OWNERS OF PRO-POT MAGAZINE FEUD WITH FORMER EMPLOYEES

PHOENIX - The founder of the pro-marijuana magazine High Times expressed
the ideals of a generation when he called money "irrelevant" in 1976.

"Making money is not enough for us. Money and political 'power' .. strike
us as irrelevant," Thomas King Forcade wrote in a column in the magazine,
which is devoted to the cultivation and enjoyment of pot.

But nearly three decades after High Times' founding, money has become very
significant in a feud unfolding in an Arizona court.

The dispute is between a former editor and an ex-columnist on one side and
members of Forcade's family on the other.

At the center of the fight is a trust fund established by Forcade in 1974,
the year High Times was founded, to control the magazine and its related
businesses. The fund's only assets were shares in High Times.

The shares were to be distributed to loyal employees who had served for
more than 10 years on Jan. 1, 2000 - effectively transferring ownership of
the publication from the nonprofit trust to longtime employees.

Those shares were distributed, but former editor and publisher Andy Kowl
and columnist Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "guru of ganja," say they
were unfairly cut out of the deal. They blame members of Forcade's family,
including his cousin John Goodson, the Phoenix lawyer who oversaw the trust.

It is unclear how much the magazine and its related businesses are worth.
Rosenthal suggests it could be tens of millions of dollars; Goodson says it
is not worth as much as Rosenthal thinks, but he will not give specifics.
Rosenthal and Kowl have not said how big a piece of the business they
believe they are entitled to.

Rosenthal and Kowl contend Goodson made sure Forcade's relatives benefited
from the trust, while Rosenthal and Kowl were left out.

Goodson said, however, that Forcade empowered him to determine who should
become a part-owner of the magazine under the terms set by Forcade.

Those people who received shares, including relatives, were loyal
employees, he said. And Rosenthal and Kowl do not qualify because Kowl was
once fired by Forcade and Rosenthal wrote his "Ask Ed" columns on marijuana
growing and other stories as a freelance writer, Goodson said. Rosenthal,
who is awaiting sentencing on federal marijuana charges in Northern
California, had his name on the masthead and contributed stories to High
Times for 17 years. He said he has earned the right to be a trust beneficiary.

Kowl, who was editor and publisher after Forcade committed suicide in 1978,
said he was forced out by Goodson just as he would have qualified as a
beneficiary.

The men have asked a probate judge to decide. Both sides submitted written
arguments to the judge, who could set a hearing before ruling.

The glossy magazine features often self-mocking articles on growing
marijuana, getting stoned and the politics of pot. It is unusual among
renegade publications for its staying power, with a paid circulation listed
in court papers as 220,000. Its editorial headquarters are in New York.

"It has a large circulation and it's, in its area, a pretty well-respected
publication," said professor John Burks, journalism department chairman at
San Francisco State University and a former managing editor of Rolling
Stone. "It's not just silly pages for people who get loaded all the time."

The magazine sprang from the counterculture movement in which Forcade was
deeply involved. Forcade counted among his friends the Yippie prankster
Abbie Hoffman.

"He was very much a leader of the counterculture, opposing the evils of
government and the unfairness of classifying marijuana and hemp as illegal
substances," Goodson said.

Forcade "was a pretty crazy fellow. He was a daring one. He was very
dedicated to a different society than we have now. He was a very political
animal," Rosenthal said. High Times "was fed by ideology, and that's what
it's all about."

But he added: "That's not to say people don't want to be rewarded for what
they do."