High Times журналының тарихы

American magazine

From 1974 to 2016, High Times was published by Trans High Corporation (THC).

In 1987, High Times was audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation as reaching 500,000 copies an issue, rivaling Rolling Stone and National Lampoon. In 1988, Steven Hager was hired as the magazine's editor. He changed the focus from the promotion of hard drugs (e. g., cocaine and heroin), and instead concentrated on advocating personal cultivation of cannabis. Hager became the first editor to publish and promote the work of hemp activist Jack Herer. In 1988, under Hager's leadership, the magazine created the Cannabis Cup, a cannabis awards ceremony held every Thanksgiving in Amsterdam that later expanded to a number of U. S. cities. In 1997, the magazine and Hager founded the Counterculture Hall of Fame, with inductions held annually on Thanksgiving as part of the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup event. In the late 1980s Mike Edison began writing "Shoot the Tube," a featured column about television and politics for High Times. In 1998 Edison was named the magazine's publisher, and later took control of the editorial side of the magazine as well. As editor and publisher, he caused a furor among staffers by putting Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on the cover, and then leaking to the New York Posts Page Six gossip column that thousands of dollars of pot had gone missing from the photo shoot. After taking the magazine to new heights in sales and advertising, Edison was instrumental in producing High Times first feature film, High Times' Potluck. Edison left High Times in 2001. In 2000, the magazine established the Stony Awards to recognize and celebrate notable stoner films and television episodes about cannabis. Six High Times Stony Awards ceremonies were held in New York City beginning in 2000, before the Stonys moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Award winners received a bong shaped trophy. Starting in 2002, the Stonys presented the Thomas King Forçade Award for "stony achievement" in film.

In 2003, Steven Hager was fired, and High Times' board of directors shifted the magazine's focus from marijuana to more literary content, hiring John Buffalo Mailer as executive editor. As a result, the magazine "lost a third of the circulation in nine months." In 2004, High Times returned to its roots, releasing the CD High Volume: The Stoner Rock Collection. Hager was rehired, first as the creative director, and then in 2006, back to the position of editor in chief,

In November 2009, High Times celebrated its 35th anniversary. In the period 2010–2013, the magazine put out a standalone publication that advocated for medical marijuana. Hager subsequently released a 20 part series on YouTube, titled The Strategic Meeting, showing the internal machinations inside the company. The video series asserts that Michael Kennedy stole the company from the rightful employees and subverted the original mission for his own private gain. In October 2014, the magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party attended by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon. In 2014, the High Times website was read by 500,000 to five million users each month.

In January 2017, the magazine announced it would be permanently relocating from New York to Los Angeles. In the summer of 2017, High Times was sold to a group of investors led by Adam Levin The deal was valued at $6.9 million. Green Rush Daily founder Scott McGovern joined the magazine as Senior Executive Vice President.

By 1976, High Times was publishing comics in its pages, by the likes of underground comix creators such as Gilbert Shelton ("The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers"), Kim Deitch, Josh Alan and Drew Friedman, Bill Griffith ("Zippy the Pinhead"), Paul Kirchner ("Dope Rider"), Milton Knight ("Zoe"), Spain Rodriguez ("Trashman"), Dave Sheridan, Frank Thorne, and Skip Williamson ("Snappy Sammy Smoot"). Later, artists like Bob Fingerman and Mary Wilshire contributed comics to High Times as well.

Andrew Weil was a regular contributor to High Times from 1975 to 1983. For a time, William Levy served as the magazine's European editor. In 1976, Bruce Eisner became a contributing editor for the magazine. Chip Berlet was the magazine's Washington, D. C. bureau chief in the Seventies. Jeff Goldberg was an editor in 1978–1979. Kyle Kushman is a former cultivation reporter for High Times and has been a contributing writer for over 20 years. Bobby Black had a long association with High Times, from 1994 to 2015, including being a senior editor and columnist. His involvement at High Times included production director and associate art director; writing the monthly lifestyle and entertainment column "Almost Infamous"; writing feature articles and interviews; creator and producer of the magazine's annual Miss High Times beauty pageant; lead reporter, judge, and competition coordinator for the Cannabis Cup and the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup; and A&R, producer, liner notes and art director for High Volume: The Stoner Rock Collection CD (High Times Records). At age 19, Zena Tsarfin started as an intern for the magazine. She later returned to High Times, serving as the magazine's managing editor until 2001 and then again from March 2006 to January 2007. From 2014 to 2016, Tsarfin was High Times' director of digital media. Danny Danko is the magazine's former Senior Cultivation Editor.