[8][9] High Times covers a wide range of topics, including politics, activism, drugs, education,[5] sex, music, and film, as well as photography.

)[5] In addition, the magazine "published writers like Hunter S. Thompson, William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, and Truman Capote.

"[citation needed] High Times was originally meant to be a joke: a single-issue lampoon of Playboy, substituting marijuana for sex.

High Times was at the beginning funded by drug money from the sale of illegal marijuana,[20][5] But the magazine found an audience, becoming a monthly publication with a growing circulation, and the staff quickly grew to 40 people.[when?]

[4] Under the editorship of Larry Sloman (from 1979 to 1984),[23] the magazine consistently struggled against marijuana prohibition laws, and fought to keep itself alive and publishing in an anti-cannabis atmosphere.

[3][5] The magazine's former associate publisher, Rick Cusick, said the only way High Times managed to stay in business and never miss a publication date for over four decades was, "Really, really good lawyers, even though everybody knew I was talking about just one—Michael Kennedy.

[citation needed] The High Times Freedom Fighters were famous for dressing up in Colonial outfits and organizing hemp rallies across the United States.

Over the years, these included Cypress Hill, The Black Crowes, Ziggy Marley, Beavis and Butt-Head, Milla Jovovich, Ice Cube, Wu-Tang Clan, George Carlin, Ozzy Osbourne, Kevin Smith, Frances McDormand, Pauly Shore, Sacha Baron Cohen, Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, and Snoop Dogg.

[28] In 1997, the magazine and Hager founded the Counterculture Hall of Fame, with inductions held annually on Thanksgiving as part of the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup event.

In the late 1980s Mike Edison began writing "Shoot the Tube," a featured column about television and politics for High Times.

As editor and publisher, he caused a furor among staffers by putting Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on the cover, and then leaking to the New York Post's Page Six gossip column that thousands of dollars of pot had gone missing from the photo shoot.

In 2000, the magazine established the Stony Awards to recognize and celebrate notable stoner films and television episodes about cannabis.

[33] In 2003, Steven Hager was fired, and High Times' board of directors shifted the magazine's focus from marijuana to more literary content, hiring John Buffalo Mailer as executive editor.

"[4] Mailer left the magazine within a year[4]—a succession of editors followed, including David Bienenstock, Rick Cusick, and Steve Bloom.

[37] Hager subsequently released a 20-part series on YouTube, titled The Strategic Meeting, showing the internal machinations inside the company.

The video series asserts that Michael Kennedy stole the company from the rightful employees and subverted the original mission for his own private gain.

[43] By 1976, High Times was publishing comics in its pages, by the likes of underground comix creators such as Gilbert Shelton ("The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers"), Kim Deitch, Josh Alan and Drew Friedman, Bill Griffith ("Zippy the Pinhead"), Paul Kirchner ("Dope Rider"), Milton Knight ("Zoe"), Spain Rodriguez ("Trashman"), Dave Sheridan, Frank Thorne, and Skip Williamson ("Snappy Sammy Smoot").

Chewberto420, is a cannabis photographer and author, based out of the Western United States (predominantly Huntington Beach, California and Pagosa Springs, Colorado), who has made contributions to the magazine since 2016.