Editor’s note: The claim that Hunter Thompson ever developed, cultivated, or exclusively consumed any particular strain of cannabis is hitherto undisclosed information, unsubstantiated by any historical or literary evidence that we are aware of.
by Kidman J. Williams
It seems that the widow of the late great Hunter S. Thompson, Anita Thompson, is active again in the Gonzo Community after many years of a nearly dark website having the activity of a drunken sloth on NyQuil. She has big plans for the estate of Thompson. Anita, according to a post she put out on her Facebook page has “found a legal method to extract DNA from Hunter’s personal marijuana and hashish” that she saved for “12 – 15 years.”
Her plans are to take that and make “authentic Gonzo strains” for people in legal states to buy and consume.
According to Anita Thompson, “Although the ‘drug lord’ phrase is silly as it doesn’t match my personality, I am looking forward to making the authentic strains available in legal states to support the Farm (Owl Farm) and the scholarships.”
She posted this information on her Facebook page on Nov. 27. However she still has yet to make a post on TheGonzoFoundation.org website. In fact, as of today, (Dec. 2 2016) there still doesn’t seem to be much at all on the website.
On the homepage there is a home movie that features Bob Braudis reading an interview that Hunter did while Hunter is sitting in the kitchen enjoying it. Nothing really punchy or particularly interesting about it. Then there is a podcast link with news about the Flying Dog Brewery.
Under the Foundation dropdowns you will see the names. Under Ralph Steadman, the link doesn’t work and whatever video was there doesn’t work either, but you better believe that the links under Anita’s name going back to her books for sale work just fine.
Anita also is claiming that by the end of 2017 she will be inviting guests to the private museum at Owl Farm. She states that, “the first groups of guests will be invited to visit the private museum,” whatever exactly that means.
She will also be opening the doors of Owl Farm to musicians. She is calling it the non-traditional writer’s residence program where bands can stay there to write and record in the “small basement recording studio.”
It seems that some Hunter fans are overjoyed with the news about the “authentic” strains, judging by comments on Facebook. Some however expressed a very different attitude towards the entrepreneurial spirit that Anita has shown the legacy.
Hunter Thompson’s daughter-in-law also posted on Facebook in opposition to the idea. She told us that Hunter spoke often of his legacy to her and his son, Juan, and was intent that it not focus on his admittedly rampant drug use but rather his literary output. She also said he spoke against turning Owl Farm into a museum once he had departed.
Whatever Anita does decide to do with the legacy of HST and Hunter’s Gonzo Journalism is up to her. Just rest assured that Gonzo Journalism is not a product to be sold, it is a simple idea and genre of writing. It is a bi-product of the Outlaw journalist movement…a subgenre, if you will.
HST will never die, he lives through the written words that he published and the unforgettable fun that he shared with us.
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