“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.

[1][2][3] 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.

[4] Masel, who was Jewish,[5] was born in New York in 1954 and grew up in New Jersey,[6] became involved with the Youth International Party when he was a teenager, earning him the distinction of being the youngest person on Nixon's Enemies List.

[3][9] 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.

[17] Until his death, Masel maintained online political action blogs and petitions at Myspace, Facebook, and alternative media sites.

Jack Herer visited fourteen American cities, promoting the revised edition of his book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, in 1989.

He got a $95,000 settlement from Sauk County, Wisconsin, after police officers wearing body armor arrested about a dozen Weedstock festival-goers, including Masel, who refused an order to vacate the grounds after being told the festival could not be held on a private field there, in 2000.

[3][4][21][22] 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.

[6] Nevertheless, Masel remained upbeat and never stopped demonstrating, even defying his doctor's advice in order to join a month-long labor rights protest being held at the Wisconsin State Capitol during April.