Underground Cannabis Archives
Thomas King Forcade
Thomas King Forcade also known as Kenneth Gary Goodson Jr. was an American underground journalist​ and a cannabis rights activist in the 1960s and the 1970s. He was the founder of Orpheus magazine, High Times magazine and
for many years he ran the Underground Press Syndicate later called the Alternative Press Syndicate. Tom grew up in Phoenix Arizona. He tested as a genius when he was seven. His
father died in a car accident when he was just 11 years old.
Tom blazed through college in two and a half
years, earning a degree in business administration
from the University of Utah. He faked a suicide
attempt in order to get out of the Air Force Reserves. He used the skills he learned to fly across the border for several years, trafficking drugs from Mexico and Colombia. Tom started a hippie commune in the Arizona desert, and he created an alternative magazine called Orpheus in 1967 which he ran from a 1946 chevy school bus. Orpheus was an anti-establishment, pro-pot and sociologically savvy magazine. Tom was running the Phoenix office of the Underground Press Syndicate in 1969 when it was infiltrated by an undercover narcotic agent and raided by the local police looking for drugs.
After that Tom shut down Orpheus he headed east, landing in New York city where he ran the New York city office of the Underground Press Syndicate. Tom was living in a loft on 17th street
in Greenwich Village with a whole group of people. In 1969 Tom brought in a big load of Afghan hash into New York city when he arrived
there was a group of about 10 to 15 dealers that
all knew each other and they sold his hash making Tom close to 2 million dollars. They were
having a party at the loft on 17th street. Everyone
was tripping on Sunshine (LSD). When Tom said,
Wow I just had a great idea! I'm going to start a
magazine and I'm going to sell people information about drugs. ​​
The first issue of High Times magazine came out
in the summer of 1974 but he couldn't get the
distributers to distribute it. The first issue went out
totally through Tom's dealers. After the first issues
of High Times magazine got out the distributors
came to him. Tom created High Times magazine
because he believed in freedom of speech and freedom of the press he didn't do it for the money.
High Times magazine became a huge success,
with a circulation of more than 500,000 copies a
and revenues approaching 10 million dollars by 1977. Even with all his success Tom suffered terribly with depression.
Thomas King Forcade committed suicide on November 17, 1978, at his Greenwich Village apartment. That day the cannabis community lost one of the greatest pioneers of our time. Lost but not forgotten. Tom was inducted into the counterculture hall of fame in 2009. Tom believed cannabis could bring peace and harmony to anyone willing to give it a chance. I just wish Tom could have seen how far we have come. Millions of people use legal cannabis every day and I truly believe the world is a much better place.
Peace Tom
