Loose joints, tattered cushions and a conga drum replicated a famed 1990s Gainesville living room — dubbed Fort Ganja — in downtown Gainesville Saturday. Stocked with more than 1,000 cannabis cigarettes, the city’s original “doobie tosser” was poised to recreate the stunt that led to his arrest and police crackdowns on marijuana 30 years ago.
But Hemp Fest’s crowd, he said, didn’t warrant it.
Police arrested Dennis “Murli” Watkins for throwing “doobies” into Gainesville’s 1994 Hemp Fest crowd at Bo Diddley Plaza. He, along with other designated tossers, flung 3,000 pre-rolled cigarettes that year, Watkins said.
He wanted to get arrested, he said. He wanted the opportunity to challenge the criminalization of marijuana in the Supreme Court.
According to Watkins, organizers passed out 300 joints in 1992 and upped it to 1,000 in 1993. In 1995, the year after Watkins’ arrest, they threw doughnuts to avoid further confrontation with police, who were outfitted in riot gear.
At this year’s fest — held just weeks after Watkins’ 2019 marijuana charges were dropped — 1,300 were toss-ready. The crowd, comprised mostly of organizers and original fest attendees, did not warrant an orchestrated disbursement, Watkins said.
“It wasn’t going to happen today,” he said. “There were no people.”
