- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (7 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747548528
- ISBN-13: 978-0747548522
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,259,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #53 in Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Addiction
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Most books about Cannabis tend to fall into two camps. There are the stoned travel ramblings of the super-enthusiast. And then there are the DIY guides, available mostly in 'head shops', consisting of lovingly illustrated pamphlets showing you how to turn your upstairs toilet into a hydroponic hash farm grossing two hundred grand a year. Despite a deep-rooted affection for his subject matter, Patrick Matthews Cannabis Culture: a Journey Through Disputed Territory is about as far from the typical dope book as a hand-rubbed Nepalese temple ball is from a lump of industrial grade Moroccan. With its highly readable prose and artful mixing of historic, legal, medical, scientific and social evidence, alongside considerable chunks of personal anecdote, Cannabis Culture offers a sophisticated multi- dimensional take on the subject of the world's favourite illegal recreational drug.
Matthews makes two important contributions to the debate on Cannabis. First, as befits a wine writer (Matthews is author of the award- winning wine book The Wild Bunch: Great Wines from Small Producers), he introduces the notion of cannabis connoisseurship. Cannabis has a "set of expectations, a way of talking about the experience, the rituals of sharing joints and an idea of how to get stoned and how to behave when stoned, all of which matter," he writes.
The difference from wine is that there connoisseurship is about taste because that is where the chemical complexity lies. With cannabis the opportunity for discernment lies in the effect because it contains over 60 different psycho-active compounds. He also argues that we should develop cannabis culture, not repress it. His point being that the best way to control abuse and overuse of any drug is through ritual and the evolution of social norms, not through legislation. He points to the way that alcohol damaged American Indian culture because it had no social context. And he slates drinks firms who are "aggressively keen to demystify what they sell--stripping it in effect of the ritual which helps limit its potential for harm. "
Although this is obviously a book for enthusiasts, it will also make an invaluable and informative read for worried parents, agents of the law and legislators, all of whom tend to be hopelessly ignorant when it comes to what cockneys call "Bob Hope" (dope). --Alex Benady --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
What exactly happens when you get stoned? Why does your mouth dry up and why do you become so interested in food and sex? Why can some people work when they're stoned and others can't? What are the tobacco companies' plans for exploiting the potential legal market? How come there's so much cannabis found in prisons and how does it get there? Who brings it across national borders? "Cannabis Culture" answers all these questions and more. Thirty years after "The Times" ran an advertisement calling the law against cannabis 'immoral in principle and unworkable in practice', the drug's legalisation has become a live political and social issue. But there is surprisingly little information available on the drug: from its medicinal properties to its function as a commodity which is traded on a global scale, its role in various religions to the many ways in which it can be cultivated and its effect on the body and mind.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a work in keeping with the best traditions of travel writing, objective, unbiased and fascinating in its simplicity. The reader is guided through the world of marijuana and allowed to arrive at his or her own conclusions, there are refreshingly few value judgements, and no school of thought is judged to be beyond the pail. Patrick Mathews deserves much credit for attempting to remain impartial, and it is that objectivity which is most engaging. Not all dope smokers are part of the murky sub class of criminals that might deserve imprisonment, equally not all those opposed to the legalisation lobby are foaming at the mouth reactionaries. The reason then that so many are able to disagree so fundamentally has more to do with a lack of informed and dispassionate discussion than it does peoples intrinsic ability to disagree, for that reason if for no other Mathews attempt to present facts over opinions is to be commended. I wonder how many from each camp were forced to reconsider their pre-conceptions as a result, I'm sure I was.
I found his handling of the various conspiracy theories, which allege that hemp was prohibited due to its competing with the other industries of the day, to be concise enough. Moreover they showed a flair for historic analysis of texts which would put many mainstream historians to shame. Mathews meets and introduces the readers to a whole host of fascinating characters, and tries to demystify a subject which is so commonly too charged by opinion to discuss properly, and does a thoroughly entertaining job of it. I enjoyed it immensely and can only recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've personally read a number of good books on this subject, i must say that i found this book to be the best. Patrick Matthews has produced a piece that further extended my view on modern cannibis culture and it's place beside mainstream culture, he talked to people from many areas of the culture throughout the world, including people against cannibis. His unbiased view is evident throughout and his narration led by how he percieved his journey was, at times, highly entertaining and amusing. i found myself reading this book at every free moment, i even read it on my breaks at work. It was great to learn something new of a subject i felt i knew so much of already.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have heard much of this book, and was intrigued to find out for myself what all the hype was about. I have to say that the information contained within the book appears very comprehensive and meticulously researched, however without already possessing an in depth knowledge of the subject at hand it would be hard to quantify what is said without much further research, hence my use of the word appears. A lot of the books content comes from interviews and takes the form of direct quotation from the interviewee.
On the language of the writing I would say that this book doesn't exactly flow, the grammar is in places quite difficult to follow. I found myself reading and rereading sentences to fully understand and take them in. If you are accustomed to study and find yourself able to easily digest educational text then you will have no trouble reading this book. If on the other hand you are a reader mainly of novels you may find this book quite hard going. The book contains a huge amount of factual information that doesn't exactly inspire, but the subject matter at hand more than makes up for it.
I have to say that besides the broken nature of the book, with its factual quotations and jumpy subject matter, I was unable to put the book down and do something else if reading the book was possible at the time. I found myself reading it in queues, traffic jams and even the toilet!!
To summarise, it is my opinion that this book has a something for everybody, requires a bit of devoted reading to fully comprehend it, but gives a lot in return for the effort needed to read it properly. The book stays for the best part neutral, although to stay neutral in such a subject is damn near impossible, so it is probably better to say the book sticks to the facts and the facts speak for themselves.
Lastly this book also gives a lot of references to further essential reading for anybody who would like to extend their knowledge of this subject, and or speak on it's behalf with authority and credibility.
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