'Pot Shots: The Journey Of A High Times Photographer' - A Historic Visual Memoir Of Cannabis Counterculture

Malcolm MacKinnon, High Times Magazine’s celebrated photographer for 25 years, has published a historic visual memoir of the pivotal era in U.S. history when cannabis moved from being illegal in every state to the societal acceptance of recent years.

"Pot Shots: The Journey of a High Times Photographer," with 333 images, including 39 High Times covers, portrays such icons as Jack Herer, Cheech and Chong and Dr. Lester Grinspoon among other major players in drug-policy reform - as well as celebs like Jason Sudeikis, Snoop Dogg and Woody Harrelson, who stopped by the New York High Times’ office or who MacKinnon ran into along the way.

Legendary activists like Keith Stroup, who founded NORML in 1974, and Dennis Peron, who championed medical marijuana in California in 1991 and later founded the Buyer's Club in San Francisco, remind the reader that involvement with marijuana was (and in some cases still can be) a dangerous pastime.

In 2013, Snoop Dogg was given the High Times Lester Grinspoon Lifetime Achievement Award at a Denver Cannabis Cup.

MacKinnon's journey began with a serendipitous event in 1989 when a friend and former senior editor at High Times, Peter Gorman asked him to photograph samples of cannabis-infused chocolates. That's when MacKinnon realized his true calling lay in photography, ignited by his wife Susan's gift of a Canon AE1.

“There was never a dull moment at High Times,” MacKinnon said. "I was surrounded by intelligent, highly creative people. And without a doubt, marijuana inspired the staff.”

Dr. Lester Grinspoon outside his home in Boston. "I asked him if he'd mind holdiing a jar of cannabis. He laughed and said he'd never done that, then gladly consented," said MacKinnon.

MacKinnon, who took the pen name Dan Skye, said people often thanked him for the work he did for legalization but that he was always quick to correct them: “I didn’t do the work. I covered the people who did!”

The book pays tribute to High Times co-owner and chief legal counsel Michael Kennedy who defended High Times from endless attempts on the part of the Feds to shut it down for over 40 years, until his death in 2016.

"Michael Kennedy also gave me a career," MacKinnon told Benzinga Cannabis.

Pot Shots

In addition to weed advocates across the country, the book focuses on breathtaking landscapes of vibrant cannabis plants, sweeping fields of hemp, store rooms full of sun-dried buds, huge indoor grow facilities and colorful bongs. And you wouldn't want to miss the section of the book that MacKinnon calls Marijuana Models - lovely people, mostly women, interacting with the plant.

MacKinnon's Jack Herer portraits are also legendary and were immortalized on countless High Times' covers. "Jack Herrer (1939-2010) was the undisputed leader of the modern cannabis movement," says MacKinnon.

Jack Herrer in his hemp suit in 1995 and striking a pose on the shores of the Pacific ocean.

Tommy Chong, who wrote the forward of Pot Shots notes that he himself was on cover of High Times eight times, including one in 2003 right before he went to jail for selling his signature Chong Glass bongs. 

“His photography is a chronicle of an age when pot was the banner of counterculture, when anyone supporting this plant was at risk of losing their freedom,” Chong wrote.

Cheech and Chong after they reunited in 2008, which MacKinnon says "was huge news in the marijuana world."

So, if you’re wondering what to give that special person in your life, or yourself, for a holiday surprise, "Pot Shots: The Journey of a High Times Photographer" is a gift that will certainly keep on giving.

All photos courtesy of Malcolm McKinnon