53rd annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor honors life, legacy of activist John Sinclair

Hundreds of cannabis enthusiasts poured into Ann Arbor to celebrate the 53rd annual Hash Bash on Saturday, honoring the life and legacy of John Sinclair, influential marijuana activist.

The Detroit resident died Tuesday morning at age 82, days before he was scheduled to speak at the marijuana festival on The Diag.

Despite his death, his voice lives on through a new generation of activists, enthusiasts and Hash Bash attendees in 2024, Leni Sinclair, his ex-wife, said in a speech.

“It’s just enormous what John Sinclair started,” Leni Sinclair said. “But I’m also thinking of what America did to people like us.”

John Sinclair’s arrest for possessing two joints in the late 1960s, a felony at the time, famously drew scrutiny from counterculture activists and major celebrities who rallied in his defense at a 1971 freedom rally in Ann Arbor.

Three days after the rally, and less than three years into his 10-year sentence, John Sinclair’s release sparked a lifelong career in the arts and continued advocacy for marijuana legalization.

The Sinclairs moved to Ann Arbor at one point after their Detroit home was firebombed – a difficult transition she remembers for the candlelight vigil outraged local conservatives held the same night they moved in, Leni Sinclair said.

“We were sinners to them because he smoked weed,” Leni Sinclair said. “And now all you sinners turned into saints.”

Supporters behind Leni Sinclair held signs memorializing John Sinclair, other marijuana activists, and Michigan residents still currently incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses.

Thin veils of marijuana smoke floated over the crowd as a stream of speakers described newer challenges on the field that have emerged since John Sinclair's work from the 1960s onward.

President Joe Biden can start by reclassifying marijuana in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s drug schedule, said Chuck Ream, a marijuana activist.

Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforecement Agency, flagging the substance for having the federally determined highest risk of abuse with no recognized medical use in the U.S.

In August the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended rescheduling marijuana to the DEA, a move that could impact future research and the marijuana industry.

Current enthusiasts owe the latest changes to Michigan marijuana laws to a slate of local activists, including John Sinclair, said Ream, who added that he hopes to expand gun rights for medical marijuana users as stigma around the drug shifts.

“What incredible change we have made in Michigan,” he said. “We used to be outlaws, always in danger, always afraid. Now we can walk into a lovely cannabis store, or we can legally grow as much as we want.”

Josey Scoggin, director of the Great Lakes Expungement Network, said expungement can be the key to lifting housing and employment barriers for previously incarcerated people.

“People don’t deserve to be in jail for cannabis, and if they go to jail for cannabis, they don’t deserve to rot there,” she said. “My dad spent 17 years in federal prison. It is hard for me to grapple and understand, and I carry a lot of shame with it.”

Removing cannabis from the DEA’s drug schedule and helping current and formerly-incarcerated people move forward with their lives is an important next step in marijuana activism, said Kristin Flor, executive director of Freedom Grow.

“My father died shackled to a hospital bed,” Flor said. “I took him off life support while his ankle was still shackled to the bed. He died with broken bones, undiagnosed colon cancer, liver failure, all while my mom was in prison too for money laundering because they co-owned five dispensaries in Montana in 2012.”

Some Hash Bash attendees were hearing John Sinclair’s name for the first time, drawn to the event more by its community than organizing.

“It’s really helped me personally with some medical conditions I have,” said Mitchel Lafeldt, a 24-year-old Flint resident sitting on the grass with friends. “It’s a lot cheaper than recreational cannabis and it’s more easy to obtain for what you need, for your personal needs.”

Lafeldt said he appreciated Michigan activists for changing mainstream conversations on accessing medical marijuana and hoped to learn more about their work at Saturday’s event.

Lori Overbough, a 58-year-old Jackson resident smoking nearby, said medical marijuana helps her manage her pain after enduring painful back injuries.

Surrounding herself with people who can relate to that experience is why she’s still coming to Hash Bash, Overbough said.

“It’s all about the people,” she said.