Cannabis/Psychedelics
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Goz was a pioneering advocate for cannabis and psychedelics, celebrating their connection to the digital revolution through events like the Digital Be-In, which featured prominent activists and thinkers such as Dennis Peron and Timothy Leary. He also produced influential events like the Deep Green Conferences and helped establish the Emerald Cup, working to reshape public perceptions of cannabis and its role in modern culture.
As an entrepreneur, event producer, publisher, and online communications pioneer, Goz was a thought leader in the cannabis sphere from the late 1980s onward. He celebrated the connection between cannabis (and psychedelics) and the digital revolution through his Digital Be-In cyberculture events in San Francisco, giving Dennis Peron, Chris Conrad, and other cannabis activists, and psychedelic luminaries Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Dennis McKenna the spotlight in the mid-90s.
The ‘back room’ at the 1993 Digital Be-in 5, in San Francisco, CA. by Allan Lundell
April 3, 1993 – In this back room party scene, Terence McKenna and Tim Leary meet among many friends – filmmakers Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett, musicians Jon Anderson from YES, and Scott Page from Pink Floyd, empressario David Traub, producer Robert Gelman, bard Jim Rintoul, astrologer Dusty Park, performer Brenda Laurel, writer Norm Lundell, videomaker Sun McNamee, networker Michael Moore, and many others.
It was almost as if Leary was passing the torch to Terence, the flame of psychedelic truth from one generation to the next.
2012 Deep Green Festival and Conference Poster
In a January 1999 interview with Wired magazine, he described the symbiotic relationship between entheogens and the evolution of information technology:
“The vanguard of the computer industry consists of creative people, who, like any creative community, are more inclined to experiment culturally. It’s been unspoken for many years that the crown jewel of the US economy has been so influenced by ‘soft’ drugs like marijuana and LSD; now we want to stand up and be counted.”
In 2011-12 he produced the San Francisco Bay Area Deep Green Conference and Festivals on Earth Day with Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center, David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s, and other industry leaders. He explained to Oakland’s East Bay Express that the event was part of a larger effort to educate and influence popular opinion on the role of cannabis in the burgeoning digital age: “The Deep Green Festival is part of a reimagining of cannabis’s often negative image.”
Frequently and until the time of his passing, Goz consulted with and provided expertise to a wide variety of cannabis industry events, magazines, and ventures.
Goz produced the first cannabis event at Sonoma County Fairgrounds and helped producer Tim Blake establish the Emerald Cup there in 2013.
Gosney also developed the Green Alley cannabis component of the long-running San Francisco How Weird Street Faire.
Read the article in EBX about the inagural Green Alley at How Weird Street Faire.
