Mr. Nice: the Activist of 40 Pseudonyms Who Became an Icon for the Cannabis World

In 2015, Howard Marks, a major advocate for the legalisation of marijuana, publicly announced that he was suffering from terminal cancer, while also stating that he did not regret any part of his life. Now, Marks has died in his home outside Bridgend, in South Wales, UK.

Born in 1945 in Kenfig Hill, a small mining village near Bridgend, Marks attended Oxford University, where he graduated in nuclear physics and earned postgraduate qualifications in philosophy. Having finished his studies, we went to the United States, where he soon came under persecution owing to that country’s prohibitionist policies. He was thus compelled to live in hiding under up to 43 pseudonyms. It was not until 1988 that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) caught up with him.

He was sentenced to 25 years in what, at the time, was one of the country’s toughest prisons, the FCC Terre Haute, in Indiana. In 1995, having served seven years, he was released on parole. It was then that marks become a prominent spokesman for the legalisation of cannabis.

He published his autobiography just one year after his release from prison. ‘Mr. Nice’ reached the bookstores in 1996 and soon became a phenomenon. The book gave all manner of details about the most fascinating aspects of his life. It was at the time that its author became a contributor to ‘Loaded’ magazine, where he wrote a monthly column. The year 2010 saw the opening of a film based on his life, likewise titled ‘Mr. Nice’ and starring the Welsh actor Rhys Ifans.

His work on behalf of the legalisation of cannabis went beyond his constant public statements, as he stood for parliament in four British constituencies at the 1997 general election. His intention was to implement reforms for the legalisation of cannabis, in keeping with the proposals of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

Howard Marks’s friends and acquaintances remember him as a true modern-day folk hero. His friend and former colleague in ‘Loaded’ magazine, James Brown, recalled that he had done “so many funny, shocking, illegal things” throughout the intense life he led.

In an interview given in 2015, Marks spoke about his illness: “It’s impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now.” Regarding the legal proceedings under way in the United States, he remarked that “the legalising of marijuana for medical purposes is to be welcomed. But, personally, I never wanted to have to wait until I had cancer before I could legally smoke.”