WAIT… WHO IS HOWARD MARKS?
Good question, and one the authorities asked themselves for years while chasing him under 43 different aliases:
Marco Polo, Mr Tetley, Mr Nice…
NICE by name and nice by nature,
Howard Marks AKA Mr NICE was Britain's biggest and 'most charming' cannabis smuggler, proving that being 'nice' doesn't always mean following the rules.
A lovable rogue that made friends wherever he went, Howard smuggled the finest cannabis around the world as an international man of mystery throughout the 1970s and ‘80s - foiling the law at every turn.
Howard was famously acquitted of the largest cannabis import into the UK.
On his journey from fugitive criminal to writer and counter culture icon, he consistently championed the values of compassion, freedom, and community. He had time for everyone and in debating legalisation, he played the ball and not the opponent. He was always nice.
After spending the 70s on the run, Howard was famously acquitted of the largest cannabis import into the UK. Seven years and countless escapades later, he was imprisoned by the DEA and sentenced to twenty-five years in one of America’s toughest penitentiaries. He kept busy inside acting as a jailhouse lawyer for fellow inmates, teaching others English and philosophy, contributing to international debates on cannabis laws, and practicing yoga daily (you’ve got to mellow out somehow, right?).
After his release in 1995, Howard penned his bestselling autobiography, MR NICE. It broke the bestseller charts challenging the sterotype of the evil drug baron. Howard dedicated his time and fame to the legalisation of cannabis and righting the wrongs reaped by the war on drugs with humour and facts.
He shared his love and knowledge of cannabis till the end.
