Journalist and author Dean Kuipers has just had his book “Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke”, about the fatal standoff at a rural Michigan farm between law enforcement and two marijuana legalisation advocates, released.

Raised only twenty miles away from where the shootings took place but now living in California, Kuipers read about the incident in the local Sunday Kalamazoo Gazette, which he still subscribed to. It occurred a week before 11 September 2001. Whatever coverage the story had gotten in the national press was soon swept away. He decided to pick up the slack.

Rainbow farm, set up in 1996 by marijuana activists and lovers Tom Crosslin and Rolland Rohm, was a haven for a varied bunch of people – including stoners and militiamen – who had their own reasons for visiting but were united by an opposition to the War on Drugs. It also hosted several music festivals in which various bands and legalisation advocates appeared. While the two men prohibited the sale of marijuana on the farm, law enforcement officials say it still went on, along with smoking in the presence of children. Crosslin and Rohm also grew marijuana on their property.

Opposed to the farm, its purpose and its owners, was local prosecutor Scott Teter. A lengthy undercover investigation culminated in early 2001 in their arrest “for manufacturing marijuana, running a drug house, and possession of firearms while committing a felony. He also had Rohm’s 12-year-old son, Robert, removed from the home and placed in foster care.” They were released on bond, which was later revoked because a festival was held in August.

It was when authorities arrived in September to arrest the two because of a no show at their bond hearing that the standoff began. Crosslin started to burn down buildings on the farm and was shot after allegedly pointing a semiautomatic rifle at an FBI agent. Rohm’s parents were notified of events and rushed to the farm, hoping to persuade their son to come out, safely. Despite assurances that Rohm wouldn’t be harmed he was killed 30 minutes before their arrival. They have filed a wrongful death suit.

While I have yet to read the results of Kuipers’ own four-year investigation into the events surrounding the deaths, the reviews I’ve read so far have been quite positive, and quite varied in what they reveal. For Stephen Amidon in Salon.com, the fate of Crosslin and Rohm encapsulates much of what is wrong with the War on Drugs, with the two men victims of a pernicious policy and program that has failed. In the Niles Daily Star, John Eby views Crosslin and Rohm in a different light, with a lot more of the responsibility for their fate being in their own hands; he also concentrates more on the negative aspects of the farm, for instance the sale of marijuana and the presence of children around drugs. Tiffani Blade of the Kalamazoo Gazette has a more straightforward telling of events, focusing on the parents of Rolland Rohm, John and Geraldine Livermore, and their wrongful death suit. And finally, in the Nashville Scene Pablo Tanguay writes about the various forces and factors that led to the eventual standoff and focuses more on Kuipers’ views.

All in all, Kuipers seems to have been able to capture quite well the complexity of the story and that of its two lead characters. As he noted about Crosslin and Rohm:

“They were gay. They voted Republican. Tom had a violent streak, a violent past, yet he’s a peace-preaching hippie. It’s pretty complex.”

Dean Kuipers is the deputy editor of Los Angeles CityBeat and contributes to the likes of Rolling Stone and Playboy. He also wrote “Ray Gun Out of Control” (1997) and “I am a Bullett” (2000). “Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke” is published by Bloomsbury USA in hardcover (304 pages).

Technorati Tags: war on drugs