Can Legal Weed Win?

Can Legal Weed Win?
Author: Robin Goldstein
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2022-06-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0520383265

We call it weed -- Legal vs. illegal : a market battle -- Prices get high -- We ask our data : where's the cheapest legal weed? -- California dreamin' -- Sabrina's story -- Legal weed in 2025 -- How to survive legalization -- Conclusion : five pipe dreams about legal weed.

Can Legal Weed Win?

Can Legal Weed Win?
Author: DR. ROBIN. SUMNER GOLDSTEIN (PROF. DANIEL.)
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2023-09-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0520397371

Two economists take readers on a tour of the economics of legal and illegal weed, showing where cannabis regulation has gone wrong and how it could do better. Cannabis "legalization" hasn't lived up to the hype. Across North America, investors are reeling, tax collections are below projections, and people are pointing fingers. On the business side, companies have shut down, farms have failed, workers have lost their jobs, and consumers face high prices. Why has legal weed failed to deliver on many of its promises? Can Legal Weed Win? takes on the euphoric claims with straight dope and a full dose of economic reality. This book delivers the unadulterated facts about the new legal segment of one of the world's oldest industries. In witty, accessible prose, economists Robin Goldstein and Daniel Sumner take readers on a whirlwind tour of the economic past, present, and future of legal and illegal weed. Drawing upon reams of data and their own experience working with California cannabis regulators since 2016, Goldstein and Sumner explain why many cannabis businesses and some aspects of legalization fail to measure up, while others occasionally get it right. Their stories stretch from before America's first medical weed dispensaries opened in 1996 through the short-term boom in legal consumption that happened during COVID-19 lockdowns. Can Legal Weed Win? is packed with unexpected insights about how cannabis markets can thrive, how regulators get the laws right or wrong, and what might happen to legal and illegal markets going forward.

Tell Your Children

Tell Your Children
Author: Alex Berenson
Publisher: Free Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-02-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1982103671

In “a brilliant antidote to all the…false narratives about pot” (American Thinker), an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis. Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers. But legalization has been built on myths—that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths, explaining that almost no one is in prison for marijuana; a tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used; and marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. “Alex Berenson has a reporter’s tenacity, a novelist’s imagination, and an outsider’s knack for asking intemperate questions” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker), as he ranges from the London institute that is home to the scientists who helped prove the cannabis-psychosis link to the Colorado prison where a man now serves a thirty-year sentence after eating a THC-laced candy bar and killing his wife. He sticks to the facts, and they are devastating. With the US already gripped by one drug epidemic, Tell Your Children is a “well-written treatise” (Publishers Weekly) that “takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit” (Mother Jones).

Smokescreen

Smokescreen
Author: Kevin A. Sabet
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2021-04-20
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1948677881

From the leading authority on marijuana—a man who has served as White House advisor on drugs to three different administrations and who NBC News once called “the prodigy of drug politics"—comes the remarkable and shocking exposé about how 21st century pot, today’s new and highly potent form of the drug, is on the rise, spreading rapidly across America by an industry intent on putting rising profits over public health. Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know examines the inside story behind the headlines, containing accounts from Sabet’s time in the Obama administration to stunning revelations from whistleblowers speaking out for the first time. What it finds is how the marijuana industry is running rampant without proper oversight, leaving Americans’ health seriously at risk. Included are interviews with industry insiders who reveal the hidden dangers of a product they had once worshipped. Also contained in these pages are insights from a major underground-market dealer who admits that legalization is hastening the growth of the illicit drug trade. And more to the heart of the issue are the tragic stories of those who have suffered and died as a result of marijuana use, and in many cases, as a result of its mischaracterization. Readers will learn how power brokers worked behind the scenes to market marijuana as a miracle plant in order to help it gain widespread acceptance and to set the stage for the lucrative expansion of recreational pot. The author of this compelling first-person narrative leading the national fight against the legalization of cannabis through his nonprofit, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (aka SAM) is Kevin Sabet. As a policy advisor to everyone from county health commissioners to Pope Francis, and a frequent public speaker on television, radio and through other media outlets, his analysis is consistently relied upon by those who recognize what’s at stake as marijuana lobbyists downplay the risks of massive commercialization. A book several years in the making, filled with vivid characters and informed by hundreds of interviews and scores of confidential documents, Sabet's Smokescreen lays bare the unvarnished truth about marijuana in America.

Craft Weed, with a new preface by the author

Craft Weed, with a new preface by the author
Author: Ryan Stoa
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024-04-02
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0262380587

How the future of post-legalization marijuana farming can be sustainable, local, and artisanal. What will the marijuana industry look like as legalization spreads? Will corporations sweep in and create Big Marijuana, flooding the market with mass-produced weed? Or will marijuana agriculture stay true to its roots in family farming, and reflect a sustainable, local, and artisanal ethic? In Craft Weed, Ryan Stoa argues that the future of the marijuana industry should be powered by small farms—that its model should be more craft beer than Anheuser-Busch. To make his case for craft weed, Stoa interviews veteran and novice marijuana growers, politicians, activists, and investors. He provides a history of marijuana farming and its post-hippie resurgence in the United States. He reports on the amazing adaptability of the cannabis plant and its genetic gifts, the legalization movement, regulatory efforts, the tradeoffs of indoor versus outdoor farms, and the environmental impacts of marijuana agriculture. To protect and promote small farmers and their communities, Stoa proposes a Marijuana Appellation system, modeled after the wine industry, which would provide a certified designation of origin to local crops. A sustainable, local, and artisanal farming model is not an inevitable future for the marijuana industry, but Craft Weed makes clear that marijuana legalization has the potential to revitalize rural communities and the American family farm. As the era of marijuana prohibition comes to an end, now is the time to think about what kind of marijuana industry and marijuana agriculture we want. Craft Weed will help us plan for a future that is almost here.

Marijuana is Safer

Marijuana is Safer
Author: Steve Fox
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1603585117

In 2012, voters in Colorado shocked the political establishment by making the use of marijuana legal for anyone in the state twenty-one years of age or older. In the wake of that unprecedented victory, nationally recognized marijuana-policy experts Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert revisit the "Marijuana Is Safer" message that contributed to the campaign’s success--as the first edition of this book predicted it would in 2009. In this updated and expanded edition, the authors include a new chapter on the victory in Colorado and updates on a growing mountain of research that supports their position. Through an objective examination of marijuana and alcohol, and the laws and social practices that steer people toward the latter, the authors pose a simple yet rarely considered question: Why do we punish adults who make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol? For those unfamiliar with marijuana, Marijuana Is Safer provides an introduction to the cannabis plant and its effects on the user, and debunks some of the government's most frequently cited marijuana myths. More importantly, for the millions of Americans who want to advance the cause of marijuana policy reform--or simply want to defend their own personal, safer choice--this book provides the talking points and detailed information needed to make persuasive arguments to friends, family, coworkers, elected officials and, of course, future voters.

Smoke Signals

Smoke Signals
Author: Martin A. Lee
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2013-08-13
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1439102619

In this book the author, an investigative journalist, traces the social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in an ongoing culture war. He describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, Californians voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in several other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. The author draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape: medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. This book is an examination of the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.

Higher Etiquette

Higher Etiquette
Author: Lizzie Post
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2019-03-26
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0399582398

Emily Post has gone to pot. As we enter the dawn of a new "post-prohibition" era, the stigma surrounding cannabis use is fading, and the conversation about what it means to get high is changing. When it comes to being a respectful, thoughtful, and responsible consumer of pot, there is a lot you need to know. In Higher Etiquette, Lizzie Post--great-great granddaughter of Emily Post and co-president of America's most respected etiquette brand--explores and celebrates the wide world of legalized weed. Combining cannabis culture's long-established norms with the Emily Post Institute's tried-and-true principles, this book covers the social issues surrounding pot today, such as: How to bring it to a dinner party or give it as a gift Why eating it is different from inhaling it How to respectfully use it as a guest Why different strains affect you in different ways How to be behave at a dispensary How to tackle pot faux pas such as "canoed" joints and "lawn-mowed" bowls This handy guide also provides a primer on the diverse array of cannabis products and methods of use, illuminating the many convenient and accessible options available to everyone from experienced users to newbies and the canna-curious. Informative, charming, and stylishly illustrated, this buzzworthy book will make the ultimate lit addition to your stash.

The Brain on Cannabis

The Brain on Cannabis
Author: Rebecca Siegel
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0806540877

For more than 25 years, the renowned Amen Clinics has been a front line resource for brain health . . . NOW theY TACKLE all your questions about how marijuana affects your brain—and the brain of your child. Since marijuana became legal in many states, people of all ages are using it for pain relief and treatment of a variety of illnesses and ailments. But is it safe? In this comprehensive book, renowned psychiatrist and licensed prescriber of medical marijuana Dr. Rebecca Siegel delivers the most complete guide yet about the benefits and risks of using marijuana today. Based on the latest scientific research, this easy-to-read book busts all the myths and helps you navigate the sometimes confusing and often-changing world of marijuana. Within these pages you’ll discover a wealth of invaluable information, including: • Why medical marijuana is vastly different than CBD and recreational marijuana—especially when it comes to children and teenagers • Evidence-based information on how cannabis is being used to treat an array of ailments and conditions • The difference between various marijuana delivery systems, including edibles • Why marijuana-induced psychosis has risen 450% among current pot users, resulting in increases of depression and suicide • How to talk to teens or young adults about recreational marijuana use in a way that brings you closer • How marijuana affects mood, productivity, and overall brain health • Long-term vs. short-term risks for teens, adults, and older adults With a foreword by renowned psychiatrist and brain health expert Dr. Daniel Amen, The Brain on Cannabis reveals everything you ever wanted to know about marijuana so you can make informed decisions for yourself—and your loved ones.

Marijuanamerica

Marijuanamerica
Author: Alfred Ryan Nerz
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-04-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1613124708

“A delightfully weird . . . journey that includes crazed pharmacists, a guy named Buddha Cheese, and an interstate road trip with a trunk full of pot.” —A. J. Jacobs, New York Times–bestselling author Alfred Ryan Nerz is a Yale-educated author, journalist, and TV producer. He’s also a longtime marijuana enthusiast who has made it his mission to better understand America’s long-standing love-hate relationship with our favorite (sometimes) illegal drug. His cross-country investigation started out sensibly enough: taking classes at a cannabis college, hanging out with a man who gets three hundred pre-rolled joints per month from the federal government, and visiting the world’s largest medical marijuana dispensary. But his journey took an unexpected turn and he found himself embedded with one of the largest growers and dealers on the West Coast. He quickly transformed into an underworld apprentice—surrounded by pit bulls, exotic drugs, beanbags full of cash, and trunks full of weed. But while struggling to navigate the eccentric characters and rampant paranoia of the black market, he maintained enough equanimity to explore a number of vital questions: Is marijuana hurting or helping us? How is it affecting our lungs, our brains, and our ambitions? Is it truly addictive, and if so, are too many of us dependent on it? Should we legalize it? Does he need to quit? As entertaining as it is illuminating, Marijuanamerica is one man’s attempt to humanize the myriad hot-button topics surrounding the nation’s obsession with weed, while learning something about himself along the way. “These wacky accounts rival T.C. Boyle’s fine novel Budding Prospects in showing the highly misguided paranoia that can be cured—or accentuated—by consumption of the marijuana plant’s sticky blossoms.” —Pasatiempo