Cannabis Culture: A Journey Through Disputed Territory - Softcover

Matthews, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747548528 ISBN 13: 9780747548522

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Over the last 30 years, millions of people have come in contact with cannabis, but there is surprisingly little information available that examines the drug as a whole—its medicinal properties, its function as a commodity traded on a global scale, its role in religion, the many ways it can be cultivated, and its effect on body and mind. In Cannabis Culture, journalist Patrick Matthews finds that researchers have unraveled the complexities of the plant, uncovering in the process much of the chemistry of our minds and emotions. In addition to scientists, Matthews meets a colorful mix of characters—connoisseurs, criminals, and cultivators—who together make up the new cannabis culture.

About this title

From the Publisher

A provocative yet crisply readable and soberly researched examination of the international pro-marijuana scene -- well-suited to clear the smoke of American drug hysteria. Matthews, a highly regarded wine writer and television producer, utilizes a broad narrative canvas, covering such diverse aspects as the agricultural prominence of cannabis crops in regions ranging from Appalachia to Afghanistan, recent advocacy for industrial hemp and for "Medi-Pot," user rituals and purchasing etiquette, and the law enforcement fluctuations in response to this most popular of illicit substances.

From the Inside Flap

To some it's the holy herb, the healer of the nations, the potential saviour of the planet, banned because of a conspiracy involving J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. the petrochemical industry and the yellow press. Others still see it as the deceptive weed that underminded Arab civilisation. For millions in the west it's no longer even controversial: legalized for many patients under American state laws, tolerated in Holland, openly planted in hundreds of acres of the Swiss Alps.

But what do we really know about cannabis ? Why does it make people stoned? Does it kill off brain cells ? Why do different kinds of weed have different effects ? Is the talk about medical applications genuine, or just a scam to get it legalized ? Patrick Matthews returns to the Rizla-strewn world he knew before becoming an award-winning wine writer and finds that researchers have unravelled the complexities of this plant, uncovering in the process much of the chemistry of our minds and emotions. And as well as scientists he meets a rich mixture of characters -- the connoisseurs, criminals and cultivators, both in Britain and the Third World, who are members of our new Cannabis Culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0747548528
• ISBN 13: 9780747548522
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254