A SHIFT FROM EVERYONE MUST GET STONED TO EVERYONE MUST GET INVOLVED

For those no longer intrigued by magazine covers that promise to reveal "3
Things That All Guys Crave in Bed" or "50 Ways to Lose the Weight," High
Times magazine has a new tease: "How to Get Arrested."

But High Times, a magazine largely known for its adoring centerfold photo
spreads of marijuana, is not talking about getting busted for possession of
illegal drugs. The arresting cover line appears on the latest issue, an
activist's guide to the Republican National Convention in New York, Aug. 30
through Sept. 2.

"This is a program guide to the R.N.C. protests," said Jason
Flores-Williams, the staff political writer, who wrote "Call to
Resistance," the guide's lead article. "Sort of like a program to a Knicks
game."

Though the guide is an impassioned response to the current political
environment, it also is part of an attempt to steer High Times away from
the shoals of irrelevance.

"High Times started out as a celebration of outlaw culture in America," Mr.
Flores-Williams said, recalling long-ago issues with counterculture figures
like Andy Warhol on the front. "Then the magazine became pot porn, just a
stoner mag." That was only fun for so long, he said.

Now Richard Stratton, the publisher and editor in chief, who once ran
Prison Life magazine, and his staff are reshaping High Times to embody what
they see as the next big thing: activism.

"I would liken it to Rolling Stone coming along at the birth of rock 'n'
roll," Mr. Flores-Williams said. "Activism is the new rock 'n' roll."

The September/October issue is packed with calls for readers to come and
protest in New York. The centerfold pictures just one marijuana leaf, being
tucked into a policeman's gun by a young woman in a tank top. (The spread
is a play on Vietnam-era images of hippies offering flowers to soldiers.)

Though marijuana remains prominent in the magazine's pages, advertisers,
rather than articles, now show the most enthusiasm for it, in ads for books
like "Indoor Marijuana Horticulture" and devices to help cheat on drug tests.

Asked whether readers have caught up with the new editorial focus, Mr.
Flores-Williams said, "If you're a kid looking for the new and real action,
you're going to eat this up."