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Bennett A. “Ben” Masel (October 17, 1954 – April 30, 2011) was an American writer, publisher, cannabis rights and free speech activist, expert witness for marijuana defendants, and frequent candidate for public office. A skilled chess player, Masel was director of Wisconsin NORML, and organizer of Weedstock and the annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival which has been held in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol every autumn since 1971.
Masel, who was known for his Yippie theatrics and anti-war and pro-labor activism, was born in the Bronx, grew up in New Jersey, and in 1971 relocated to Madison, where he became a fixture of the Wisconsin political scene for 40 years. He died of cancer in 2011.
In 1971, Masel moved to Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly before being expelled for his involvement in demonstrations.
Masel, a Yippie “street theatre” Vietnam War and personal freedom protester, made national headlines in 1976 for heckling segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace from a wheelchair. Over his lifetime, Masel was arrested 137 times.
Masel's roving Weedstock “protestival” was held for fourteen years, from 1988 to 2001.
In 1985, Masel co-authored Blacklisted News: Secret Histories from Chicago, ’68 to 1984, a comprehensive history of the Youth International Party. (1985). 9780912873008, Bleecker Publishing. ISBN 9780912873008
Masel published the underground newspaper Zenger from 1987 to 1993.
Until his death, Masel maintained online political action blogs and petitions at Myspace, Facebook, and alternative media sites.
In 1990, Masel ran against Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson in the Republican primary.
When the 1990 Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival at the Wisconsin Capitol drew the criticism of Attorney General Don Hanaway, Masel challenged Hanaway to a chess match in order to prove that cannabis does not diminish intelligence. Hanaway declined Masel's chess game challenge.
During a 1992 write-in bid for Dane County sheriff, Masel's campaign poster pictured him naked with the slogan: "Nothing to Hide, Masel for Sheriff". He got more than 7,000 votes. And when he made the ballot in 1994 as the Democratic candidate for sheriff, Masel received more than 39,000 votes.
Masel challenged US Senator Herb Kohl in the Democratic primary in 2006 and got over 50,000 votes (about 15 percent).
At the time he was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, Masel was again seeking the Wisconsin Democratic Party endorsement for US senator.
On June 29, 2006, while lawfully gathering signatures during an election campaign, Masel was confronted by two University of Wisconsin–Madison police officers who threw him to the ground, pinned him with a knee on his back and then pepper-sprayed him in the face. Masel's federal civil rights suit against police officers John McCaughtry and Michael Mansavage which was heard at trial in 2009 before a hung jury and was to be reheard at a second trial in 2010, was settled out of court. Masel agreed to accept $7,500 from the state of Wisconsin to dismiss the appeal.
A longtime friend of Masel, Amy Gros-Louis, told a Wisconsin State Journal reporter that “Ben knew the laws better than the police did.” Masel fought limitations to free speech and the right to assemble. Whenever police tried to stop him, he would sue. And he usually won, according to Jeff Scott Olson, Masel's lawyer.
The 420 Chess Club held an online competition called The Ben Masel Memorial 420 Chess Tournament from May, 2011, through February, 2012.
On May 17, 2011, the City of Madison Common Council declared April 20 to be Ben Masel Day.
Masel was named High Times’ Freedom Fighter of the Month in August, 2011.
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