Bob Marley
Born: February 6, 1945
Died: May 11, 1981
The first Jamaican musical superstar, Bob Marley emerged from poverty to help develop and introduce the world to Reggae music. His group The Wailers became the most popular reggae band in the world and Rolling Stone magazine named them band of the year in 1976.
Marley spoke freely about his sacramental use of cannabis throughout his life, and was often photographed smoking spliffs. He went to jail for marijuana, as did all three founding members of the Wailers. "You mean they can tell God that it's not legal?" he once asked a Canadian journalist.
One of Marley's greatest hits, "I Shot the Sheriff", describes the fate of a marijuana grower hunted by a fanatical law enforcement officer:
Sheriff John Brown always hate
I,
for what, I donŐt know.
Everytime I plant a seed,
he said, kill it before it grow.
He said, kill them before they grow.
Bob Marley died in 1981 from cancer, which started on his foot and was first noticed when a football (soccer) injury refused to heal. At his final concert in Pittsburgh, he sang Redemption Song: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind".
Marley's interviews on "the herb" are widely viewed on You Tube. In the one above, he wonders why governments, who purport to do good for people, disallow cannabis. "Because it make you rebel...against what?" he asks. "Alcohol is the destruction of mankind, " he said. "Herb is the healing of the nations." In another clip where he discusses herb v. alcohol, he says, "Alcohol make you drunk, it don't make you meditate. Herb is more a consciousness."
