contributed by: Scott Greene – Mile High NORML

Its been just a little over 3 years now since Ken Gorman’s death,murdered in his Denver home, his killers, never caught. Ken, a Denver native, loved marijuana and thought of it as “a close friend.” As a salesman in 1992, basking in the sun of the Pacific, he read “The Emperor Wears
No Clothes” by Jack Herer. He quickly learned about “the marijuana conspiracy” and decided to dedicate and later give his life to revealing the truth about hemp and marijuana.

In 1993 Gorman started holding “Smoke-ins” on the steps of the Colorado capital building, bringing out hundreds of people including author Jack Herer, to speak to a small crowd of under a hundred. Denver’s 4/20 was born, an all day event that now hosts over 40,000 people!

In 1994 and 1998, he ran for Governor in Colorado. In 1999, Gorman was arrested for selling 3lbs of marijuana to a police informant, a snitch and/or rat. He served a little over 2 years in prison and another 2 years on strict parole. During his time in prison, Colorado became the 7th state to allow medical marijuana. When he got out of prison and still on parole, he did the work, the work of a dozen men, raising the number of caregivers in the state. This is something that he felt Colorado lacked in. He worked to educate people, he persuaded several growers to “come out of the closet”, so to speak.

People often took his kindness for weakness, robbing him and his grow operation over a dozen times. His killing came just days after CBS 4, a local TV station, aired a special report on him that included shots of marijuana plants growing inside his home.

Denver police still refuse to speculate on whether the killing was related to Gorman’s legal medical marijuana grow. Considering none of his plants were taken, fellow activists had little doubt that he died in an attempted robbery. “It’s pretty amazing that this guy worked his entire life trying to make marijuana legal and in the end, the fact that marijuana is illegal is what led to his death,” Mason Tvert, another local marijuana advocate and executive director of SAFER said in the Denver Daily News shortly after.

Today, activists from Mile High NORML, the Denver chapter of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws continue with one of Ken’s many loves. The “Smoke-In”. Mile High NORML obtains all of the proper permits, making it a legal ‘Public Smoke-Out’ of Colorado’s Capitol building, bringing out some of Colorado’s top cannabis friendly educational speakers and great local music. This is a “public empowerment event”. Always held on the “last Saturday” of every month from 3-5pm regardless of weather, Mile High NORML will be there. So please tell a friend, bring some herb, a big sign and remember, costumes are always welcome! Activism is a Right. Do the right thing.

Mile High NORML is a local chapter of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and we are based in beautiful Denver, Colorado. We
believe it is in Colorado’s best interest to remove the threat of arrest and jail.