Books: Herbal Essence

Back in 2012, environmental journalist Bruce Barcott considered voting no on Initiative 502 because of his general distaste for cannabis culture and a vague fear that legalizing marijuana might make it too available to his kids. But after a bit of browbeating by a pro-legalization friend, the author of The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw did some research and discovered the startling statistics about pot-possession arrests and the extreme racial bias exhibited therein.

So he checked yes on the ballot … and wrote an engaging, informative and very funny book on the radical culture shift legal weed has wrought, both personally and politically. In Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America, Barcott traces the evolution of pot legalization in Washington and Colorado as well as the transformation of his feelings on the subject.

Beginning the journey with a slim dossier on his own cannabis history, Barcott soon meets potpreneurs, visits grow sites, talks with ballet dancers who use medical marijuana cream to loosen tight muscles, seeks out a medical marijuana card for himself, attends the Cannabis Cup, discerns a certain NIMBY pot vibe on Bainbridge Island (where he lives), investigates the dangers of edibles and becomes irritated by the Hempfest hippie culture. For the record, Barcott says he now vapes ganja a couple of times a month.