The Tokin' Few

Stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld is a fast talking, no nonsense businessman. He handles millions of dollars in transactions during the week, and his playtime is spent at sea, sharing the joys of sailing with disabled people as part of the Shake A Leg foundation. Rosenfeld isn’t exactly the kind of person most people would expect to cheerfully admit he smokes ten to twelve joints a day. For the past 23 years Rosenfeld has been a member of the “Magnificent Seven,” a lucky group allowed by the federal government to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. Rosenfeld suffers from congenital multiple cartilaginous exostosis, a variant of the syndrome pseudo hypoparathyroidism, a condition that has filled his body with agonizing bone tumors. “At age ten I was told that I might not live to my teenage years; I’ll be 53 next month. Marijuana has been a godsend to me; it’s saved my life. I’m in great shape for a guy who has over 200 bone tumors in his body,” he says. “And I’m a very good example of someone who shows that what the government says about cannabis isn’t true.”

Rosenfeld received his first joint from the government November 20, 1982, and since then, he has made it his mission to shine a light through the haze. He has been featured on the cover of the New York Times, spoken at the UN and in Congress, been on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and been interviewed by 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer, all in the name of legalizing the good herb. “It’s bad enough having a serious disease. It’s even worse finding out that the medicine you need makes you a criminal,” Rosenfeld argues. You can find him preaching to the choir at the eighth annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert. Hear Rosenfeld’s amazing story, buy cool arts and crafts from the Wallflower Gallery, and groove to music by bands like Little Atlas, Adonis Cross, and Johnny Dread today beginning at 4:00 at Tobacco Road,.
Sat., Jan. 21, 4 p.m.