Josh Kesselman Has Big Ideas for High Times

Josh Kesselman remembers buying his first issue of High Times magazine when he was “far too young,” from a smoke shop in the West Village. “I hid it in my jacket from my parents,” he said, “but once I opened it up, it was an entire world I didn’t know existed.”

High Times, which, as its name implies, celebrates counterculture and cannabis, has always been more than just a weed mag. Since its founding, in 1974, by Thomas King Forçade, a top marijuana smuggler of the time, it has published writers ranging from Hunter S. Thompson and William S. Burroughs to Truman Capote and Charles Bukowski, developing a reputation for gonzo-style journalism. A former editor called it the “bible of marijuana news.” Throughout the years, the magazine devoted its coverage to the fight for legalization and the benefits of medical marijuana. In 1988, the magazine started the Cannabis Cup, an annual festival and competition that brought together marijuana growers and enthusiasts from around the world. (Its staffers, calling themselves the Bonghitters, also improbably became repeat champions in New York’s celebrated magazine softball league.) The magazine’s success continued until, like so many others, it didn’t. In 2017, private equity investors bought High Times and it soon found itself sold for parts, with little left to show but a dilapidated website.