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Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana
Reefer Madness, a classic in the annals of hemp literature, is the popular social history of marijuana use in America. Beginning with the hemp farming if George Washington, author Larry "Ratso" Sloman traces the fascinating story of our nation's love-hate relationship with the resilient weed we know as marijuana.
Herein we find antiheroes such as Allen Ginsberg, Robert Mitchum (the first Hollywood actor busted for pot), Louis Armstrong (who smoked pot every day), the Beatles, and more rapscallions standing up for, supporting, smoking, and politicizing the bounties of marijuana.
With a new afterword by Michael Simmons, who has written for Rolling Stone, LA Weekly, and High Times, on the progress of the hemp movement and the importance of medical marijuana, Reefer Madness is a classic that goes on.
Herein we find antiheroes such as Allen Ginsberg, Robert Mitchum (the first Hollywood actor busted for pot), Louis Armstrong (who smoked pot every day), the Beatles, and more rapscallions standing up for, supporting, smoking, and politicizing the bounties of marijuana.
With a new afterword by Michael Simmons, who has written for Rolling Stone, LA Weekly, and High Times, on the progress of the hemp movement and the importance of medical marijuana, Reefer Madness is a classic that goes on.
472 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 1998
21 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
About the author
Larry Sloman
18 books18 followersLarry "Ratso" Sloman is best known as Howard Stern's collaborator on what were then the two fastest selling books in publishing history, Private Parts and Miss America.
His most recent book, The Secret Life of Houdini, written with magic theorist William Kalush, was a New York Times best-seller and made international news when Houdini’s relative called for an exhumation of the dead magician’s body to test for poisoning, based on evidence of a plot against Houdini uncovered by Sloman and Kalush.
Sloman’s previous two books, Mysterious Stranger, a collaboration with the magician David Blaine, and Scar Tissue, the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Pepper lead singer Anthony Kiedis, both made the Times best-seller list. Sloman is currently working with the boxer Mike Tyson on his autobiography.
His most recent book, The Secret Life of Houdini, written with magic theorist William Kalush, was a New York Times best-seller and made international news when Houdini’s relative called for an exhumation of the dead magician’s body to test for poisoning, based on evidence of a plot against Houdini uncovered by Sloman and Kalush.
Sloman’s previous two books, Mysterious Stranger, a collaboration with the magician David Blaine, and Scar Tissue, the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Pepper lead singer Anthony Kiedis, both made the Times best-seller list. Sloman is currently working with the boxer Mike Tyson on his autobiography.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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February 3, 2015I read the same paragraph three times and decided to quit. Couldn't break page 55.
April 1, 2008
History of marijuana. Always best to get an understanding. Has interesting tidbits and what have you (i.e, George Washington cultivated this stuff!)
April 10, 2015
This is an entertaining but also truly enraging piece of American history. Sloman has been admirably thorough in detailing the recent history of this fascinating herb and the culture and law that has accrued to it. It cannot in all fairness be said that he has remained truly "objective" as he clearly has a position of his own. However, it can be said that he appears to present facts fairly and has researched the documentation and interviewed the survivors where possible.
It is entertaining because Sloman is a fairly witty writer with a measured sense of self-deprecation. I found myself liking him.
It will enrage many because of the sheer, obstinate, blood-minded nature of the establishment's determination not to see anything in cannabis that might shake its institutional prejudices and because of the catastrophic human costs to which this has led. The USA has a massively disproportionate number of the world's prison population, and most of them are in, often for shockingly long sentences, because their country chooses to criminalise their private use of psychoactive herbs.
The word "fascist" has been heavily over-used, but in that fascism inheres in the suspension of freedoms justified by manufactured fear, US drug policy and Anslinger as an individual agent quite definitely qualify. The entire history of the establishment relationship with cannabis, not just in the USA but more widely in the Western world, has been one of creating inflated and selective accounts of harm associated with cannabis use in order to confabulate an agenda for criminalisation. It seems to come down to sociological prejudice against the Yippie and Hippie movements which Sloman describes, racial prejudice against black jazz culture and a simple unwillingness to let go of an unprofitable position in which so much has already been invested. Sloman's account of this will have libertarians spitting nails. Most infuriating is that these pious suits seem to regard the law as a mere tool to engineer society the way they want it; court rulings that endorse legitimate uses of cannabis are regarded as obstacles to be got around. The legalistic piety evaporates as soon as the law itself contradicts their true agenda. These are not people that hold the law to be supreme, these are people who regard the law as a stick with which to beat a lower class of people, and if it breaks in their hand they will grab another.
Sloman drew to my attention one important detail of US Constitutional law of which I was only dimly aware. There is a hindrance to unilateral legalisation in that the USA is party to international treaties regulating traffic in certain substances. Very much to the contrary of the "we're independent and can do what we want" talk that was flying about prior to the Iraq war, Article 6 of the Constitution establishes that international treaties to which the USA is signatory are the Law of the Land, entrenched on a comparable footing to the Constitution itself. This is a major obstacle to formal legalisation of which Sloman for the first time made me, not being from the USA, aware.
I must say, as a non-American, I would have preferred a work with a less parochial remit. In all fairness, though, it does come right out and say that it covers the American history of cannabis, so I have no grounds for complaint. The later section on medical cannabis alone, and the dirty tricks campaign mounted by the state to try and get around legal rulings sanctioning it, would justify reading this book.
Comment
It is entertaining because Sloman is a fairly witty writer with a measured sense of self-deprecation. I found myself liking him.
It will enrage many because of the sheer, obstinate, blood-minded nature of the establishment's determination not to see anything in cannabis that might shake its institutional prejudices and because of the catastrophic human costs to which this has led. The USA has a massively disproportionate number of the world's prison population, and most of them are in, often for shockingly long sentences, because their country chooses to criminalise their private use of psychoactive herbs.
The word "fascist" has been heavily over-used, but in that fascism inheres in the suspension of freedoms justified by manufactured fear, US drug policy and Anslinger as an individual agent quite definitely qualify. The entire history of the establishment relationship with cannabis, not just in the USA but more widely in the Western world, has been one of creating inflated and selective accounts of harm associated with cannabis use in order to confabulate an agenda for criminalisation. It seems to come down to sociological prejudice against the Yippie and Hippie movements which Sloman describes, racial prejudice against black jazz culture and a simple unwillingness to let go of an unprofitable position in which so much has already been invested. Sloman's account of this will have libertarians spitting nails. Most infuriating is that these pious suits seem to regard the law as a mere tool to engineer society the way they want it; court rulings that endorse legitimate uses of cannabis are regarded as obstacles to be got around. The legalistic piety evaporates as soon as the law itself contradicts their true agenda. These are not people that hold the law to be supreme, these are people who regard the law as a stick with which to beat a lower class of people, and if it breaks in their hand they will grab another.
Sloman drew to my attention one important detail of US Constitutional law of which I was only dimly aware. There is a hindrance to unilateral legalisation in that the USA is party to international treaties regulating traffic in certain substances. Very much to the contrary of the "we're independent and can do what we want" talk that was flying about prior to the Iraq war, Article 6 of the Constitution establishes that international treaties to which the USA is signatory are the Law of the Land, entrenched on a comparable footing to the Constitution itself. This is a major obstacle to formal legalisation of which Sloman for the first time made me, not being from the USA, aware.
I must say, as a non-American, I would have preferred a work with a less parochial remit. In all fairness, though, it does come right out and say that it covers the American history of cannabis, so I have no grounds for complaint. The later section on medical cannabis alone, and the dirty tricks campaign mounted by the state to try and get around legal rulings sanctioning it, would justify reading this book.
Comment
February 5, 2016
This is a 400 page book which could easily have been a 200 page book. Between actual content, Sloman waxes poetic about how rad marijuana is instead of actually reporting on the facts, which is great, because I'm totally on board with that, but ultimately a huge waste of time. Regarding the actual content, it's definitely comprehensive and he manages to make the book humorous and gratifying to the fellow activist at about every other attempt to do so.
Then there's Sloman's naive attempt to slide into other issues to prove to his readership that he in fact "gets it" and know things save for marijuana activism. I'm referring of course, to the section where he makes a jab at the Palestinian Authority for *absolutely no reason*, a testament to how "well-read" he is (or, of course, how closely he lapped up some of that bullshit his rabbi told him when he was a kid). Either way, this was a minor transgression in my eyes, but one of the many ways Sloman doubles the length of an already only mildly interesting read.
Of course, there's no need to mention the fact that the book is clearly outdated, which is understandable--the afterword by Michael Simmons does a really nice job of summing up more current developments (which is also becoming outdated)
That leads me to the true gem of this book: Michael Simmons' afterword. While Sloman wallows in a transparent and rather lazy charade of "objectivity", Simmons holds no punches. He says what he means without the nauseating third party "don't use 'bad' words" style that Sloman employs. This book, without the afterword was three stars. If Simmons had written the whole thing, it would be worth six stars.
Then there's Sloman's naive attempt to slide into other issues to prove to his readership that he in fact "gets it" and know things save for marijuana activism. I'm referring of course, to the section where he makes a jab at the Palestinian Authority for *absolutely no reason*, a testament to how "well-read" he is (or, of course, how closely he lapped up some of that bullshit his rabbi told him when he was a kid). Either way, this was a minor transgression in my eyes, but one of the many ways Sloman doubles the length of an already only mildly interesting read.
Of course, there's no need to mention the fact that the book is clearly outdated, which is understandable--the afterword by Michael Simmons does a really nice job of summing up more current developments (which is also becoming outdated)
That leads me to the true gem of this book: Michael Simmons' afterword. While Sloman wallows in a transparent and rather lazy charade of "objectivity", Simmons holds no punches. He says what he means without the nauseating third party "don't use 'bad' words" style that Sloman employs. This book, without the afterword was three stars. If Simmons had written the whole thing, it would be worth six stars.
March 30, 2016
Where many other books look at the history of marijuana use in America, this book examines the history of marijuana legislation in America. The author's analysis of marijuana use comes from interviewing users that don't fit the pattern of the justifications used to create the laws. Written by a former editor of High Times, the research is extremely well-balanced. He talks to people that knew Harry Anslinger, the driving force behind the initial marijuana laws in this country, as well as people currently waging war against the drug. My edition has an epilogue written about the fight for legalization for medical use that I found fascinating. Until now, I was unaware of the actual applications of marijuana as medicine and how the movement for medical marijuana usage was galvanized in the wake of the outbreak of AIDS. An excellent read, describing the views on all sides of the marijuana issue.
November 7, 2007
This social history of the ongoing marijuana prohibition in the United States is superior, framing all sides of the debate about the legality of marijuana, the rise of the moral entrepreneaur, and the historical roots of one salient social issue in the United States. The end gets sort of fuzzy as Ratso Sloman seems to lose focus-perhaps he sampled some of the subject matter of the book? although the end was not quite the devolution as was De Quincy's ' Confessions of an Opium Earter.' I believe, although I might be wrong, that he was at one time the president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. his extended inteview case study technique could serve as a blueprint for the complete study of any of the issues that form the various nodes of America's onging culture war.
July 27, 2011
It took me forever to finish Reefer Madness. Parts of it were more interesting than others and some of it was rather dense, but overall, it's good. I liked it and there is a lot of good information in here.
I was a little confused about the fact that it's written in the third person, though. Larry "Ratso" Sloman tells everything like a huge story, which is fine, but it takes some getting used to.
I'm going to start referring to "repuke-licans" and "Marty the Marijuana mouse" in everyday life now. And "pothibition".
I was a little confused about the fact that it's written in the third person, though. Larry "Ratso" Sloman tells everything like a huge story, which is fine, but it takes some getting used to.
I'm going to start referring to "repuke-licans" and "Marty the Marijuana mouse" in everyday life now. And "pothibition".
September 5, 2010
Astonishing historical and social commentary. Didn't finish it (yet another nonfiction I abandoned) but I loved what I read.
February 20, 2009
Crazy! Life in prison for just brokering a pot sale! The guy never even saw the drugs. Great stories so far and only half way finished.
February 19, 2009
A bit too "yeah man we all do this" in tone, but has some interesting stuff in it.
November 30, 2013
Great book, read it many a times over the years
October 23, 2014
really cool book. A lot of information that I had no clue about. It's a history of Mary Jane.
January 7, 2015
Ok read
I read a couple of years ago, it starts out as a history book but turns into pot smoking stories. Like the author lost his way.
I read a couple of years ago, it starts out as a history book but turns into pot smoking stories. Like the author lost his way.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews