Poet and White Panther John Sinclair

Imprisoned for Marijuana Possesion

John Sinclair is famous for founding the White Panther Party, as a poet and cultural revolutionary, and as the man sentenced to 10 years in prison for passing two joints to an undercover police officer in 1969. In 1971, John Lennon agreed to headline the John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena, and three days later Sinclair was a free man.

The film about his life story, Twenty To Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair 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 he faced for passing two joints to an undercover police officer in 1969.

He only spent 2 years behind bars, and not the 20 he was facing. In 1969,Thirty-three days after the so-called crime was committed they staged a massive dope raid in his neighborhood and named him the leader of the "dope ring." Fifty-six people were arrested and Sinclair was incarcerated.

Sent to Prison for Marijuana Possession

In December, 1971, he organized the John Sinclair Freedom Rally benefit concert. Jerry Rubin told John Lennon about it, and he agreed to headline. Sinclair spent three days with Lennon after the benefit concert. The song he wrote for him, John Sinclair, is about freedom.