They told her that seven young people had taken heroin the night before and Jared had also taken Valium. His friends had driven him around for three hours in his own vehicle afraid to take him to the hospital. They feared that if they took him in, they would all get into trouble. Though prompt medical attention could have saved Jared's life, it was fear, ignorance and a lack of societal commitment to treating those in need killed him.

The next year, Jared tried all kinds of drugs &emdash; cocaine, pills and heroin. When his mother, Jennifer Daley, confronted him, he first denied it, but then broke down and cried and asked for help to fight his addiction. Though it was a tremendous ordeal getting him into a rehab facility, they found one they felt would help. He made it through one weekend there before his insurance company forced him to move to a different facility he did not want. Jared tried to make it work, but found that it did not address the issues he was dealing with. He persevered, got out and moved away. In 1997, following moves to Arizona and Oregon, Jared returned to Texas for a "fresh start." He got a job he liked and was planning on continuing college. Everyone was optimistic about his future. But on the morning of October 24, his mom received a phone call to contact the Austin police department.

Jared Lowry's troubles began during a spring break trip with friends living near Houston, TX, when he was arrested at the age of 17 for a small amount of mari-juana. Though he was prosecuted and received probation, the experience caused much suffering and loss of work and money for the family. When Jared's father died of a sudden heart attack later that year, he was grief-stricken and felt responsible. He became very depressed.

For an excellent video on Rainbow Farms, contact Band Wagon Video Productions, 574-848-5969 and ask for "Memories of Rainbow Farm." The conpany also has a video about one of the festivals held there, "Messages From Rainbow Farm."

None of this would have happened if the laws against marijuana were reformed, or if they had been left to have their peaceful gatherings, or if government officials had shown some respect and restraint in handling this volatile situation. But like pawns on a chessboard, the Drug Warriors had pushed Tom and Rollie into a checkmated position where they felt their only choice was liberty or death.

Obviously distraught, Crosslin decided that the government was not going to get the benefit of his many years of labor creating the Rainbow Farm. Throughout Labor Day weekend, according to law enforcement accounts, Crosslin and Rohm systematically burned down the ten structures on their beloved farm, shot at and hit a news helicopter filming the fires, shot at and missed a police surveillance plane, and sprayed the woods bordering the 34-acre property with gunfire to keep police at bay. Other reports say that the two were merely firing into the air to hold police at bay and other people at the scene questioned whether the two had actually fired their guns at all, asserting that they were merely being carried around as a possible self-defense. In any case, the two men allegedly confronted law officers with raised weapons, each to be shot dead in turn.

By mid-summer, the pressure on Crosslin and Rohm was mounting. Crosslin faced 20 years in prison on marijuana and weapons charges, and was out of jail on a $150,000 bail bond as the state was moving to seize Rainbow Farm under civil asset forfeiture proceedings. A local judge had issued an injunction barring Crosslin from holding any further marijuana-related gatherings at the campground. And in a move that must have elevated the pair's situation from intolerable to unbearable, Michigan child welfare authorities had taken Rohm's 12-year-old son, Robert, and placed him in foster care after the May raid.

Though police emphasized the traffic death (which occurred the day after the youth was at the campground) in justifying the bust at the time, they later revealed that it came as the result of a two-year-long investigation of Crosslin's farm activities.

Beginning in 1996, Tom Crosslin had sponsored marijuana reform rallies under a variety of names at Rainbow Farm. While he was a visible and outspoken proponent of reforming marijuana laws, the rallies caused few legal problems until 2001. Things began to unravel in May, when local law enforcement authorities, using as a pretext the traffic death of a youth who had attended the festival, swept down on the campground, arresting Crosslin and his friend Rollie Rohm, among others, and charging them with a variety of marijuana and firearms violations.

Grover T. (Tom) Crosslin lived for the cause of marijuana legalization. In 2001, he died for it. Crosslin, 46, the owner and operator of Rainbow Farm, an alternative campground and concert site in Newberg Township outside of Vandalia, Michigan was shot and killed on his property by an FBI agent in the afternoon of September 3, 2001. His long-time partner, Rolland Rohm, was shot and killed early morning Sept. 4 by Michigan State Police on the property. The shootings ended a stand-off that had begun on August 31.

Finally, it is further dedicated to all those compatriots who have fought for justice and are no longer with us to see when that day will come...

This page is dedicated to those victims, known and unknown, who died in the cross-fire of turf wars due to the profit motive of illegal drugs. To those killed or injured in police raids, and in raids based on bad tips or wrong addresses. To those who suffered painful deaths while being denied access to Medical Marijuana. To those who defy the laws to obtain their medicine of choice. To those who have contracted the AIDS / HIV virus due to the Drug Warrior mentality which discourages and criminalizes needle exchange programs. To those who died from contaminated drugs as a result of the black market. To those who died because they were denied essential support programs in order to fund the building of prisons and other prohibition enforcement structures.

While this gallery discusses known cases of law enforcement's murder of civilians, several of whom fought back in self defense, many more such incidents have occurred that have not been documented. The names and incidents of many such casualties of the Drug War will never be known.