I'm in Detroit right now but I'm going to Italy for the month of September to premier and promote the film about my life story, Twenty To Life: The Life and Times Of John Sinclair, which is finally coming out after 16 years in the making. It's already been nominated as Best Documentary in the World Marijuana Film Festival. Of course, the film is named after the prison sentence I faced for passing two joints to an undercover police officer back in 1969.

How would I describe my life up to this point? Long! (laughs) But luckily I only spent a couple years behind bars, and not the 20 I was facing. In 1969, I realized I was in trouble 33 days after the so-called crime was committed, when they staged a massive dope raid in our neighborhood and named me the leader of the "dope ring." Fifty-six people were arrested and I was incarcerated.

Going to prison was just what you'd expect: terrifying. I don't recommend it. (laughs) You live in a cell, you have no contact with the opposite sex, you have no freedom and you're under total control 24 hours a day for as long as they can keep you.

In December, 1971, we organized the John Sinclair Freedom Rally benefit concert to try to get me out of prison. Jerry Rubin told John Lennon about it, and John decided to be part of it. When we heard John Lennon was headlining, we knew my troubles were over.

I spent quite a bit of time with John after I got out, three days after the benefit concert. He's just like you'd expect; he's a beautiful character, a great person. He was very brave, and he wanted to make serious changes in the way the society was operating.

To this day, when I hear the song he wrote for me, John Sinclair, it makes me remember the happiest day of my life. Three days after the concert, I was free, and I was relieved. The song makes me remember what it was like to get my freedom back.

I'm not sure why I received such a harsh sentence in the first place. It was ridiculous. You'd have to ask the authorities. But 10 years for two joints was definitely harsh, in my books. I never understood it and I still don't understand it. Why is marijuana illegal? I don't understand that either.

Give me one good reason why it isn't legal! Criminalizing it is just some kind of superstitious, voodoo religious concept made up by a bunch of squares. There's nothing wrong with marijuana; it's never hurt anybody. It's good for you, it's a medicine.

I think the so-called American Drug Enforcement Administration's "War On Drugs" is the worst thing that's happened in my lifetime, and now it's a template for foreign policy. The U.S. government conducts its foreign affairs by busting down the door, calling everyone a bunch of evil criminals, taking over the country, killing the guy who's in charge and dropping bombs. The War On Drugs is the same concept.

I'm not so familiar with all the details about Marc Emery's possible extradition to the U.S. for selling cannabis seeds over the Internet, but when I first heard, I thought it was good, because I thought since he's a millionaire, he'd have the wherewithal to be able to fight this fight properly.

What blows my mind in the modern world is that no one fights these f*ckers. No one fights; they just cop pleas and snitch on their friends-that's the ultimate ugliness of this whole thing. The War On Drugs turns people into less than human, both the enforcers and the victims.

I'd tell Marc Emery, "Make a test case, and maybe you can win." You can win! I won, over 35 years ago. We overturned a law and proved it was unconstitutional and that marijuana was not a narcotic-we proved that. But I have no predictions about which way it will go for Marc. I just have no idea. I don't know who his lawyers are.

Right now my activism is fighting against the consumer culture. I think that's the root of this whole thing. I think people should turn off their television sets and do something creative for themselves.

I don't think much of today's peace movement, that's for sure. I mean, where is it? I don't see a peace movement. People like the status quo. They've got big cars, big houses, 87 channels on television-they're happy. They don't care. The people that are opposed to the war are mostly opposed because we aren't winning.

I'd really like to see us become as overextended as the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan so that the society collapses. That's what I'm praying for. People will have their SUVs, but there won't be any gasoline. They'll have their 45-foot television screens, but they won't have any electricity. That's what I hope for-entropy.

If John Lennon were alive today, I'm not sure if he'd lead the peace movement. You have to have a movement first before you have a leader. You have to have people who are disgusted enough to want to do something different. I just don't see it today.

I've fought for movements and freedom all my life. Today, I'm as free as an American citizen can be. The only thing more I'd like is to live longer. I'm having a great time these days, and I'd like to keep going.

*****

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