Weedman's Not Worried
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CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE | DECEMBER JANUARY JANUARY | DECEMBER CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE What lealWeedman’s cannabis means to a dealer, a stoner caramel not corn recipe, worriedand other tales to take you into 2020 THIS WEEK CHICAGOREADER | DECEMBER JANUARY | VOLUME NUMBER IN THIS ISSUE T R - CITYLIFE 08 ComicWhatfederallawmeans 27 MoviesofnoteCatsisa @ forsomeChicagoresidentswho toweringachievementinfurryporn wanttosmokepot GretaGerwig’sadaptationofLittle PTB 10 Dukmasova|FeatureIllinois’s Womenisabeautifulmasterpiece ECS K KH cannabislegalizationmaybe CL S K designedtoputdealersoutof MUSIC&NIGHTLIFE MEP M businessbuttheirbusinessisabout ARTS&CULTURE 28 InRotationCurrentmusical TDKR morethanjustsellingweed 22 VisualArt“Restrain”appears obsessionsofdrummerTimDaisy CEBW AEJL staticbuttheworksandthe cellistLiaKohlandReadermusic SWDI viewersdance editorPhilipMontoro BJMS 29 ShowsofnoteSleepRenaldo SWMDLG EAS N L THEATER DominoBlakeSaintDavidand LCS C -J 03 SightseeingAsheriff apack 23 Review DanceNationcaptures morethisweek CE B N B ofjournalistsandthreesergeants theauthenticityandvulnerabilityof 34 EarlyWarningsChrisFarren L C MDLC M C J F S F J walkedintoafi eldofweedwith adolescence YundiLiTajMahalQuartetand H IHC MJ fl amethrowers 24 PicksCurethewintertimeblues morejustannouncedconcerts MK S K withthesehotJanuaryoptionsin 34 GossipWolfChloethepunk N DL JL MM A M -K FOOD&DRINK performingarts scenepugcrossestherainbow JRN JN M 05 RecipeHowtomakecannabis bridgeonlineecologypublication O M SC S caramelcorn 19 CommuningEvenwith MidMagazinelauncheswithan ---------------------------------------------------------------- legalizationonthehorizonthese ArielZetinamixandmore DDJ D womenofcolorfeelsafestcreating DPE &P K K spacesforweedinfusedactivities OPINION SMCJ G ontheirownterms 36 SavageLoveDanSavageoff ers MP C 21 LawThedosanddon’tsofadult advicetopeopleconsidering YD A ATA usecannabisinIllinois openingtheirrelationship ADVERTISING -- - @ CLASSIFIEDS C @ 38 Jobs FILM 39 Marketplace SDP F 25 ReviewsThescriptissometimes VPSA M CR MT P NEWS&POLITICS wantingbutStarWarsTheRiseof SAR 06 Joravsky|PoliticsMayor Skywalkerisafunconclusiontothe L M-H L S Lightfoot’scannabiscultivation moviesagaPedroAlmodóvarstrips O I CSMW R centerfi nallyaTIFexpenditure awayemotionalfacadesinPain FOFO’ NA thatmakessense andGlory VM G - - - JL SB ---------------------------------------------------------------- DC [email protected] -- LETTER FROM A DESIGNER STM READER LLC BPD R L TE R S J S A-S V Versions of Sue CC E B ---------------------------------------------------------------- THESE ARE THREE versions of me: at the R ISSN- beginning, middle, and end of my time at STMR LLC SM S C IL the Reader. Long-hair-don’t-care, doe-eyed -- and hopeful; accomplished and arrogant; C ©C R established and at peace. On any given week, P C IL depending on my responsibilities, I have been A C R R any one of these. It’s been an honor to shape RR T ® the visual identities of the Reader. — SK - ANNAGRACENOLIN 2 CHICAOREADER - DECEMBER ll CITY LIFE UNIVERSALNEWSREELNATIONALARCHIVESCOLLEGEPARK SIGHTSEEING When Cook County enlisted the Marines to fi ght marijuana A sheriff , a pack of journalists, and three sergeants walked into a fi eld of weed . with fl amethrowers. By JN n July 15, 1957, officers from the him as a goo all machine hack. He was, in ac- Cook County Sheri ’s o ce, a squad tuality, a nationally respected lecturer in so- of journalists, and three U.S. Marine ciology at the University of Chicago. Running sergeants arrived at the banks of as a Democrat in 1954, he didn’t campaign the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal for sheriff as an antidrug warrior, but as a Onear Route 83, northeast of Lemont. The Ma- criminologist who could take on the problems rines were veterans of the Korean War, includ- of gambling and juvenile delinquency and ing one of nine survivors of a 32-man combat professionally manage the county jail. Also team. in Lohman’s resume was his work with the Under the watch of Sheriff Joseph D. United Nations, repatriating prisoners of war Lohman, the Marines used fl amethrowers to at the end of the Korean War. torch a fi eld of marijuana, some of which was His campaign survived a major hit after growing over eight feet tall. “Marijuana is a Governor William Stratton released a tape weed and spreads like crabgrass once it goes in which a speaker, who sounded a lot like to seed,” intoned the narrator of the Universal Lohman, mused, “Did you ever know that Newsreel that captured the event. The three police officers have a disproportionately Marines “live up to the Corps’s boast. They high number of wives that were formerly have the situation well at hand!” prostitutes?” Lohman claimed that the Watching Sheri Lohman perform for the tape—in which the speaker also suggested newsreel camera, it might be easy to imagine that “a prostitute who hasn’t really J ll DECEMBER - CHICAOREADER 3 CITY LIFE continued from 3 tractors, and herbicides to eradicate marijua- gone down the drain is one of the most sym- na. Weed killers were applied by workers with THE pathetic, understanding human beings that hand-pump canisters and sprayers mounted ever lived”—had somehow been spliced and on barges. On occasion, Sanitary District I LLINOIS manipulated in a “criminal hoax” and that the workers experienced sabotage: the lights voice on the tape was not always his. After of their trucks would be left on overnight to his election, the Tribune noted that Lohman’s drain batteries and parts were removed from CANNABIS principal duties involved managing “a big jail sprayers to make them inoperable. and a smallish police department.” After four weeks of undercover work in- In the year Lohman was elected, there were volving deputies dressing as hobos, the Cook CONVENTION 312 charges involving the sale of marijuana in County Sheri ’s o ce arrested seven men in Chicago. In contrast, there were more than September 1949 for cultivating a 25-acre lot 21,000 arrests for possession of cannabis in not far from the plot the Marines would torch 2011, the year before the City Council passed in 1957. The accused men admitted that they an ordinance giving the police the option of sold joints for as much as 50 cents, roughly issuing tickets for petty marijuana posses- $5.35 when adjusted for infl ation. Two years sion, according to the Sun-Times. In a 1955 later, the Cook County Sheri ’s o ce super- APRIL 3-4, 2020 U.S. Senate hearing, Joseph J. Healy, head of vised the cutting and burning of ten acres the Narcotics Bureau of the Chicago Police near Willow Springs—“[e]nough marijuana THE CHICAGO HILTON, IL Department, loosely estimated there were to supply half the south side,” in the words of 1,400 to 1,500 marijuana smokers in Chicago. the Tribune. Nonetheless, law enforcement in Chi- Only seven months after Lohman was elect- cago was concerned about the increasing ed, the Cook County Sheri ’s o ce announced consumption of marijuana. Both Healy and that they had destroyed a four-mile strip of Albert E. Aman, district supervisor of the marijuana along the Cal Sag Channel. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, admitted that space had been under surveillance for several THE LARGEST CANNABIS they didn’t believe marijuana was addictive months, but there was not enough manpower but expressed their belief that a large per- to case the entire area around the clock. Fear- INDUSTRY FOCUSED centage of heroin addicts had “graduated” ful that the crop would go to seed and spread from cannabis use. Aman contended that “sex in August, Lohman brought in Marines with ON ILLINOIS! perversion and rape,” as well as other crimes, fl amethrowers to fi nish the job. The following were commonly committed while under the year Lohman brought in a mobile land clear- infl uence of marijuana. ance saw and bulldozer to destroy another According to the Federal Bureau of Narcot- patch near the Cal Sag Channel. ics—a precursor to the Drug Enforcement Ad- In 1957, Lohman supervised a second torch- ministration—the main supply of marijuana ing of a marijuana fi eld along the Sag Channel, in Chicago came from Mexico. These import- this one running a mile long and 200 feet 150+ VENDORS ed strains were more potent than local ones. wide. Lohman gave fluctuating estimates of 100+ SPEAKERS While authorities periodically came across how many millions of dollars of marijuana he the patches of marijuana cultivated in vacant destroyed. But Lohman had ambitions beyond lots, there was one corner of southwest Cook the Cook County Sheri ’s o ce. In 1958 he was County that repeatedly came up in the press elected state treasurer. His path to the gover- as a problem area. If you were to fl oat down nor’s o ce was blocked by Mayor Richard J. the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal from Daley, with whom he frequently clashed. Willow Springs to the Calumet Sag Channel, After Lohman’s departure, the Sanitary then sail east along the Cal Sag west to Worth District continued its war on marijuana, al- in the 1950s, you would be passing along the beit in a low-key fashion. In 1969, the State’s Golden Crescent of illicit marijuana culti- Attorney’s office destroyed a field growing vation in Cook County. Far from the eyes of near the confl uence of the Chicago Sanitary necann.com/2020-illinois suburbanites, farmers, and police officers, and Ship Canal and the Cal Sag Channel. this undeveloped, unincorporated space was Harvesters had come from