Turn on, tune in, get busted - vintage Bay Area pot bust photos

May 24, 1988: Marijuana/hashish seizure, the largest in U.S. history at that time, made in the San Francisco Bay. May 24, 1988: Marijuana/hashish seizure, the largest in U.S. history at that time, made in the San Francisco Bay. Photo: Tom Levy, San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Tom Levy, San Francisco Chronicle Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close Turn on, tune in, get busted - vintage Bay Area pot bust photos 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

The next generation of pot smokers won't need to bother with 4/20 code words or clandestine texts to their connections. With the passing of Proposition 64 last fall, marijuana is going mainstream in California, mellowing years of built up subculture.

On a recent dive into the Chronicle archives it occurred to us that the decriminalization of marijuana (on the state level) means we're going to stop seeing so many great photo ops where officers show off truckloads of confiscated weed.

I found a couple of folders of photos in the archives on local drug crimes. Sure enough, there were some striking images from the war on drugs. The photos show various aspects of drug busts - primarily marijuana - amassed through the 1990s. The earliest photos were from the 1950s. But, it was the '60s and '70s that really brought pot use to the surface. We've included the photos most likely to spark your interest in the slideshow above. Many of them haven't been seen since the bell bottom era.

Bob Bragman is a producer for SFGATE. His writing reflects his love of the Bay Area, in addition to his passion for vintage pop culture, ephemera and vernacular photographs. To see more of his content, please click here.