Grateful Dead Press Conference
KPIX Eyewitness News report from October 5th 1967 in San Francisco by Ben Williams, featuring a press conference by The Grateful Dead, who are objecting to marijuana drug laws (after their recent arrest for possession).
Danny Rifkin (the group’s co-manager) states that: “The real danger to society … comes from a law that is so seriously out of touch with reality.”
He goes on to claim that the media’s focus on the ‘hippie’ stereotype is encouraging police to discriminate against people identified as being part of the counter culture movement.
Ends with Rifkin dismissing the ‘hippie’ as: “A lie as well … Afraid of people who are exploring new ways of living freely, the larger society has classified … them into the myth of the hippie. The long haired drop-out who performs his rites for the convenience of visiting cameramen.”
