Nov 22, 2021AN ARRESTING GAZEControlling Bodies in Public Space — Begn 1976, New York Penal Law Section 240.37 criminalized loitering in a public place by anyone whom the police determined present for the purpose of prostitution. “Purpose” is not defined in New York’s Penal Law, thus the reason for one’s presence was ultimately decided by the opinions of arresting officers…Sex Work4 min read
May 2, 2021Please Stop Trying to Cancel “Marijuana”Before brushing into a zeitgeist of parenthood when I illustrated a not-for-bedtime-story, Go the Fuck to Sleep, I wrote and illustrated a children’s book that was, for some, even more controversial. In 2005, I published It’s Just a Plant — A Children’s Story About Marijuana, a tool for parents to…Marijuana8 min read
Jun 20, 2016I Wasn’t the First Person to Find the NJ Cocaine FactoryPart Three: “Less Publicity of Articles About Coca Leaves and Narcotic Drugs Will Be Better For The Public” see Part 1: The Cocainemaker, Reefer Madness, and the Vice-President of The Coca-Cola Company and Part 2: How Coca-Cola Changed the World for Coca Among other things, my book A Secret History…Coca Cola7 min read
Jun 20, 2016How Coca-Cola Changed the World for CocaPart Two: A Double Standard for the Single Convention Treaty In March 2009, Bolivian president Evo Morales stood before the United Nations, a coca leaf in hand, citing a history of use of the plant for purposes social, spiritual, medicinal, and nutritional. The event marked the beginning of a formal…Coca Cola4 min read
Jun 20, 2016The Cocainemaker, Reefer Madness, and the Vice-President of The Coca-Cola CompanyPart One: How the Coca gets into Coke In 1886, a pharmacist named Dr. John Pemberton mixed extract of the green coca leaf — containing the recently discovered marvel of cocaine — with the caffeine kick of West African kola nuts, making a “Brain Workers’ Panacea” tonic called Coca-Cola.Coca Cola6 min read
Sep 7, 2015Good Looking OutRikers Island, in Portraits On Rikers Island it is not fruitful to be angry. I’ve seen anger and frustration revealed in fits and bursts, but more often I marveled at how people accept being locked in a cage for the most precious months and years of their lives. When someone has a family and…Prison Reform7 min read
Jul 14, 2014Jury Independence IllustratedHow to be a Monkey Wrench in the Machinery of the Drug War — all illustrations by the author So you’ve received a notice to report to jury duty. What? You’re trying to get out of it? Too busy?Illustration5 min read
May 20, 2014Sketches of the Drug CzarsAn Illustrated History of the War — In 1930, Harry J. Anslinger became the first commissioner of the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger would lead the government’s fight against illegal drugs through the administrations of seven presidents. Anslinger fought most famously against marijuana, however he also led the ban against the coca plant and its cocaine…Marijuana8 min read
Apr 25, 2014Matí Klarwein is Dreaming Light“I’m going to turn into a dream and then you’ll be in real trouble” — On the morning of March 7th, 2002, Abdul Matí Klarwein passed away in his sleep, from his home in Deia, on the island of Mallorca, Spain. “I painted psychedelically before I took psychedelics…” Matí became a mentor in my head as soon as I first saw his work. He painted…Artist6 min read
