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 the Paperback edition.

Book Description
To some it's the Holy Herb, the Healer of the Nations, the potential saviour of the planet, banned because of a conspiracy involving J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, the petrochemical industry and the yellow press. Others still see it as the Deceptive Weed that undermined Arab civilisation. For millions of others in the West it's no longer even controversial: legalised for many patients under American state laws, tolerated in Holland, openly planted in hundreds of acres of Swiss Alps.

But what do we really know about cannabis ? Why does it make you stoned ? Does it kill off brain cells ? Why do different kinds of weed have different effects ? Is it addictive ? Is the talk about medical applications genuine, or just a scam to get it legalized ? Patrick Matthews returns to the Rizla-strewn world he knew before becoming an award-winning wine writer and finds that researchers have unravelled the complexities of this plant, uncovering in the process much of the chemistry of our minds and emotions. And as well as scientists he meets a rich mixture of characters -- the connoisseurs, criminals and cultivators, both here and in the Third World, who together make up our new Cannabis Culture.

Synopsis
In encountering other cultures, Europeans have had their lives transformed by new plants, as staple foods, recreation or medicine. Cannabis is now as almost as established as the potato, the coffee bean or the opium poppy -- but is still intensely controversial. This book records the state of the debate, with sections on Holland, Morocco and the United States, and argues that weed is now an important symbol of Britain's multi-racial culture. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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