UP IN SMOKE

Burning Rainbow Farm by Dean Kuipers; Bloomsbury USA, $24.95

It was southwest Michigan's best-kept secret, according to Dean
Kuipers, a journalist who was raised 20 miles from where Tom Crosslin
and his younger life-partner Rollie Rohm founded Rainbow Farm in
Vandalia. Established as a peaceful, pro-marijuana-use space
supporting concerts, rallies, and general gatherings for the
like-minded, the farm caused no harm, and everyone who worked there
generally kept to themselves, with the exception of the huge hemp
festivals that drew thousands of followers to the site several times each year.

But when Kuipers read about the sudden deaths of these two gay men by
FBI sharpshooters, he writes, "the shootings in Vandalia smelled
funny the moment I read about them." Angered by the injustice of what
had transpired, Kuipers decided to investigate, and the bulk of his
findings are engagingly reproduced in this revealing expose.

The author shows that Rainbow Farm thrived with the assistance and
patronage of a variety of different types of people, "the vast
majority of them responsible adults with children and businesses and
churches." Folks suffering from medical conditions like glaucoma and
epilepsy trekked to the area for the mental and physical relief that
the pot plants grown on the Farm provided.

Kuipers' depiction of the two men's courtship and their daily life
tending to the Farm makes for a sweet story, but one that quickly
sours as the increasing attendance at enormous gatherings like Hemp
Aid 98 and 99 began to attract the attention of the local
prosecutor's office, not to mention Crosslin's brazen attempts to
legalize marijuana use via a Michigan ballot initiative. In a raid on
the Farm, the two men were busted with numerous marijuana plants
thriving in the basement, and that was all that was needed for a
misdemeanor hearing.

The men blew off the court date in favor of a plot to burn down the
farm, all in the name of free speech and the right to privacy.

Crosslin and Rohm, whom Kuipers calls "activists who pushed the
limits of the First Amendment," stood strong and defended their land,
with media giants like CNN and Fox News right there on-hand to
capture every patriotic word they uttered during the armed, five-day
standoff that ensued. But since all of this drama began just two days
prior to the events of September 11, 2001, what could have been a
monumental event in marijuana-regulation history was soon
overshadowed by that much grander-scaled tragedy.

Instead of Crosslin and his partner looking like defenders of
American's rights, in the eyes of a terrified, blundering government
with a global catastrophe on its hands, the two men were now
classified as terrorists.

Kuipers writes that the whole situation became more of an unsolved
murder mystery when, days after Tom and Rollie burned Rainbow Farm to
the ground before the Feds could confiscate the property, the news of
their shooting deaths by government-sanctioned "snipers hidden in the
trees" broke to news agencies.

The author does justice to his subject matter, and with exceptional
dexterity brings to light the hypocrisy that continues to infiltrate
and damage many of today's beneficial if controversial causes.

The struggle continues, and books like these serve as healthy
reminders to us all that the War on Drugs can be a deadly one.