John Sinclair, a counterculture figure who was immortalized in a John Lennon song, has died of congestive heart failure, his publicist has announced. Sinclair was 82 years old.
Sinclair gained national attention in 1969 when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving two joints to undercover police officers in Detroit. The case prompted a number of musicians – including Lennon, Bob Seger and Stevie Wonder – to hold a benefit show in an effort to free Sinclair. The incident also inspired Lennon to write the song “John Sinclair.” The efforts worked; Sinclair was released after 29 months.
The Michigan-born Sinclair was also a poet, a performance artist, a journalist and a political activist who co-founded the White Panther Party. But the one constant through all of it was his support of weed. “The only issue I’ve really kept active on is marijuana, because it’s so important,” he said shortly before his death. “It’s been a continuous war for 80 years on people like you and me. They’ve got no business messing with us for getting high.”