Marijuana: A Love Story

Derrick Jensen and Tony Silvaggio

Paperback
978-1-954744-55-4
US $22.00 Amazon
eBook available
March 2022

"Marijuana: A Love Story is many things: a unique book about a unique plant, a clear analysis of what has gone wrong with legalization and how to fix it, a wild look at the quirky culture that has grown up around it, and a love song not only to this plant but to all of evolution." -Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth and Bright Green Lies

Marijuana legalization-that long-deferred dream of stoners everywhere-is overtaking the nation. No longer will people be imprisoned for decades for possession of a plant. No longer will patients be denied marijuana needed for medical treatment. Even folks who just want to get high will have easy, safe access.

But for many that dream has become a nightmare. Legalization has achieved one thing: the wholesale handover of marijuana to a few large corporations. In state after state, the wealth-building capacity of this extraordinary plant is now concentrating into the control of the already rich. From seed to smoke, legalization is eroding the lives and livelihoods of the people it was supposed to help: the patients, growers, trimmers, "mules," and activists who created the colorful and committed culture that is now under threat.

We can end the war on weed without turning it into a war on small family growers-but it will depend on how much pressure we are willing to apply to force law makers to serve local communities rather than corporate interests. Marijuana: A Love Story is a report from the front, a reminder of how and why we fell in love with this plant, a cautionary tale of corporate power, and a call to once more "Free the Sacred Herb."

Derrick Jensen is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Bright Green Lies, A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame. He is also a teacher, activist, and small farmer, and was named the "poet-philosopher of the ecological movement" by Democracy Now! In 2008, he was chosen as one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" and won the Eric Hoffer Award. He is a cofounder of the organization Deep Green Resistance. Jensen has written for the New York Times Magazine, Audubon Magazine, and The Sun, and was a columnist at Orion Magazine. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University and a BS degree in mineral engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines, and has taught creative writing at Eastern Washington University and Pelican Bay State Prison. He lives in Northern California on a property frequented by bears.

Tony Silvaggio is an associate professor of Sociology at Humboldt State University and founding faculty member of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research. His research focuses on understanding the environmental consequences of cannabis prohibition and the limits of state-level legalization efforts, identifying the ways in which legalization efforts continue to facilitate environmental degradation. One of the first scholars in the United States to sound the alarm about the ecological impacts of industrial cannabis agriculture, he organized the Earth Day Symposium on Marijuana and the Environment (2013), which brought together cannabis cultivators, policymakers, land managers, tribal leaders, law enforcement, and environmentalists to examine the environmental impacts of industrial cannabis agriculture. His most recent work can be found in, Where There's Smoke: The Environmental Science, Public Policy, and Politics of Marijuana (2018). His research has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, and The Nation.

“As a grandmother in the movement, I am increasingly concerned that the space for small farmers and businesses is shrinking in the face of big corporations and corporate profits. Jensen’s and Silvaggio’s book explains what is happening in the cannabis space, why it is important to protect legacy producers, and what we need to do to keep the dream alive. A must read.” —Madeline Martinez, NORML Board of Directors; NORML Women’s Alliance Chair; Executive Director, Oregon NORML; owner-founder of the World Famous Cannabis Café

“Marijuana: A Love Story reminds us of what first motivated our calls for cannabis legalization—awe and love of the plant itself and the honest desire to use marijuana without being arrested.” —Constance Bumgarner Gee, author of Higher Education: Marijuana at the Mansion

“Marijuana: A Love Story is many things: a unique book about a unique plant, a clear analysis of what has gone wrong with legalization and how to fix it, a wild look at the quirky culture that has grown up around it, and a love song not only to this plant but to all of evolution.” —Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth and Bright Green Lies

“Marijuana: A Love Story reads like your best marijuana trip: funny, friendly, relaxing. Stories, jokes, and deep thoughts rise up then recede, intertwine and coalesce into a coherent experience. After reading this book, you’ll feel, like Jimi Hendrix sang, not necessarily stoned, but beautiful.” — C. O. Greene, a Humboldt County grower who must remain anonymous, because she’s still growing, still underground, still resisting government and corporate control of her beloved plant