Dana Beal

Dana Beal speaking in Boston in 2009

Irvin Dana Beal (born January 9, 1947 in Ravenna, Ohio) is an American social and political activist, best known for his efforts to legalize marijuana. He is a long-term activist in the Youth International Party (Yippies) and founder of the Yipster Times.^[1][2][3]

Current condition: Dana Beal suffers heart attack while awaiting transfer to prison (September, 2011)

While he was waiting transfer to a state prison in Wisconsin, Beal suffered a heart attack (September 27, 2011). He is facing 2 1/2 years in prison (minus 267 days for time served in jail) and 2 1/2 years on probation, resulting from a 180 lb. marijuana arrest.^[4][5]

Beal marches at the head of the New York City Marijuana March in 1994.

Chapter 4 of the 1997 book "The Ibogaine Story"^[6] is a biography of Dana Beal with some additions. It states:

Dana was born in the same hospital in Ravenna, Ohio, where the dying students were later taken from Kent State. He counts among his formative experiences shaking hands with Jack Kennedy when he campaigned in East Lansing in 1960, and hitch-hiking in August '63, at 16, to Washington, D.C., in order to be near the foot of the Lincoln Memorial for the "I have a dream" speech. Two months later he organized his first demonstration of 2,000 people, in Lansing, when the Klan blew up four little Black girls in a church on Birmingham Sunday. The next year he did a brief stint in a state mental hospital because of his mercurial temper. Because he told shrinks he thought he was destined for something important, they said he was crazy. But that kept him from being drafted in January '65, a month with the highest proportion of casualties in Viet Nam. He also became a lifelong critic of thorazine and prolyxin. He escaped, got a job in New York, saved his money, and legalized his status in late 1965.

The Ibogaine Story also reports the following:

Inspired by a VOICE article on the Dutch Provos, he started the New York Provos with two friends, and called a smoke-in for Tompkins Square Park. The smoke-ins got bigger and bigger, and after a judge ruled a roll-your-own cigarette seen from a distance wasn't grounds for arrest, the Feds moved in an informer who wheedled Dana's personal acid stash out of him. When he was busted in late August 1967, 3,000 people marched from a Fugs concert, across Fourteenth Street, to the federal holding pen on West Street. It was Dana's first fifteen minutes of fame. In October [1967] the Provos gave out four pounds of pot at the "Levitation of the Pentagon." Then in December, the Provo Free Store on First Street was raided, and Dana was charged with a pot sale he didn't do. Convinced he couldn't get fair treatment, he fled to Mexico, then Canada, where he had to watch Chicago '68 on television.^[6]

Dana Beal also helped organize some of the U.S. versions of the "Rock Against Racism" concerts.^[7]

Global Marijuana March

Dana Beal sometime in the early to mid 90s

The worldwide Global Million Marijuana March (GMM or MMM) event began in 1999 with Beal as the major organizer. It occurs on the first Saturday of May every year, and now takes place in hundreds of cities around the world in addition to New York City (NYC). NYC has had various marijuana rallies since 1967.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Ibogaine

Beal has promoted ibogaine as an addiction interrupter. Beal asserts that addiction is a disease that can be treated with ibogaine.^[6][7]

Beal helped to organize the Boston Ibogaine forum held in February 2009 at Northeastern University. During the forum, he gave a presentation on the chemistry and pharmacology of ibogaine.^[12]

Social engagement

Beal's "Cures Not Wars" site includes information on the Million Marijuana March and the use of Ibogaine in addiction treatment.^[13] He also works on behalf of people with AIDS. Paul DeRienzo was a close associate of Beal's, as was Thomas King Forcade, the founder of High Times magazine. The book Blacklisted News, is available from the Yippie Museum Press, 9 Bleecker St., NYC 10012, where Beal lives, and which also houses the Yippie Museum.^[14] The Yippie Museum Cafe and display area now occupies the first floor of Nine Bleecker Street, a landmark building designed by the partner of Frederick Law Olmsted, the man who designed Central Park.

Beal serves today on the board of the Yippie Museum.^[15] It is dedicated to preserving the activities and artifacts of the Youth International Party. The Yippie Museum was chartered by the Board of Regents of New York State at their March 21, 2006 meeting.^[16]

2008 arrest

Beal was arrested June 3, 2008 in Mattoon, Illinois about 170 miles south of Chicago on suspicion of money laundering.^[17] The Associated Press reported that he appeared before a judge on June 12, and was charged with obstruction of justice. He was released on $7,500 bail.^[18]

According to The New York Times, police responded to a report of 2 women arguing at a restaurant. The 2 women were traveling with Beal and another man. Mick McAvoy is the first assistant state’s attorney for Coles County, Illinois. According to the Times, "Mr. McAvoy said witnesses told the police that Mr. Beal had placed bags beneath nearby vehicles. Mr. McAvoy said the police found two duffel bags containing more than $150,000 in cash. At that point, Mr. McAvoy said, a drug-sniffing dog was brought in to smell the bags." According to Beal's attorney, Ronald Tulin of Charleston, Illinois, the police said the money smelled of marijuana.^[19]

On August 6, 2008 Judge Richard Scott found probable cause for a jury trial for Irvin Dana Beal, 61, of New York City and Jesse Balcom, 31, of Silver Spring, Maryland. The trial began in November 2008 on obstruction of justice charges, because it was alleged that Beal and his associate were hiding the bags of money in expectation that the police might search their van.^[20] The outcome of the trial was that Beal pled guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession and was fined $1,300. Obstruction of justice charges were dismissed. Federal authorities are seeking forfeiture of the money involved.^[21]

2009 arrest

Dana Beal, Christopher Ryan, and James Statzer were arrested at 10:35 p.m. on September 30, 2009 in Ashland, Nebraska. Police claim that they were stopped because the conversion van they were in was driving erratically, and because the rear license plate was obstructed. Police allegedly found 150 pounds of marijuana in the van. All 3 face charges of possession with intent to deliver and having no drug tax stamp.^[22] Ryan and Statzer are being held on $100,000 bond each. Beal is being held on $500,000 bond. According to the Omaha World-Herald Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff said that there was an effort on the web to raise Beal's bail.^[23][24] He must raise 10 percent ($50,000) in order to be released.^{[25][26][27][28]} Beal is being represented in his case by Glenn Shapiro of the law firm Schaefer and Shapiro in Omaha Nebraska.

2011 arrest and conviction

Dana Beal was arrested on Jan. 6, 2011 with 186 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in Barneveld, Wisconsin. He and driver Lance Ramer of Omaha, Nebraska are currently being held on $50,000 bond each in the Iowa County Jail in Dodgeville. Beal hasn't been formally charged. Authorities won't release the police report because Federal officials say it might compromise a national drug investigation which runs "from California to New York, with multiple locations."^{[29][30][31][32]}

On September 20, 2011 Dana Beal was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison. He was credited with 267 days already served for the time he was in jail. After he gets out of prison he will be on parole for 2 and a half years.^[5][33]

References

1. ^ "F.Y.I.". By Daniel B. Schneider. May 21, 2000. New York Times.
2. ^ New York Daily Photo: Yippies. Yipster Times history.
3. ^ "Neighborhood Report: Greenwich Village; House of Yippies: Chicago Convention A Recurring Dream". By Michael Cooper. April 7, 1996. New York Times.
4. ^ Activist Dana Beal Sentenced, Suffers Heart Attack. By Phillip Smith. Hawai'i News Daily.
5. ^ ^{a b} Beal gets prison, extended supervision. By J. Patrick Reilly. September 22, 2011. The Dodgeville Chronicle.
6. ^ ^{a b c} The Ibogaine Story: Report on the Staten Island Project. [1] [2] 1997 book by Paul De Rienzo, Dana Beal, and Project Members. Publisher: Autonomedia. ISBN 9781570270291. The full text is online: [3]. The text can also be searched online here: [4]. Chapter 4 is titled "Dana Beal" and is a biography of him.
7. ^ ^{a b} "Ibogaine: A Novel Anti-Addictive Compound. A Comprehensive Literature Review". by Jonathan Freedlander. Journal of Drug Education and Awareness, 2003; 1:79-98.
8. ^ "Yippie Central". By Colin Moynihan, New York Times. April 29, 2001. Article on Dana Beal.
9. ^ "Pot Smokers' March Is Out of the Park". By Mike Allen. May 3, 1998. New York Times.
10. ^ "Museum will have Abbie’s trash, Rubin’s road kill". By Lincoln Anderson. The Villager. Feb. 1-7, 2006. Article on Dana Beal.
11. ^ "Smoke and Jeers. Million Marijuana March Protests NYC's Record-High Pot Arrests". By Jennifer Gonnerman. Village Voice. May 5–11, 1999.
12. ^ Boston Ibogaine Forum. Feb. 14-16, 2009. Northeastern University Students for Sensible Drug Policy article.
13. ^ Cures Not Wars. Dana Beal website.
14. ^ "The Yippies Apply for a Piece of Establishment". By Deborah Kolben. March 16, 2006. The New York Sun.
15. ^ YippieCafe.com - Yippie Cafe and Museum. Includes list of board members.
16. ^ YippieMuseum.org - The Yippie Museum Cafe. Events, schedule, images, history. A photo of the museum charter is shown too.
17. ^ "Illinois: Yippie Leader Faces Charges". By Colin Moynihan. June 10, 2008. New York Times.
18. ^ "New York medical pot advocate leaves Illinois jail on bail". By the Associated Press. June 12, 2008. Chicago Tribune.
19. ^ "A Yippie Veteran Is in Jail Far From the East Village". By Colin Moynihan. June 11, 2008. New York Times.
20. ^ "Trial for Beal in Nov. for alleged cash stashing". August 7, 2008. By Herb Meeker. Journal Gazette and Times-Courier (of Charleston, Illinois).
21. ^ "Beal pleads guilty to marijuana charge". By Dave Fopay. May 19, 2009. Journal Gazette and Times-Courier.
22. ^ State Tax Stamp Data for Nebraska. From NORML.
23. ^ FREE DANA BEAL. A group on Facebook.
24. ^ HELP FREE DANA BEAL
25. ^ "Saunders Co. Officers Make Record Pot Bust". October 1, 2009. KETV.
26. ^ "Another Ashland drug bust breaks record". By Suzi Nelson. October 1, 2009. Ashland Gazette.
27. ^ "Pot advocate jailed". By Suzi Nelson. October 6, 2009. Omaha World-Herald.
28. ^ "Law Enforcement: Veteran Activist Dana Beal Busted in Nebraska -- Supporters Rallying to Help". October 9, 2009. Drug War Chronicle.
29. ^ Dana Beal Busted, Jailed in Wisconsin. Celeb Stoner, Jan. 10, 2011.
30. ^ Counter-culture 'yippie' with Madison ties in jail on pot charges in Iowa County. By Todd Finkelmeyer. The Capital Times, Jan. 14, 2011.
31. ^ Dana Beal busted again. The Villager. January 13 - 19, 2011 issue.
32. ^ Authorities Make Major Drug Bust In Iowa County. WISC-TV (CBS affiliate television station for Madison, Wisconsin). Jan. 11, 2011.
33. ^ Free Dana Beal, Free Ourselves. Facebook group.

External links

• CannabisNews.com archive of media articles mentioning Dana Beal.
• Ibogaine dossier web site.
• Dana Beal on Ibogaine Clinics, and his 2008 arrest
• Dana Beal. Global Marijuana March, Cannabis Wiki.

Persondata
Name	Beal, Dana
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Date of birth	January 9, 1947
Place of birth
Date of death
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