Smoke-free 4/20

A small crowd gathers at a south-side tavern to commemorate Ben Masel Day

by

Snapshot

There’s no etiquette guide for events celebrating the enjoyment of cannabis on the annual unofficial holiday of 4/20, but it seems like bad form to show up early, or even on time. Punctuality seems to be against the spirit of the day, like arriving at a Halloween party without a costume.

With this in mind, I intentionally arrive about a half-hour late to the “Ben Masel Day” celebration at Friends Applaud, the new south-side cafe and tavern owned by Adam Benedetto. The crowd is sparse: Benedetto is behind the bar chatting with a single patron.

He’s hoping to mark an honorary day first recognized by the city of Madison on April 20, 2012, one year after Masel, Madison’s most recognizable, mischievous, approachable and knowledgeable cannabis rights activist, died of cancer.

Masel was a walking reminder to police and other authorities of Constitutional freedoms. He was often spotted in a T-shirt emblazoned with a warning for law enforcement officers that he did not consent to searches prohibited under the 14th Amendment. During the Act 10 protests, just a few months before he died, he was at the Capitol carrying a sign, slightly larger than what was allowed by the police, reading, “This is a test of the emergency free speech system.”

“He was somebody that I thought carried the banner of democracy in a really profound way. He made it really fun,” Benedetto says from behind the bar. “If you recall, he ran for sheriff [a write-in campaign in 1992 and on the ballot two years later] saying, ‘I’m going to be a sheriff with a heart.’ And he wanted the badge to be in the shape of a heart.”

Benedetto himself ran for sheriff in 2002, consulting with Masel and adopting a similarly whimsical approach.

Soon traffic at Friends Applaud picks up: a couple of Erics, Kevin, former Dane County Board Supv. Tom Powell, housing advocate Dean Loumos, comedian Eli Wilz, state Assembly candidate and bandleader Tony Castañeda. Wine is poured, pizza is served, and chatter ensues, full of the kind of reminiscing that bubbles up when dudes in a certain age range congregate.

We all have Ben stories.

As an Isthmus intern in 1993, I was advised to call Masel for a story about a push in the state Legislature to legalize medicinal marijuana. Over the phone, he laid out a list of facts along with well-researched and reasoned arguments before introducing me to Jacki Rickert, who suffered from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition with symptoms uniquely suited to be eased by marijuana use. A hit or two from a joint was enough to increase her appetite and calm the muscle spasms that could lead to broken bones. She did not enjoy the feeling of being high.

She had been prescribed marijuana from a federal program, only to see President George Bush shut the program down in 1991. Rickert’s case was infuriating, but few outside the legalization movement knew about her. Masel was her advocate and told her story with empathy and respect. He was a trustworthy source for dozens of local reporters over the years, reliably delivering knowledge and great quotes.

When Benedetto first told me in March about the event, I imagined a lineup of speakers paying tribute to one of Madison’s great characters, and a crowd spilling out into the beer garden, smoking (or drinking, or eating, or vaping) weed (or some combination of THC/CBD elements), talking politics (Ben’s favorite pastime) or playing chess (another of Ben’s favorite pastimes).

This is not quite that. And it’s a long way from the massive Weedstock and Harvest Fest rallies that Masel organized. But it is a nice gathering, a conversational tribute to one of Madison’s legendary characters. The smell of marijuana never shows up, though one or two attendees admit to getting high before they left home.

“Ben played politics like a game of chess. He strategized and he tried to pull people together around issues and goddammit if he didn’t win, because I own a bar right now and we sell weed,” says Benedetto, referencing the THC beverages that he and other bar owners sell openly.

“I’m not ever gonna forget Ben Masel and I’m going to continue to have events, and I’m going to invite people to come and celebrate his spirit because he is very fundamentally a part of the democracy that we have here in Madison.” 

Masel milestones:

Created Weedstock, an annual celebration of cannabis, and The Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival

Served as state director of Wisconsin state chapter of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)

Pushed for reintroducing hemp as a cash crop in Wisconsin while running against Tommy Thompson in the 1990 Republican primary for governor

Formal first name was “Bennett”

Source: 2011 city of Madison resolution honoring the life of Ben Masel