Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780465096169)

How earnest hippies, frightened parents, suffering patients, and other ordinary Americans went to war over marijuana

In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. In Grass Roots, historian Emily Dufton tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work.

During the 1970s, pro-pot campaigners with roots in the counterculture secured the drug's decriminalization in a dozen states. Soon, though, concerned parents began to mobilize; finding a champion in Nancy Reagan, they transformed pot into a national scourge and helped to pave the way for an aggressive war on drugs. Chastened marijuana advocates retooled their message, promoting pot as a medical necessity and eventually declaring legalization a matter of racial justice. For the moment, these activists are succeeding -- but marijuana's history suggests how swiftly another counterrevolution could unfold.

Author: Emily Dufton
ISBN-10: 0465096166
ISBN-13: 9780465096169
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 12/05/2017
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/09/2017
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2017
Booklist 12/01/2017 pg. 4