Howard Marks Philosophical About Terminal Cancer Diagnosis
Legendary cannabis smuggler turned best-selling author and counter-culture guru Howard Marks revealed he’s suffering from inoperable bowel cancer this week, though was characteristically upbeat about learning of his impending effective death sentence.
“I felt immensely lucky and privileged to have written a bestseller and then embarked on a career of performing in public, which allowed me to hang out with musicians, DJs and other lovers of dope,” the 69 year old told the Observer, “I have had an incredible life.”
Working with organisations including the CIA, MI5, IRA and mafia during his earlier career as one of the world’s most prolific cannabis smugglers, he eventually ended up sentenced to 25 years in America’s notoriously brutal Terre Haute prison, serving seven years before being deported back to the UK.
Chatting to Jonty Skrufff about his experiences in 2003, he recalled his scariest moment as ‘watching someone being decapitated at breakfast’ though used his wits and acute intelligence to avoid being victimised.
“I was a 40 year old pot-bellied Welshman so not the object of anyone’s sexual desires. I was an alien without allegiance to any particular gang. I am not a macho threat to anyone. I did not even begin to attempt to establish a reputation as a hard nut,” he recalled.
“Instead, I established a reputation as someone prepared to help anyone write, be it to his girlfriend or to the court to get his sentence reduced. And they knew I wasn’t a grass, which helped enormously,” he added.
Jonty Skrufff: https://www.facebook.com/skrufff
