Waiting to Inhale - The Politics of Medical Marijuana (Paperback)

~ Alan Block (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Porsche 356, Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration has something for all 356 enthusiasts. Author Jim Kellogg covers everything an individual do-it-yourselfer needs to know to transform a rusty project car to a restored classic. The text is primarily focused for the prospective restorer unfamiliar with the nuances of the 356 Porsche and is presented in an easy-going, uncomplicated style with numerous photos. Advanced subject areas, such as major body repairs and adding a sunroof, will prove informative to those who have been around the block a couple times, as well. Topics covered include disassembly, paint & rust removal, structural & body repair, paint preparation, reassembly and final detailing. Information is also provided about locating a project car, long lead time items, reproduction vs. original parts, painter selection and project budgeting. There is even a section about swap meet etiquette! Capping it off are the most up to date chassis number listings and color charts. Even if you do not plan to take on your own carªs restoration, this book will help you understand the process and pitfalls, and is told by someone who has restored or repaired over eighty 356s in the past thirteen years. His insights and advice will assist in assessing the wisdom of embarking on the process or just knowing what to expect from the shop restoring your car.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Book Description

The second edition of this book continues the restoration of  a 356 Porsche to driver level condition. This book does not spend time or money creating the “perfect” 356, and does not necessarily search for NOS (new old stock) replacement panels if a reproduction panel or patch is appropriate; but the book strives to give you a restoration that will be correct, admired and driven. This second edition provides more detail and contains additional comments to assist those restoring a 356 which was purchased disassembled.  This second edition follows the restoration of a 1957 sunroof coupe from the time of purchase to the first drive.  Additionally, detailed comments are provided from vendors, such as media blasting, painting, and upholstery.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Seven Locks Press; 1 edition (February 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929765826
• ISBN-13: 978-0929765822
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,122,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just A High, June 2, 2002

By	Karen A. Decoster (Clinton Township, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Alan Bock, senior editorial writer for the Orange County Register, knows marijuana. Bock has covered California's medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, since the movement began in 1996. His book, Waiting to Inhale, gives its readers a smoking inside look at the forces behind the movement to give medical patients access to the legal use of marijuana.

Bock leads us through a journey that begins with his sporadic involvement covering hemp and marijuana reform issues, and centers on the campaign to pass Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Act.

In 1995, California patient-activists began the process to legalize the medical use of marijuana, and later enlisted the help of East Coast pros and big-money entrepreneurs such as George Soros. Facing opposition from just about every aspect of government, including most Federal, State, and local agencies, Proposition 215 passed, and the obstacle then became one of implementation in the face of bureaucratic and law enforcement tyranny.

The voters of California had spoken. And clearly, they decided that no drug enforcement issues should stand in the way of medical patients who found that smoking a joint -- in private, on their own property -- could bring pain relief and a better quality of life.

Immediately upon passage of the referendum, the drug war movement went into action. "Drug czar" General Barry McCaffrey threatened the arrest of doctors recommending marijuana; former czar William Bennett claimed stupidity on the part of the voting public for passing such a referendum; and the entire neocon-right asserted the for the children morality argument against "drugs".

The issue of implementation soon became a question of State's rights vs. federal usurpation of powers. Most staggering is the blatant abuse of federal powers in sustaining a block on the implementation of State laws through the use of bureaucratic and administrative procedures. In addition, the IRS promised to torment doctors prescribing marijuana while Orrin Hatch's Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings to battle the legality of the California law. Bill Clinton's bevy of antagonists included Janet Reno and Donna Shalala, both avowed leftists that clashed against their own kind; clearly, sustenance of a federal mastery over the behavior of its minions superceded a politically incorrect freedom-for-pot-smokers movement.

In continued opposition, the feds stood in the way of the use, distribution, and sale of medical marijuana. Federal controls on marijuana meant that California had passed a law but it could not be implemented by state agencies. In fact, the DEA raided medical marijuana distributors that adhered to state laws for the distribution of prescribed marijuana. Also, individuals were arrested at will for growing their own pot for their own prescribed use, which state law allowed. Therefore, the state was powerless against the feds.

Even where the feds were not present, some of the locals fought implementation, as judges and prosecutors and police made medical marijuana users favorite targets of judicial impediment. Local law enforcement was allowed to bust patient-growers, arrest doctors, and close down legal distribution centers. The problem was that the state Attorney General's office not only did not see to it that local law enforcement didn't run hog wild with a despotic harassment methodology, but rather, they stood by while these thugs broke down doors and arrested legal medicinal users.

Bock oftentimes points out that there was never much grass roots opposition standing in the way of medical marijuana consent. Everywhere there are polls on this issue, voters overwhelmingly support the use of medical marijuana. After all, most people have the ability to discern that individuals have the right to alleviate pain, even if that includes using non-typical methods not approved by the assorted government bureaucracies.

Overall, Bock does an admirable job of making the case for State's rights and the necessity for judicial decisions to uphold a legally passed state law in the face of federal resistance. However, he is almost too nice in taking up a whole lot of space to sustain the argument that smoking marijuana doesn't lead to the increased use of illicit drugs. Whether or not this is the case, the decision to ingest particular foods or smoke certain substances is one that only an individual can make, for no government can make these decisions for us without sustaining tyranny over our lives. Medical marijuana is compassionate, yes, but it is also a liberty that should not have to be decided by federal or state bureaucrats, or even our neighbors.

The outcome of this entire bloody drug war is that Americans no longer have control over their own lives. In fact, they are economically raped to provide for the bureaucrat's warfare machine. Bock quotes Thomas Szasz as saying, "the American 'war on drugs' represents merely a new variation in humanity's age-old passion to 'purge' itself of its 'impurities' by staging vast dramas of scapegoat persecutions."

Indeed, the trampling of individual rights will continue. Knowing how warped our government is in terms of its insidious War on Drugs, don't expect to legally toke anytime soon, suffering or not.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author's Introduction, May 1, 2001

By	Alan W. Bock (Santa Ana, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This is from the author, so take the stars with a grain of salt. The main story the book tells is of California's halting and inconsistent efforts to implement Prop. 215, the 1996 initiative that allows patients with a recommendation from a licensed physician to possess, use and cultivate cannabis or marijuana. Some local jurisdictions moved quickly to set up patient registration systems in cooperation with local medical marijuana activists, while other local DAs opposed the initiative so strongly that they brought prosecutions designed to show it couldn't possibly work. As an editorial writer and columnist for the Orange County Register for 20 years I followed the controversy from the inception, attending several trials and interviewing most of the principals, from two California Attorneys General to patients all over the state. Eventually I had too much information for newspaper articles so I wrote the book. It also includes chapters on the socio-political forces that led to the passage of 215, on the scientific evidence for therapeutic uses of cannabis, on the history of the medical marijuana movement from the 1970s, on initiatives in other states and disputes among activists, and on why opposition is so fierce. A chapter analyzes the federal scheduling system for controlled substances, another sets up the U.S. Supreme Court medical marijuana case (I attended the oral arguments March 28), and another features pioneers on the frontiers of medicinal marijuana.

Among those kind enough to provide endorsements for the book are John Stossel, Milton Friedman, former San Jose police chief Joe McNamara, Chapman University president James Doti, Dr. Tod Mikuriya of Berkeley, Cato Institute vice president David Boaz, Republican Rep. Tom Campbell, Democratic state Sen. John Vasconcellos, author James Bovard, Sir Eldon Griffiths, national chairman of the World Affairs Council, life extension scientists Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, and Jane Marcus, Phd, of Beth Am Women and Women of Reform Judaism. Marijuana is just a plant, one might say, but culturally and socially it is more than just a plant in modern America. If this book helps to demystify some of the issues surrounding the medicinal use of cannabis and gives patients enough information to begin a more personal inquiry into whether this medicine might help them safely it will have served its purpose.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A guide to get your hands dirty on a 356, October 13, 2005

By	Eng Jose Dias (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Porsche 356: Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration (Paperback)

It's a compreensive guide to do it yourself but in some tasks there are big steps that require a good backup from the reader to see all the picture. Has lots of important information on where to look at when buying or evaluating a 356 restoration project. I would recommend this book to everybody looking for a 356 restoration project and not necessarily in a DYI point of view.