Legalize It

When Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" came out in Jamaica in 1975, the title track was banned. The former Wailer had written it as a response to his ongoing harassment by the Jamaican police and as a political argument for legalising cannabis, especially for medical use. The attempt to silence it backfired: instead of disappearing, the song carried Tosh to international fame. He recorded the album of the same name at Treasure Isle and Randy's in Kingston, with musicians including Aston and Carlton Barrett and Robbie Shakespeare, plus backing vocals from Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Bunny Wailer. It appeared in June 1976, the same year Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley released their own albums. The title track quickly became a favourite with cannabis campaigners, reggae fans and Rastafari around the world, and a highlight of his concerts. In a 1978 interview Tosh predicted that "herb will become like cigarettes". He did not soften his stance. At the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston in April 1978, he lit a spliff on stage and lectured the politicians Michael Manley and Edward Seaga, who were sitting in the audience, for failing to change the law. According to The Gleaner, he became a regular police target afterwards, and that September he was arrested and, by his account, badly beaten in custody. The album went on to be certified platinum in the United States in 1999. Decades later, as cannabis laws have shifted in many countries, the song sounds less like a provocation and more like a forecast.