HIGH SOCIETY RAG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100610004-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 7, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 8, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

LIFE/STYLE
Approved
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-11gh Society Rag
The drums of the counter-culture may
?eatmore softly these days, hi it the smoke
ignals linger on. Marijuana, according to
.event surveys, is now smoked by 25
.rillion Americans, at a rate of more than
billion joints a year. With that in mind,
_ group ofenterprisi.ng li ipsters started an
underground magazine for the stoned
ociety a year ago-and since then "High
r"imes" has grown into a very visible
-)imonthly publication with a heady cir-
-ulation of 250,000.
In contrast.to the messy, gray look of
most counter-culture publications, High
Limes is as glossy and slick as any
straight magazine. But that's where the
-esemblance ends. The table of contents
-cads like a narcotic agent's nightmare,
;'ith titles such as "The Man Who
Turned On the World," "Golden Days
if Cocaine Wine," "Hemp Paper Re-
,onsidered"and "I Was JFK's Dealer."
The advertising hawks every type of
drug paraphernalia from joint rollers
-End cigarette paper to grass-quality test-
_n.g kits and hand-carved marijuana
)ipes. So far, Madison Avenue has not
-urned on to High Times, but co-
oublish.er Andrew Kowval is optirnistical-
-v looking forwar d to carrying blue-chip
-ids within the next year.
Dealers: Despite its limited advertis-
ing-and the refusal by top national.
_listributors to put the magazine on their
iiewsstands (it is sold by subscription, in
cad shops and on college campuses)-
high Times is on a success trip. Kowal
expects the circulation to reach 300,000
9)y the next issue. The editors are cur-
rently running an expensive full-page
ad campaign in several national publica
tions (such as Rolling Stone and New
Times) asking readers to "demand High
September 8, 1975
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Pot boiler: Turning the readers' heads
office boy asked too many questions too
soon, a private investigator confirmed
the editors' worst fears: the curious new
employee was an informer for the New
York City Police Department.
-BETSY CARTER
Bay'-Stool Psychiatrists
An old customer slumped into the
Melody Mill tavern in Racine, Wis., on a
recent Sunday night and took his regular
seat at the bar. Instead of pouring the
usual shot-and-a-beer, however, the bar-
maid engaged him in a series of neighbor-
ly conversations while refilling his glass
endlessly with 7-Up. By closing time, the
customer was still stone-cold sober. "I'm
so glad we had a talk," the ex-alcoholic
confessed to LaVerne Kowalski, the own-
ALL TOGETHER -- SCRATCH!
The elevator in a Miami office building was jam-packed
when a man in a T shirt raised his h an d to scratch his shoul-
der. Immediately the tangy smell of just-baked pizza filled
the elevator. Sniffing the cheese-and-anchovy aroma, one
executive blurted out: "OK, where's the pizza man?"
There was no pizza man, it turned out only a pizza
shirt. T shirts, which have been emblazoned with a
blizzard of visual messages, are now adding a second
sense: smell. Carrying a patch filled with ? microscopic
"BB's" of fragrance which release their odor when
scratched, the T shirts were conceived as a promotional
gimmick for advertisers. In New York, the Smell. This Shirt
Company is turning out orange-scented T shirts for
Clairol's Sunshine Harvest Shampoo and perfume-saturat-
ed shirt-dress samples for Chanel No. 5.
The Smell It Like It Is Co. in Miami offers a smorgas-
bord of smells from bananas to root beer. The scented
shirts, which cost from $2 to $6, last through four or five
hand washings. "All the kids at school wear them," says
11-year-old David Ruttenberg of Miami. "They've got
pickles, flowers, milk shakes, strawberry, chocolate and
garlic. And when we all scratch together, it really stinks."
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Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000100610004-4
Times from your local [news] dealer,"
and in a few months a. troop of High
Timers will embark on. a 24-city promo-
tion tour. "We're solid. for at least two
years," says editor hip 1 ~' 27, who
admits that the magazine will have to
change its tone when and if marijuana is
legalized.
"Basically, our readers are people who
enjoy getting high and having a good
time," says Dwyer, a former editor at
Coronet. "People into the marijuana
trade are into portraying themselves as
men of the earth. What we're trying to do
is put togethera magazine that reflects the
life-style ofthese people." While much of
the magazine offers detailed prices and
descriptions of dope, upcoming issues
will contain fashion spreads of the Hell's
Angels in T shirts, a cover story on tur-
quoise jewelry, articles on voodoo drugs,
erotic art in the Vatican and getting high
on death, and an exclusiye.interview with
the Dalai Lama.
Hammock: "This is sort of an outlaw
magazine," chuckles Dwyer, whose
small band of editorial hands works out
of arm airy loft in New York's Greenwich
Village. "Most people come here expect-
ing to see smoke wafting out of every
office and people lying stoned in Mexi-
can hammocks hitting a typewriter key
every now and then. Sure, we turn on
occasionally, but we don't encourage
people to light up in the office."
High Times shares one of the lows of
the drug culture--paranoia. Recently,
the editors hired a company to comb the
magazine's.. offices for. bugging, devices;
they found the place clean. Narcotics
agents read High Times (the Drug En-
forcement Administration in Washing-
ton keeps it in stock), but so far they have
not harassed the publication. Last
month, however, when a newly hired