Dana Beal helped build the cannabis legalization movement. He organized hundreds of smoke-ins, founded the Global Marijuana March, brought ibogaine to Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines and appeared in a Hulu documentary that premiered today. He is also 79 years old, sitting in an Idaho prison, and being held longer than his sentence requires. His supporters say the extension could kill him.
On February 24, 2026, Beal surrendered in Gooding County, Idaho and was sentenced to six months in jail plus 9.5 years of parole to be served in New York City. Given his prior two months of incarceration in early 2024, he had roughly four months left to serve. The math put his release date in July.
Then Idaho moved him.
Beal has since been transferred from the county jail to the Mountain View Transformation Center in Boise, an Idaho Department of Corrections facility. According to organizer Paul Stanford, who has been coordinating support for Beal and updating his GoFundMe page, prison officials are now requiring Beal to complete a drug treatment program for marijuana addiction before release. That requirement, if not waived, could keep him behind bars until December 2026.
Beal has a documented history of severe cardiovascular disease. He survived a heart attack while incarcerated in Wisconsin following a 2011 arrest. He has also suffered a stroke. His supporters argue that holding a 79-year-old with that medical profile through an Idaho winter, for six additional months beyond his agreed sentence, serves no public safety purpose and poses a serious risk to his life.
Who Dana Beal is
If you watched 4X20: Quick Hits on Hulu today, you saw Beal open the High Times documentary by turning toward a camera in a county courtroom and saying: “I want to tell you a story about my friend Tom before I have to go to jail.” The friend was Tom Forçade, the founder of High Times. The story is the film.
Director Kyle Thrash describes Beal as “a living embodiment of Tom’s mission.” He is a YIPPIE organizer who has been fighting for cannabis freedom since the 1960s. He helped invent the smoke-in as a form of protest. He founded the Global Marijuana March, a demonstration that now runs in more than 400 cities around the world. In 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams gave Beal and the Yippies a formal award recognizing their decades of activism.
He has also been one of the most prominent advocates for ibogaine as a treatment for opioid addiction and PTSD. He traveled to Ukraine and brought ibogaine to soldiers on the front lines, an effort documented by The Intercept.
He is now Inmate #164571 at the Mountain View Transformation Center in Boise, Idaho, being required to complete drug treatment for marijuana addiction.
What his supporters are asking
There are four ways to help right now.
1
Donate to his commissary and phone fund
Prisoners pay significant fees for phone calls and basic commissary items like shampoo and snacks. The GoFundMe is currently accepting donations specifically for these expenses.
2
Set up a phone account so he can call you
If you want Dana to be able to call you directly, set up an account with IC Solutions using his name and inmate number below. Once you’ve set it up, contact Paul Stanford through the GoFundMe page and he will give Dana your number.
Service: IC Solutions
Name: Irving Dana Beal
Agency: Idaho State Corrections
Inmate #: 164571
3
Email the Idaho parole board
Beal’s parole eligibility date is June 30, 2026. Programming requirements could push his release to December. Email the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole requesting a medical waiver. Note his age, cardiovascular history and that a comprehensive medical plan is already in place in New York.
Contact Idaho Governor Brad Little requesting medical clemency or commutation to time served, effective June 30, contingent on transfer to New York parole supervision. Note his non-violent charges, his age, his cardiovascular history and that extended incarceration poses a grave risk to his life.
Send mail or books directly
Mailing address
I. D. Beal #164571
MVTC
PO Box 8509
Boise, ID 83707
Books: Amazon is not approved by Idaho prisons. The only two vendors allowed to send books are Books N Things and Edward R. Hamilton Books.
The wider picture
Beal’s case is a sharp illustration of everything unresolved in cannabis legalization. The movement he helped build has succeeded commercially and politically. Dispensaries are open. Billion-dollar companies are trading publicly. A Hulu documentary about the magazine he helped make culturally essential premiered today on a Disney-owned streaming platform.
And one of the last living architects of that movement is sitting in an Idaho prison being required to complete drug treatment for marijuana addiction, facing the possibility of staying there through December because of programming requirements the state will not waive.
He is 79 years old. His heart is not strong. His supporters are asking anyone who benefited from the world he helped make to do something about it before it is too late.
High Times previously covered Beal’s arrest and legal case in Legal Weed, Illegal Life: Dana Beal and the War That Never Ended. The Hulu documentary featuring Beal, 4X20: Quick Hits, is streaming now.
