He was a five-time political candidate for governor of Kentucky and a vocal advocate for legalization of recreational marijuana.

Born in Carlisle, Kentucky, to Henry Clay and Dollie Galbraith, on January 23, 1947, Gatewood was the fourth of seven children.

On March 3, 2011, Governor Steve Beshear signed what he declared a "landmark corrections reform bill" into law which decriminalizes personal use of up eight ounces of marijuana, reducing it to a ticketable offense.

[4][clarification needed] Galbraith worked closely with his longtime friend and supporter Norm Davis, gun rights advocate, activist and founder of the grassroots organization "Take Back Kentucky", in support of "smaller government and preservation of our constitutional freedoms and rights with-in the commonwealth.

They said we have a Constitutional right to privacy in our homes, under which fits the possession of an extremely poisonous alcohol.

"[6] Galbraith appeared in the 2010 Michael P. Henning documentary film Hempsters: Plant the Seed, along with Woody Harrelson, Ralph Nader, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Julia Butterfly Hill.

[8] Galbraith ran for various offices in Kentucky, including Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General, and for a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

Galbraith also ran for Governor five times – as a Democrat in 1991, 1995, and 2007, as a Reform Party candidate in 1999,[9] and lastly as an independent in 2011.

[11] Included in Galbraith's platform[12] were campaign promises of implementing a freeze on college tuition, a $5,000 grant or voucher provided to motivated high school graduates to any college or vocational school, incorporating more technology into the education process, restoring hemp as an agricultural crop, ending cannabis prohibition in Kentucky, restoring of voting and gun rights of non-violent felons, agricultural market development, stricter environmental protections, recreational and tourism development, water standard enforcement, expansion of fish and wildlife programs, abolition of state worker furloughs, expansion of energy development, Internet access to all counties, abolition of the income tax for those who earn fifty thousand dollars or less, small business tax exemptions, job development, a return investment policy, the establishment of regional economic development offices, marketing Kentucky's signature industries, the prohibition of fracking and mountaintop removal mining.

He raised $100,000 of his $500,000 budget and was endorsed by the United Mine Workers of America, the first time the union had backed an independent.

[13] Galbraith ran for Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner after incumbent Democrat Alben Barkley II decided to run instead for lieutenant governor.

This time he ran on the Reform Party ticket and got 15 percent of the vote, the best statewide general election performance of his career.

[24] Galbraith died from natural causes, including complications from emphysema,[25] on January 4, 2012, at his home in Lexington, Kentucky.