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Super-Charged: How Outlaws, Hippies, and Scientists Reinvented Marijuana
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.
- GenresNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2012
6 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 6, 2012
What?! There's super-charged cannabis out there and no one told me?!
August 6, 2015
I enjoyed this book and specifically learning about the difference between the THC and CBD cannabinoids more thoroughly. The strain of Sour Tsunami was interesting to discover, as it does not get you high but it has the benefits of making you feel good. This would be great for physical ailments while still staying with it in your head. Potentially good for work, school, and other environments.
Jim mostly goes into medical marijuana, dispensaries, and the future of the cannabis. He brings up a good point about how the closer we get to legalization and when and if we get there, the people producing marijuana right now might be out of business. It makes sense because as soon as you monopolize something or the government controls it, the whole industry changes. You can even see this in small ways with alcohol in just Canada alone - in Ontario everything is sold through the LCBO and the Beer Store (and some wine stores at grocers such as Sobeys and Zehrs), but in provinces such as Alberta, alcohol is sold privately and in many, many locations, and there is a big difference in the products sold and the culture around purchasing these products.
Some favorite quotes/points:
The San Francisco Medical Cannabis Cup, is a celebration of all things cannabis. This event competes with Hempcon, the Kush Expo, the Colorado Cannabis Convention, THC Expose, and the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo, to name a few. Like many of these events, the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Cup is part trade show, part conference, and part pot smoker's paradise.
Some have told me that GW is the Monsanto of cannabis. They fear that it will monopolize the plant, tie up strains with legal barriers, making it illegal for others to grow their high-THC and high-CBD strains. They worry that the company plans to take medical marijuana away from the decentralized network of underground growers and breeders and place it firmly in the hands of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company.
Activists have used studies by GW to bolster their own claims for marijuana's effectiveness. And GW is not pleased. The company has asked organizations to stop quoting its studies. There is no relationship between a joint and Sativex. "I can see why there are connections but there is a very different process we go through. The whole point of modern medicine has been to try to safeguard patients."
Those cannabinoids are then extracted under high pressure using liquid carbon dioxide. GW actually uses a machine that once made extracts from hops - the cannabis plant's nearest relative. What results is a dark viscous liquid of very concentrated THC or CBD - about 70% pure. That liquid is then refined. At the end the extracts are combined with ethanol, propylene glycol, & peppermint oil to help mask the bitterness.
Once the cannabis is dried and the stems are removed, the leaves and buds are packed up into boxes and moved across the parking lot to another single-story brick building where it is processed into Sativex. THC and CND strains are kept separate until the very end of the process. The marijuana is minced into a fine powder and then heated to activate the cannabinoids.
GW grows its marijuana in a large, high-ceiling greenhouse. (...) The plants here are grown in soil and GW does not use pesticides. Instead it uses eight types of insects that are benign to the cannabis plants to control the population of pests that infest and feed on cannabis, an approach called integrated pest management.
However, the company (GW Pharmaceuticals) was never able to breed a plant with equally high levels of both compounds. So Sativex is made from extracts from two different strains, one high in THC and one high in CBD.
... where it turns dried cannabis into its siblingual spray, Sativex. As of the end of 2011 the drug was approved to treate muscle spasms associated with MS in Canada, the UK, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and New Zealand, and cancer pain in Canada. Sativex's main active ingredients are THC and CBD - about a one-to-one mix of the two cannabinoids.
"It turned into something else completely. You smoke it and you can never get high on this shit, but you feel great, really centered." It did wonders for his back. Now I can smoke a big fatty and not get high, but there is no back pain. It's pretty cool." He called it Sour Tsunami.
In 2002, Ringo began trying to breed a strain of marijuana that would help him with his chronic back pain. He began with a Sour Diesel (...) crossed with Ferrari (...) then crossed that plant with his Sour Diesel pollen. "It turned into something else completely. You smoke it and you can never get high on this shit, but you feel great, really centered." It did wonders for his back.
Jim mostly goes into medical marijuana, dispensaries, and the future of the cannabis. He brings up a good point about how the closer we get to legalization and when and if we get there, the people producing marijuana right now might be out of business. It makes sense because as soon as you monopolize something or the government controls it, the whole industry changes. You can even see this in small ways with alcohol in just Canada alone - in Ontario everything is sold through the LCBO and the Beer Store (and some wine stores at grocers such as Sobeys and Zehrs), but in provinces such as Alberta, alcohol is sold privately and in many, many locations, and there is a big difference in the products sold and the culture around purchasing these products.
Some favorite quotes/points:
The San Francisco Medical Cannabis Cup, is a celebration of all things cannabis. This event competes with Hempcon, the Kush Expo, the Colorado Cannabis Convention, THC Expose, and the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo, to name a few. Like many of these events, the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Cup is part trade show, part conference, and part pot smoker's paradise.
Some have told me that GW is the Monsanto of cannabis. They fear that it will monopolize the plant, tie up strains with legal barriers, making it illegal for others to grow their high-THC and high-CBD strains. They worry that the company plans to take medical marijuana away from the decentralized network of underground growers and breeders and place it firmly in the hands of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company.
Activists have used studies by GW to bolster their own claims for marijuana's effectiveness. And GW is not pleased. The company has asked organizations to stop quoting its studies. There is no relationship between a joint and Sativex. "I can see why there are connections but there is a very different process we go through. The whole point of modern medicine has been to try to safeguard patients."
Those cannabinoids are then extracted under high pressure using liquid carbon dioxide. GW actually uses a machine that once made extracts from hops - the cannabis plant's nearest relative. What results is a dark viscous liquid of very concentrated THC or CBD - about 70% pure. That liquid is then refined. At the end the extracts are combined with ethanol, propylene glycol, & peppermint oil to help mask the bitterness.
Once the cannabis is dried and the stems are removed, the leaves and buds are packed up into boxes and moved across the parking lot to another single-story brick building where it is processed into Sativex. THC and CND strains are kept separate until the very end of the process. The marijuana is minced into a fine powder and then heated to activate the cannabinoids.
GW grows its marijuana in a large, high-ceiling greenhouse. (...) The plants here are grown in soil and GW does not use pesticides. Instead it uses eight types of insects that are benign to the cannabis plants to control the population of pests that infest and feed on cannabis, an approach called integrated pest management.
However, the company (GW Pharmaceuticals) was never able to breed a plant with equally high levels of both compounds. So Sativex is made from extracts from two different strains, one high in THC and one high in CBD.
... where it turns dried cannabis into its siblingual spray, Sativex. As of the end of 2011 the drug was approved to treate muscle spasms associated with MS in Canada, the UK, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and New Zealand, and cancer pain in Canada. Sativex's main active ingredients are THC and CBD - about a one-to-one mix of the two cannabinoids.
"It turned into something else completely. You smoke it and you can never get high on this shit, but you feel great, really centered." It did wonders for his back. Now I can smoke a big fatty and not get high, but there is no back pain. It's pretty cool." He called it Sour Tsunami.
In 2002, Ringo began trying to breed a strain of marijuana that would help him with his chronic back pain. He began with a Sour Diesel (...) crossed with Ferrari (...) then crossed that plant with his Sour Diesel pollen. "It turned into something else completely. You smoke it and you can never get high on this shit, but you feel great, really centered." It did wonders for his back.
July 31, 2019
This book reads a little like a documentary, which is in no way a bad thing. Jim Rendon talks to several people who grow marijuana for a living, several of whom had grown before legalization measures had started taking effect. Through the book he discusses the history of marijuana from the 60's onward, about what started the pro-marijuana movement. From the hippies who first started growing in a back-to-roots movement, all the way to pharmaceutical companies who have begun cultivation for medication. He discusses the elements that have lead to Cannabis growing into the plant that we know it as today, through generations of people learning through trial and error. He talks about each person in a very personal way, telling their story very well. He does this without taking any bias, although despite this, this book has a very pro stance. I really loved reading this book. If the history and culture of marijuana cultivation interests you, this book will prove to fill that niche. I got this at my local library, but enjoyed it so much I'll be ordering my own copy sometime this month.
May 5, 2013
Since the plant may very well see broad legalization in the next few years, it seemed a good time to learn more about it. But this book is too dry and too repetitive to have been hugely useful. And it's very narrowly focused on growing in a small area. Some clever tricks and interesting folks in that area, but the stories just skate across the surface, and nobody really stands out.
Still, I leaned a few things about the lack of genetic diversity in food supply. And it will be very interesting to see what laws do about cultivation, and how people react. A few years after legalization, will people be buying perfectly uniform cigarettes from multinationals? Will there be boutiques, like local brewpubs? Will people grow their own, like they do with tomatoes and peppers now, just for fun or to stay close to the land?
The value of this book may be that in 15 years people can look back and see want people thought during a time when views and laws were going through massive change.
Still, I leaned a few things about the lack of genetic diversity in food supply. And it will be very interesting to see what laws do about cultivation, and how people react. A few years after legalization, will people be buying perfectly uniform cigarettes from multinationals? Will there be boutiques, like local brewpubs? Will people grow their own, like they do with tomatoes and peppers now, just for fun or to stay close to the land?
The value of this book may be that in 15 years people can look back and see want people thought during a time when views and laws were going through massive change.
January 5, 2015
Overall this book was an easy, high-level overview of the history of marijuana in the United States and did a good job touching on the legal and cultural changes that put marijuana where it is today. I also enjoyed learning about the physical properties of marijuana and how it is bred and selected through the growing process. There were too many tangents about individual growers' personal experience with marijuana for my taste, the the lower ranking. I would have preferred a deeper look at how medical marijuana dispensaries operate and hear more about the difficulties that the industry is facing (like not being able to accept credit cards payments).
I think this book could benefit from an update now that medical is legal in more states and that recreation is legalized in Colorado Washington.
I think this book could benefit from an update now that medical is legal in more states and that recreation is legalized in Colorado Washington.
August 30, 2013
Super-Charged is a more clinical version of the similarly-themed Pot, Inc.
While this book was certainly informative about the medical marijuana industry and its suppliers (these growers would put heirloom tomato yuppies to shame), it was also quite dry and the writing style was rather dull and lifeless.
While this book was certainly informative about the medical marijuana industry and its suppliers (these growers would put heirloom tomato yuppies to shame), it was also quite dry and the writing style was rather dull and lifeless.
January 18, 2013
A good read, a bit repetitive, but well written and very informative. Its an in depth look at California's industry.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews