Marijuana

From "Reefer Madness" to legal purchase at the corner store With long-time legal and social barriers to marijuana falling across much of the United States, the time has come for an accessible and informative look at attitudes toward the dried byproduct of Cannabis sativa. Marijuana: A Short History profiles the politics and policies concerning the five-leaf plant in the United States and around the world.

John Hudak is deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management and a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is also author of Presidential Pork: White House Influence over the Distribution of Federal Grants (Brookings).

Contents: Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: A Weed by Any Other Name 1. Cannabis as Plant and Product Part II: The Government Steps In 2. Early Regulation and a New (Drug) Deal 3. Marijuana as an Enemy, Foreign and Domestic 4. Richard Nixon Fires the Opening Shots in the War on Drugs 5. Prosecuting the War on Drugs 6. Ronald Reagan Opens New Theaters in the War on Drugs Part III: Pot, the Public, and the Powerful 7. Demographics and Death Reshape Views on Marijuana 8. Cannabis Use as a Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous Part IV: Marijuana Reform Blossoms into Public Policy 9. Decriminalization as the First Retreat from Prohibition 10. Ganja Gridlock: The Failures of Federal Reform 11. The Fight for Medical Marijuana 12. Recreational Marijuana Sprouts in the West Part V: The Future of Marijuana 13. Racial Justice and the Future of Marijuana Reform 14. Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Legalization Notes Index