Dec. 28 - Hundreds of Pounds of High-Grade Jamaican Wash Ashore along Key West, Fl.

This was one of the first recorded incidents where bales of Marijuana washed ashore in Florida. In the next 15 years, as Florida became one of the main smuggling corridors, many areas in the Keys were nicknamed "Bale Beach" after numerous finds by local citizens. (Some of the bales contained upto 25 pounds of dried Cannabis.)

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"Back in the 1970s, if you came home from fishing and said you had caught a square grouper, it meant that you had stumbled upon a bale of marijuana that had fallen off a boat from Jamaica. If you could manage to sell it off, it also meant that you did not have to go fishing for a while."

"Dec. 28 1975 - Hundreds of bales of Marijuana were confiscated by US Coast Guard members this morning after it was discovered to be covering more than a mile long stretch of beach.

It is believed that smugglers began tossing them overboard while trying to evade interception."

I wouldn't mind having been taking my dog for a walk along one of those beaches. Talk about a ground score!

After posting this, I recieved another story.

Later in the 70's, many of the Key West Hippies (they're all freaks down there) would hang at the drive-in movie theatre on the weekends. The place was packed one night, when one patron walked over to one of the nearby canals to take a leak.

Next thing this guy heard was "BALES!" and everyone ran over to the canal. My source told me that within 20 minutes everyone had run over to the canal and the entire drive-in theatre was EMPTY! (mid-film)

:smoke2:

Key West has been a major frontline for the war on Cannabis in recent years. It should not be forgotten that one of the first Medical Pot Dispensaries was opened in Key West. They served AIDS/HIV patients for over 14 months before local authorities were finally forced to shut them down.

The two hippies who ran the club were smart. They took their earning from 14 months of work and paid for the best attorneys in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. They fought the case and eventually were granted the ability to defend themselves, based on a "medical necessity".

Things got very exciting at this point. National media outlets began running the story, and NORML was very excited at the possibility of legalized Medical Marijuana through a court precedent.

Soon, the federal authorities came down and strong-armed the defendants. The charges which the local authorities had filed were as mild as could be, if the Feds took the case, the charges would be thick and heavy. The two hippies were given the opportunity to plead guilty and serve 18 months probation, or fight for their lives.

After fighting in court for two years, they plead guilty.

Shortly afterwards, one of those hippies, Joseph Anthony Hart, passed away.

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"Joe, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and recipient twice of the Purple Heart, five bronze stars and the air medal for service, belonged to more than a dozen clubs that sold marijuana for medical use. Joe died from AIDS-complicated multiple myeloma at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Miami."