Too High to Fail

A humorous and informative exploration of the cannabis industry from journalist-turned-hemp farmer Doug Fine.

The nation's economy is in trouble, but one cash crop has the potential to turn it around: cannabis. ABC News reports that underground cannabis industry produces $35.8 billion in annual revenues. But, thanks to Nixon and the War on Drugs, marijuana is still synonymous with heroin on the federal level even though it has won mainstream acceptance.

Too High to Fail is an objectively (if humorously) reported account of how one plant can change the shape of our country, culturally, politically, and economically. It covers everything from a brief history of hemp to an insider's perspective on a growing season in Mendocino County, where cannabis drives 80 percent of the economy. Doug Fine follows one plant from seed to patient in the first American county to fully legalize and regulate cannabis farming. He profiles a critical issue to lawmakers, media pundits, an ordinary Americans. It is a wild ride that includes college tuitions paid with cash, cannabis-friendly sheriffs, and access to the world of the emerging legitimate, taxpaying "ganjaprenneur."

Doug Fine is a solar-powered goat herder, comedic investigative journalist, and pioneer voice in cannabis/hemp and regenerative farming. He has cultivated hemp in four US states, and his genetics are in five more. He’s an award-winning culture and climate correspondent for NPR, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among others. His books include American Hemp Farmer, Hemp Bound, Too High to Fail, Farewell, My Subaru (a Boston Globe bestseller), Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man, and First Legal Harvest, a monograph that was printed on hemp paper. His print and radio work, United Nations testimony, and TED Talk can be found at dougfine.com, and his social media handle is @organiccowboy.