50 years later, Grateful Dead’s drug bust looks much different
As the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love comes closer, events of the year come into a different focus.
It’s clear the mayor and supervisors should have shown more compassion to the young people following the call into San Francisco. It’s clear that the music, art and other culture from the era was more than a passing fad.
And it’s clear that local authorities — and the media — overreacted on Oct. 2, 1967, when police raided the Grateful Dead’s crash pad at 710 Ashbury St. and hauled 10 handcuffed band members and associates to the police station on questionable marijuana charges.
“The Grateful Dead — ROCK BAND BUSTED,” The San Francisco Chronicle’s headline read, above the banner on the front page, in a giant type generally associated with declarations of war and deaths of presidents.
“The raid — on The Dead’s way-out 13-room pad at 710 Ashbury St. — also led to the arrest of the group’s equipment
manager, two business managers and six girls, variously described as ‘friends,’ ‘visitors’ and ‘just girls,’ ” the second paragraph of The Chronicle story began.
Five state agents, two city inspectors and at least a half dozen uniformed police descended on the band’s home to confiscate a pound of marijuana, The Chronicle reported. The arrested Dead family members walked down the steps two at a time, handcuffed in pairs, like a wedding party walking down the aisle. Only two band members were there: Bob Weir and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.
“They were processing some marijuana in the kitchen, by running it through a colander to get rid of some stems and seeds,” state narcotics bureau head Matthew O’Connor told The Chronicle.
Band co-manager Danny Rifkin called a news conference two days after the arrest, and his speech — excerpted in The Chronicle the next day — was a masterpiece in logic and foresight.
“Almost anyone who has ever studied marijuana seriously and objectively has agreed that, physically and psychologically, marijuana is the least harmful chemical used for pleasure and life enhancement . ... The president of a company that makes defective automobiles which leads to thousands of deaths and injuries can face a maximum penalty of a minor fine.
“A person convicted for possession of marijuana can be sentenced to up to 30 years in jail . ... The law is so seriously out of touch with reality. If the lawyers, doctors, advertising men, teachers and political officeholders who use marijuana were arrested today, the law might well be off the books before Thanksgiving.
“… The Grateful Dead are people engaged in constructive, creative effort in the musical field and this house is where we work as well as our residence. Because the police fear and misinterpret us, our effort is now being interrupted as we deal with the consequences of a harassing arrest.”
Members of the band were originally charged with felonies. But by the time the case wrapped up in 1968, all had been reduced to misdemeanor charges of “being in a place where marijuana is used” or “maintaining a residence where marijuana is used.” No jail time was served, and the largest fine was $200.
The Grateful Dead, in the decades that followed, proved Rifkin’s assertions correct. They stayed in the area and became celebrated, law-abiding and downright patriotic citizens.
Meanwhile, Rifkin’s manifesto proved prescient. Not only is it legal to smoke weed with the Grateful Dead in 2017, but any politician who came out against the drug now would probably render themselves unelectable.
Portrayed as dastardly criminals, the Grateful Dead turned out to be a half century ahead of their time.