NY Post's Page Six: Photographer's 8-year sentence for pot draws protests

By Richard Johnson

Hardened tabloid-TV veterans are protesting the harsh treatment of a New Jersey wedding photographer caught growing 17 pot plants.

Jon Peditto (the son of John Parsons Peditto, former news director at Channel 5’s “10 O’Clock News” and co-creator of “Hard Copy”) was sentenced Friday in Toms River, NJ, to eight years for drug manufacturing and distribution.

Family members, who are trying to raise $35,000 to hire a lawyer to appeal, say, “Jon is a gentle, compassionate man with no prior criminal record. His only ‘crime’ is gardening without a license.”

Burt Kearns, a former managing editor of “Hard Copy” and executive producer of “A Current Affair,” told me, “If Jon Peditto lived in Colorado or Oregon, he’d be getting an award from the Better Business Bureau instead of facing what could be the rest of his life in prison.”

Kearns blames New Jersey’s “outdated” and “draconian” marijuana laws, and said Peditto is being punished because he declined to cop a plea.

“He’s a brave man. He wouldn’t take a deal. He took a stand against the law,” said Kearns, producer of the pro-pot comedy “High There,” starring Wayne Darwen — also a veteran of “A Current Affair,” “Hard Copy,” and “Inside Edition.”

Darwen said, “Jon’s a gardener, not El Chapo, and El Chapo only got 22 years last time he was sentenced!”

LINK TO PAGE SIX ITEM
JONPEDITTODEFENSEFUND.COM

HIGH THERE named one of the Top Ten Documentaries of 2015

Several weeks into 2016, amid the Hollywood awards season, comes exciting news:  High There has been named one of the Top Ten Documentaries of 2015.

The accolade comes from the respected independent movie review site, A Bucket of Corn, whose chief reviewer rocked the documentary and comedy worlds last July, when he praised High There as “a perfect film.”

Now, High There is listed in the #4 position -- ahead of Academy Award nominee Amy and other, big-budget, ultra-hyped movies.

Writes A Bucket of Corn’s critic, Abraham Phillips: "This year was really not that hard for A Bucket of Corn to choose their top 10 films of the year. There was some wonderful Oscar-worthy spectacular films to grace the cinema, but there were those few movies that never get the credit they deserve. That never get the push they deserve because they don't have high budgets or famous people, or the push of Hollywood or the glitz and glamour of the red carpet type persona...

"All movies don't have to be put out by Hollywood or the elite makers of cinema, for movies are movies.

"To be a true movie reviewer you have to adventure outside of just Hollywood cinema or the big budget set up, for there are countless movies that never make it to the big screen, that never get the Hollywood push.”

A Bucket of Corn’s Top Ten Documentaries of 2015

10. X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time
9. Batkid Begins
8. Rammstein in Amerika 
7. Unbranded
6. Human 
5. Amy
4. High There
3. My Brother’s Bomber 
2. Racing Extinction 
1. Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine

High There is a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture.

HIGH THERE hits Hempcon with a gas mask and a cause

Roland Jointz, trademark gas mask in place, led the High There street team at the Hempcon 2015 Finals in San Bernardino, California Saturday, posing with fans of the gonzo nonfiction comedy, giving away limited edtion BRINKvision High There DVDs, and most important, bringing attention and gaining support for jailed cannabis activist Jon Peditto.

King of Pot Bruce Perlowin called Jon Peditto “brave"

Jointz, alter ego of High There director Henry Goren, personally handed out fliers for the Peditto cause, and rounded up supprt from cannabis-related business owners, including “King of Pot” Bruce Perlowin, the legendary marijuana smuggler and hemp entrepreneur, who was at the event with his new CBD Jeans company (“dedicated to supporting the legalization of medicinal and recreational marijuana”).  Perlowin praised Peditto as “brave” for rejecting plea bargain offers and fighting the the law that has him facing 10 to 20 years in prison for growing 17 marijuana plants. (Perlowin spent nine years in prison for his illegal actvities.)

Missing in action was Goren’s fellow High There director and co-star Wayne Darwen, AKA High Dave High. “Wayne was called on assignment, and we missed him -- and so did fans who wanted to meet Dave High,” said Goren, “but the street team, including Sam Peters and Burt Kearns, did a great job of gas mask wrangling, and helping spread the word about High There and the Peditto case."

The crew for Johnson Apparel, makers of weed-funny t-shirts and more

Reuben repped the Woah Stork cannabis delivery app

There was a lot of action at the Royal Blunts booth.

Roland with Robert Porter, creator and host of the I Love San Bernardino radio show

San Bernardino radio host Robert Porter, medical marijuana activist Deborah Coleman and William Elmo Cioci of Green Med Entertainment

Calibred and MotaVation clothing shared a booth

Sam Peters, Burt Kearns and Roland Jointz led the High There street team at Hempcon

King of Pot Bruce Perlowin shows that the High There DVD also has a cool back cover

Pot smuggling legend Bruce Perlowin autographs his signature CBD jeans

Press Release: HIGH THERE producers lend support to Jon Peditto Defense Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

"'Free Jon Peditto' should be a rallying cry across the nation."

HOLLYWOOD  (November 2) The producers of the independent gonzo comedy film High There this morning announced their support for the campaign to free jailed cannabis activist Jon Peditto.

Peditto, a New Jersey photographer and gardener, was found guilty Thursday of maintaining a drug production facility for growing 17 marijuana plants.  He's now jailed in Ocean County, facing a mandatory sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.

Peditto admits growing the plants for his personal use, and is challenging New Jersey's outdated drug laws.  This morning, the High There team gathered to pledge to raise awareness of the injustice and the fight to free Peditto.

"We're in a time when big business is using the ballot to control marijuana production and distribution in Ohio, when the benefits of medical marijuana are recognized and legalized in many states-- when four states have legalized marijuana for recreational use!" said executive producer Sam Peters. "This is a ridiculous prosecution and a cruel and unusual mandatory sentence.

"New Jersey is in the Reefer Madness era, and whether that's because of publicity-seeking prosecutors or cynical politicians like the governor (a leading critic of marijuana use), it's ruining good people's lives," he added. "We shouldn't stand for it. 'Free Jon Peditto' should be a rallying cry across the nation!"

High There's producer Burt Kearns and directors and stars Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren  stood with Peters this morning, contributing to the defense fund and promising to use their platform to keep attention on the case.

Darwen and Kearns are longtime colleagues of Peditto's father, the acclaimed, award-winning journalist, television producer and filmmaker John Parsons Peditto.

The BRINKvision film High There is rooted in activism, focusing on the case of Roger Christie, the founder of Hawaii's THC Church, who was arrested on marijuana possession and trafficking charges and jailed for four years without trial.

Roger Christie was released to house arrest days after High There's premiere.

The High There team is gaining a reputation for its political activism. In October, directors Darwen and Henry Goren were in Santa Monica, California, helping lead a rally of hundreds of practitioners and supporters of the Falun Gong movement.

Contributions to the John Peditto Defense Fund can be made at Fundrzr.com.

The Jon Peditto Defense Fund

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CONTACT: Sam Peters

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK

Press release
Press release

The HIGH THERE street team at the Las Vegas Hempfest

High There Producer Burt Kearns, director and director of photography Henry Goren and director and writer Wayne Darwen, taking a break from publicity duties at the Las Vegas Hempfest on Saturday, October 3, 2015.  Not pictured: executive producer and public relations director Sam Peters, who is across Convention Center Drive at Piero’s.

Press Release: HIGH THERE movie sequel to begin filming in Las Vegas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Producers announce shooting plans for Area 420 at Las Vegas Hempfest

LAS VEGAS  (October 6) The team behind the hit independent gonzo comedy film High There was in Las Vegas this weekend, appearing with Tommy Chong and Afroman at the second annual Las Vegas Hempfest -- and announcing the start of principal photography on the sequel, Area 420.

The announcement was made by executive producer Sam Peters during an impromptu news conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the fest took place on Saturday.  "High There was a film that took a pair of baffled and bickering journalists to Hawaii, where they uncovered a government plot to control the marijuana trade," Peters said. "Now, in Area 420, the pair will head to Las Vegas, only to expose a government plot that is literally out of this world. We promise sex, inebriation, real-life situations, newsmaking revelations -- and lots of laughs!"

Peters said filming on Area 420 will begin in late November on and around the Las Vegas Strip, as well as other cities and locations that remain under wraps. Directors Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren are reprising their roles as gonzo tabloid producer Dave High and his teetoaling cameraman, Roland Jointz.

The producers are now enlisting celebrity cameos for the upcoming comedy, which may explain the deep conversations Saturday between Darwen and fellow Hempfest stars Chong and Afroman.

"We're shooting in  Vegas, so we want to get some of our friends and favorites on board, including Carrot Top, Penn, Mac King, Art Vargas, Cook E. Jarr and Jerry Tiffe," added producer Burt Kearns, who was seen losing big in the Caesars Palace casino early Sunday morning.  "And of course, Wayne wants to include the wonderful women from the Hustler Club (site of the Hempfest after-party)."

Darwen is a veteran tabloid journalist, a founder of tabloid television and model for Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Natural Born Killers.  Goren is an award-winning news camerman and cinematographer.  Kearns, who is co-scripting the new nonfiction movie, is a longtime television and film writer and producer whose credits include the Burt Reynolds comedy classic, Cloud 9.

High There has been very well-received by critics ("A perfect film"-- ABucket OfCorn.com) and is becoming a cult favorite on BRINKvision's limited edition DVD and Video on Demand.

Added Peters:  "Area 420 is going to be High There on steroids.  Or I suppose I should say, 'High There on some super strain of weed'!  It will be everything folks love about High There, only bigger and funnier. And Vegasier."

Area 420 is a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited presentation of a Good Story Productions and Rat Lung Pictures production.

View or download the new High There trailer  

High There at Amazon.com
PR release

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS

CONTACT: Sam Peters

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK