Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational and Scientific [Hardcover]

Martin A Lee (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 14, 2012

The bestselling author of Acid Dreams tells the great American pot story—a panoramic, character-driven saga that examines the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world’s most controversial plant.

Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in more than a dozen other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. Lee, an award-winning investigative journalist, draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape. By mining the plant’s rich pharmacopoeia, 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.

Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating read for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb.

Smoke Signals is the winner of the American Botanical Council's James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award for 2012

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Smoke Signals is an important, serious-minded look at the role cannabis has played in American history. He tackles the hard issues of marijuana prohibition with keen insight and righteous indignation. I agree with Lee’s central premise that our marijuana laws are draconian. Every American should read this landmark book!” (Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of Cronkite)

"A ripping read, thoroughly researched, Smoke Signals will help inform the current debate and hopefully hasten the demise of prohibition." —David Bronner, CEO, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps

"[A] well-reasoned, entertainingly written, and passionate examination of the social and culture war that surrounds the drug."—Booklist

"In this accessible and well-researched analysis, Lee offers a cultural reckoning of cannabis in its many incarnations, spanning from its first recorded utilization in 2700 B.C.E. to the present...a compelling read and an excellent source of information on the topic."—Publishers Weekly

"Smoking a doobie isn’t the worst thing a person could do...and Lee backs that thought up with social history aplenty, ranging from neolithic experiments down to the Kerouac-ian consumers of the Beat Era."—Kirkus Reviews

"Lee…imagines a bright, legal, lucrative future for weed.”—Business Week

“[E]xuberant, richly researched.” (Boston Globe)

"High but not dry...a lively and informative book.” (Detroit Metro Times)

“This is a brilliant book . . . Smoke Signals is destined to be a classic.” (Mikki Norris West Coast Leaf)

“As Martin A. Lee shows in Smoke Signals, his engaging and illuminating new history, marijuana’s contraband status is a result of historical accident, racial prejudice, xenophobia, loads of cultural baggage, and an astonishing amount of ignorance.” (Jacob Sullum, Reason)

About the Author

Martin A. Lee is the author of four books, including most recently Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational and Scientific. He is the cofounder of the media watch group FAIR and the director of Project CBD, a medical science information service. He is also the author of Acid Dreams and The Beast Reawakens, and his writing has appeared in many publications, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Magazine, Le Monde Diplomatique, Rolling Stone, The Nation, Salon.com, HuffingtonPost.com, and TheDailyBeast.com.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1 edition (August 14, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439102600
• ISBN-13: 978-1439102602
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Social Policy

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive September 29, 2012

By David F. Mcginnis

Format:Hardcover

Edit 10/1/12

I have decided to edit this review in order to remove a few merely personal remarks not germane to the text.

I found this in my library in hardcover. There is little new here barring recent research results, but it is very nice to see all the relevant material in one source. By that I mean the plant's background, the history of its use, the rise of prohibition in the U.S. and the idiocy of its continuation, have all been documented elsewhere as the (abundant) annotations show. But up until now it was necessary to go all over the place to get it.

I was a little surprised the author allowed his own feelings on the matter to show so clearly. It is billed as a 'social history of marijuana' and historians are usually pretty good at remaining objective while basing their findings on facts. One assertion presented as fact may be found on page 287 in a discussion of PTSD, "...nearly twice as many [Vietnam vets] would kill themselves after the war..." than died during the war. This really struck me. He gives no reference for this figure unfortunately so I did a little checking. Yes, there are some who make the assertion but it looks like few reliable statistical studies have been done. The VA says the mortality rate among discharged vets was about 1.5 times that of non-vets in their first five years of civilian life. I suppose from that you can extrapolate. I find it hard to accept that over 100,000 suicides have occurred nonetheless. Suicide is hard to diagnose sometimes and you could wrap in accidental deaths, drug overdoses and such to reach that huge number. I know of no one who took their own life after serving fwiw. PTSD sure is wicked if you ever get it, like my wife did after getting hit by a car.

In any case by the end of the book the author makes it perfectly clear he stands foursquare in the 'legalize' corner. That's cool with me, I feel the same way but be advised.

A question I have pondered at length, is the uncanny match between our brain chemistry and the plant's suite of chemicals which ties in with the above. Mr Lee quotes others as saying that our endocannabinoid system predates the plant. (pp211) Can we be certain of this?

The plant emerged about 30 million years ago in the Eocene. This is shown by casts of leaves in coal mines and such, whereas humanity evolved from a Miocene ape about 5 mya. The elucidation of the human endocannabinoid system is one of those recent research results and I have read nothing of this system's existence in other mammalian forms. The question is, which came first, the plant or our endo-system? Did we adapt to it or did it adapt to us? The quoted reference is itself entitled "...a hypothesis" so let us regard the question as still open.

No species loves cannabis the way humans do. I just have a hunch that sometime way way back our ancestors got involved with cannabis and a sort of co-evolution resulted in which our biochemistry adjusted itself to that of the plant's. Note that we also have an internal opioid system, the endorphins we all have heard about. It just gets curioser and curioser.

I really enjoyed the book. It took me only two or three days to go through it but I was really into it. Too bad I have to take it back, it would make a very nice reference work.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive look at pot December 18, 2012

By Terry Lee

Format:Hardcover

I have been interested in the subject since my first experience with it in the sixties, and with the recent passage of the legalizing initiatives, I decided it was worth another look. If you haven't kept up with the research on pot in the last few years, you'll likely be surprised, if not amazed, at the recent findings. The author has provided citations for many of the recent studies that reveal the beneficial effects available with the herb.

It also covers the legal aspects pretty thoroughly. Some of it triggered reactions on my part, as I was a Republican for most of the time, so I had to suck it up and agree that 'my guys' (at the time) were in large part responsible for the psychosis of the Drug War. Actually, there isn't much difference between the two parties, and I don't support either of them any more. For some, it will be an education to see what 'our government' gets up to and how flagrantly they will disregard laws, sanity, sense, and the rights we used to enjoy, in the pursuit of their obsession.

If you were around in the sixties, you should read this book.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the social history of marijuana! September 15, 2012

By GregB

Format:Hardcover

Very engaging from beginning to end...this book should anger the public with the amount of misinformation published by the government as truth. Mr Lee has done an excellent job on this project!