Super-Charged (Uncorrected proof copy)

Marijuana has been illegal in the United States since 1937. Yet, thanks in large part to a loosely connected underground world of breeders, dealers, and smokers, there are currently more than 2000 varieties available. And since 1996, when California first passed legislation allowing for legalized medical marijuana, the underground has slowly surfaced, pushing what was once a decentralized, lawless world closer to the corporate world of business, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals.

Super-Charged gets up close and personal with the people who have transformed this controversial drug. With personalities and backgrounds as diverse as the plant itself, the growers include a former Silicon Valley software entrepreneur; third-generation Humboldt, California, growers; a publicly traded pharmaceutical company; and the famous marijuana personality Jorge Cervantes. Jim Rendon takes readers behind the scenes and into the homes and grow operations of the committed, quality-obsessed practitioners in the international underground industry responsible for creating today's super-charged cannabis.

Ironically, these pioneers who built this illegal industry may one day find themselves out of business in the face of the drug's growing mainstream acceptance. Just how this could come about is part of the incredible story.

Jim Rendon is a freelance writer who covers business, science, design, and the environment. His work has appeared in The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Fortune, Men's Journal, and other publications. He is a former staff writer for SmartMoney magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.