Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico's War on Drugs

by Isaac Campos

Historian Isaac Campos combines wide-ranging archival research with the latest scholarship on the social and cultural dimensions of drug-related behavior in this telling of marijuana's remarkable history in Mexico. Introduced in the sixteenth century by the Spanish, cannabis came to Mexico as an industrial fiber and symbol of European empire. But, Campos demonstrates, as it gradually spread to indigenous pharmacopoeias, then prisons and soldiers' barracks, it took on both a Mexican name--marijuana--and identity as a quintessentially "Mexican" drug. A century ago, Mexicans believed that marijuana could instantly trigger madness and violence in its users, and the drug was outlawed nationwide in 1920.

Home Grown thus traces the deep roots of the antidrug ideology and prohibitionist policies that anchor the drug-war violence that engulfs Mexico today. Campos also counters the standard narrative of modern drug wars, which casts global drug prohibition as a sort of informal American cultural colonization. Instead, he argues, Mexican ideas were the foundation for notions of "reefer madness" in the United States. This book is an indispensable guide for anyone who hopes to understand the deep and complex origins of marijuana's controversial place in North American history.

Genres: History

344 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2012

Reviews

[Joe Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are getting into the history of Cannabis this is definitely a book that needs to be on that list. Most other books ignore the history of the plant in Mexico, this book shows how the history there was foundational to the history of cannabis in the US.

[Christopher Roberdeaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just so so so so boring. Also if his point is that the war in drugs started in Mexico and not the United States then yes I can understand how that is true with what he shows , but I think he does not do a great job of that. The connection between solving his “psychoactive riddle” and Mexican drug policy is a connection that he does not make strong.

[Joey Dallow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved!

[Calvin Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will preface this review by saying ten years ago I took a class taught by the author that covered essentially how he wrote this book so I had a degree of background knowledge that I don't think most readers will have. I will also clarify I read this as a casual read in an attempt to reminisce on my own college years, not for any professional or academic sourpuss.

This book is an academic work arguing that prohibition of marijuana was not exported to Mexico by the United States, but rather a domestic process that occurred over Mexico's history and in a reciprocal process impacted U.S attitudes towards the drug and its prohibition. It is not a pop history book, but if you are interested broadly in the history of cannabis then I would recommend any reader read, at the very least, the first few chapters which offer an excellent overview of the history of marijuana, the phenomenon of reefer madness, and a theoretical framework for how to view drug use in a society beyond its pharmacological effects. If the core of the work's academic argument, or the latter chapters on the development do not interest you, the first few chapters provide more than enough reading material to justify the purchase, and after reading would provide a great coffee table book, shelf decoration, or ornament in the front room of a dispensary. Perhaps next time you have friends over to share a bong you could share the knowledge of the substance gained in the first few chapters.

As an academic work, it assumes the reader will know some basic background information on Mexican history. It will assume that the reader is familiar with Mexico's relationship with Spain during its colonial era, its tumultuous political history in the wake of independence, and the significance of the "Porfiriato" and the subsequent Mexican Revolution. For a casual reader I would recommend reading the Wikipedia page on Mexico's history to gain a brief familiarity before reading the entirety of this book. In fact, if this book had been written with a casual "pop-history" audience in mind it would likely be a hundred pages longer to explain these things and also be written at a low high school reading level. Besides this, however, the arguments are extremely easy to follow. The Author presents argument, evidence, and analysis in a clear way that is easy to follow. Chapter introductions and conclusions clearly state arguments and even in the individual paragraphs of text presented its pretty easy to find what the point of the paragraph will be and what evidence is contained within.

Overall I would say this book is a good book for some overall history of cannabis in North America. A casual reader may not enjoy this book as much as I did especially if they do not have the patience to look up words they may not understand, or concepts from the subject matter unfamiliar to them. Academics will have an easy time following the arguments, and anyone will have their views on the geopolitics of drug prohibition challenged.

[Cy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only value is as historic record. Book is a series of academic papers that stand for chapters and relies on arch language that no regular person would ever use. The book makes a compelling case for its purpose in its Conclusions but there is no compelling argument in the remaining 250 pages of writing, which lost among overly academic vocabulary and detailed research that fails to makes a point.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is insane, LOVE

[Calista Cleveland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read for class🙁