It’s a choice.

Preston- Would you have anything particular you’d want to say to the cops at the marijuana march and rally tomorrow if they decide to start arresting folks again? They’re pretty aggressive here in NYC.

PK- It’s a difficult question, because I’ve been in situations like that. The best they can say is “I’m just doing my job, following the law.”

Preston- Following orders.

PK- They might say “if you change the law I won’t bust you.” I think I would follow the advice of drug lawyers, which is don’t speak to the cops. But realize ultimately that he or she is a victim too.

Preston- Of the system?

PK- Yeah. They’re wanting to keep their jobs. I might ask them, “do you really think I should be punished for this? It doesn‘t hurt anybody.” That just seems natural to say. But I don’t think it would be persuasive. It’s just one little bit of input.

Preston- No, it’s never been persuasive in my case, and I’ve taken the opportunity when presented it.

PK- Oh yeah? What did you say?

Preston- Well, specifically, “do you really think this is helping,” and “have you seen less pot smokers in the city this year than last year because of your arresting them?” They’ve not usually been willing to speak to me.

PK- Because you are holding a mirror up to them. I think most cops don‘t like to face what they’re doing because they know in their hearts that it’s inhumane. They think only in terms of their options, like advancing their careers, like any politicians. It’s an individual choice how people respond to this. I think if more and more people come out as pot smokers, like what they did in the gay movement, that would create more dialogue. I make that analogy in my new book.

Preston- You still going out and doing stand up?

PK- Here and there. I’ve got an album coming out, “Irony Lives,” in July, 2002, from Artemis Records.