AACE INTERVIEW: Tom Kikuchi
First in a series: Tom Kikuchi, Asian American Advocate
Growing cannabis in California can be a profitable and rewarding endeavor, but it also requires knowledge, skill, and attention to the regulations and legal requirements surrounding the industry.
Cannabis arrests in California have changed significantly in recent years due to the legalization of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use.
In the 1970s, the cultivation of cannabis was largely a risky and clandestine activity, as it was illegal at the federal level and in many states. Cannabis growers often faced the risk of arrest, imprisonment, and seizure of their property by law enforcement.
Despite the risks, many cannabis growers in the 1970s were passionate about the plant and the culture surrounding it and were willing to take the chance to grow and distribute it to those who sought it out. This era saw the emergence of what is now known as the "hippie" or counterculture movement, which embraced the use of cannabis as a symbol of rebellion and freedom.
During the 1990s in California, there were a significant number of cannabis-related arrests, particularly for the possession and distribution of marijuana. At the time, California law classified possession of any amount of marijuana as a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $100 and up to six months in jail.
However, in 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act, which legalized the use of medical marijuana in the state for patients with certain medical conditions. This law allowed patients with a doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate marijuana for their own medical use.
Despite this change in law, cannabis-related arrests continued throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly for non-medical users and distributors. It wasn't until the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016 that the use and possession of marijuana for recreational purposes was legalized in California, which has led to a significant decrease in cannabis-related arrests in the state.
The minority of arrests were Asian American, of those that stand out Way Quon Long (sentenced to life and pardoned in 2020) and Tom Kikuchi, a cultivator, and advocate were arrested in 1998 and 2002, and finally released in 2009.*
And this is where we begin Tom Kikuchi’s Cannabis Journey, from his awakening in high school to his arrest and founding of FreedomGrow.org.
CHAPTER ONE: KESEY COMES TO TOWN
Kesey Influence: I was in high school when Kesey and the Merry Pranksters came to LA on that famous nationwide bus tour. They rented out the Olympic Auditorium in downtown and threw one of the parties described in a Tom Wolfe short story titled The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about it until the next evening when a local TV station, channel 13 as I recall, aired a lot of minutes covering this event. On our family's grainy, black and white cathode ray tubed analog dial TV, I was fascinated by a short interview with one of the Pranksters in the auditorium parking area. He and his pals allowed themselves to be filmed smoking joints and passing them around. What I found interesting was that they all seemed to be having a great deal of fun. The laughing, joking, and wise-cracking were so honest and on-point for the times that it struck a chord within me. Anybody could clearly see that they were in control yet the hilarity was so spontaneous. I thought to myself that I should try some of that stuff someday. About a year later, I did try some and it was better than advertised.
It wasn't until my college years that I became aware of the details and significance of the Acid Tests, the bus, and Ken Kesey as a published writer. Once I read Tom Wolfe's account of an Acid Test, I finally realized what I had missed out on. By that time though, I had already passed my own Acid Test anyway. Most people at the time knew that one of the Pranksters was an electronics whiz and filled Furthur the bus with all kinds of electronic to equipment from front to back to record and play video or music. This was at a time when 8 track tape cassettes were state of the art for cars and had to be custom installed. It amazes me that someone had the foresight to preserve all that film and tape. I would like to see a nice narrative movie edited out of all that footage. They influenced a lot of people across America.