Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market by Eric Schlosser

Jan 12, 2009 Brandon T. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sociologists, Those interested in American culture

Eric Schlosser has made a name for himself by probing behind the scenes of popular American phenomena. He became famous for Fast Food Nation, which was later turned into a film.

Schlosser's subject matter may trend towards the pop world, but his cross of investigative journalism and postmodernist sociology is both fresh and informative. It is obvious that he takes his material as seriously as any professional observer, and the reader reaps the reward of his work in the form of a much clearer unde...more

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Jan 26, 2008 Belarius rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Potheads, Pornhounds, and Migrant Workers

Shelves: nonfiction-finished, politics, reviewed

Eric Schlosser, the grade-a muckraker whose widely read Fast Food Nation catapulted him to fame, returns with Reefer Madness, dedicated to nothing less than examining the underbelly of America's black market. Through three distinct essays (dealing with marijuana, migrant workers, and pornography), he examines the history, underlying economics, policy effects, and future directions of products and services that America can neither seem to abstain from nor openly embrace.

Reefer Madness is a diffic...more Eric Schlosser, the grade-a muckraker whose widely read Fast Food Nation catapulted him to fame, returns with Reefer Madness, dedicated to nothing less than examining the underbelly of America's black market. Through three distinct essays (dealing with marijuana, migrant workers, and pornography), he examines the history, underlying economics, policy effects, and future directions of products and services that America can neither seem to abstain from nor openly embrace.

Reefer Madness is a difficult book to review because, in practice, it's actually three completely distinct essays, tied together at the front and the back. The essays have markedly different style and tone, making a comprehensive review challenging. So, I will take the easier route: briefly reviewing each section. The book's overall score is the average, weighted to how long each essay is.

Reefer Madness: 74/100

Schlosser's first foray into the world of the underground economy deals with the vast disparity between the harshness of marijuana prohibition and its apparent popularity. Heavy on both the legal history and status quo, Schlosser's peerless research shines, giving an unvarnished account of how pot is grown, distributed, prosecuted, and proselytized. He interviews people on both the smoking and the busting ends of the spectrum, and makes a convincing case that pot is, by income, the most profitable cash crop in the country, above corn (a position advocated by some long-time federal investigators, among others).

His final conclusions are that (a) the chemical and psychological dangers of marijuana are likely far lower than those of alcohol and nicotine, (b) proper research into marijuana's properties is being systematically discouraged to keep it classifies as being higher-risk than cocaine or PCP, (c) draconian enforcement has led to America's staggering incarceration rate (which has unduly criminalized that inmate population and destroyed both lives and families), and (d) that a system of taxation and regulation would more effectively solve America's pot-related problems than the utter failure that is the War on Drugs. He makes a solid (if somewhat dry) case for these points, backed up by considerable evidence.

In The Strawberry Fields: 62/100

The weakest essay of the three, Schlosser's examination of the hardships of Mexican strawberry pickers in southern California suffers from an all-too-common affliction in nonfiction: irrelevance. The investigative punch of this section is largely weakened by immigration having, since the book's publication, become the new "hot" issue for American conservatives, which has led many of Schlosser's assertions to become widely known. To his credit, his treatment of the issue does a fair job of both humanizing migrants and of explaining the pressures on growers to use migrants, giving the reasons for poor labor conditions without demonizing or forgiving unnecessarily. The historical angle of the story is also a welcome addition, one rarely heard in today's rhetorical war. Still, the essay is too short and isn't an eye-opener. Schlosser could have done much better.

An Empire Of The Obscene: 86/100

Despite the book's title, it is the third section that is both the longest and most engaging of the three. Schlosser brilliantly weds a comprehensive examination of porn's move from underground to mainstream with the legacy of an almost unknown figure who, by all accounts, essentially controlled pornography distribution for over 30 years: Reuben Sturman. Schlosser's high-density, high-quality research alone would provide much the same interesting tone as in the first essay, but combined with the rise and fall of Reuben Sturman it becomes electric and intensely personal.

Despite its lengthy exposition and its mere 103-page length, the story of Reuben Sturman could easily be an HBO TV series on par with the best serial television ever produced. The story is so incredible it can be hard to believe, with Sturman and his rival Richard Rosfelder (of the IRS) spending decades locking horns with great victories and defeats. The story has a femme fatal, a prison break, money laundering of the highest caliber, the Mob, and explosions. From his first run-in with the law in 1963 to his eventual death in 1997, Sturman waged a personal war on the U.S. government, and it's fascinating stuff.

Perhaps Schlosser's strength in this section stems from his detachment to its outcome. Unlike the first two essays, which have a prescriptive tone, hard-core porn is essentially a done deal in America. While a "war on porn" has been pushed by the Bush administration, a conflict Schlosser anticipates but had not yet had a chance to see emerge, he (rightly) treats it as a futile battle: porn and prudes locked horns for decades, and porn won. As a result, Schlosser spends very little time telling us how things ought to be and can focus on telling us how it was.
Final Overview

Throughout, Schlosser's research is staggering. The endnotes and bibliography make up over 20% of the book, and Schlosser cites just about every fact he asserts, a sadly waning practice in non-fiction. This helps to make his more eye-popping assertions even more striking. It's clear throughout that he isn't making any of this stuff up. Truth is stranger than fiction, and Schlosser is determined to uncover the truths about areas of American living and business that many people would rather not examine at all (in fiction or otherwise). Though it lacks the powerful, life-changing punch of Fast Food Nation, this is nevertheless an excellent book that every adult American should read. (less)

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Mar 02, 2013 Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is divided into 3 parts, the common link being black market economics, politics and social implications of weed, farm labor and porn. The porn section was by far the most interesting, covering the fascinating life of porn kind Reuben Sturman, the Godfather of American porn long before the emergence of Playboy and today's current incarnations. Incredibly well-researched, and a fascinating study of a man who started from nothing, from when "porn" barely existed up to the modern era when...more

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Jan 23, 2008 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

(written 6-03)

This was a collection of three essays, one about marijuana law, one about immigrant strawberry pickers, and one about the porn industry. I had already read the first one, found it on the internet, and liked it. The other two were just as insightful and I agree with Schlosser on all points - that the black market is too large to be ignored, that marijuana should be decriminalized, that corporations need to be regulated and the market cannot be trusted to serve the best interests of...more

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Nov 07, 2007 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reefer Madness is a collection of 3 extended essays about the underground market in America for marijuana, migrant workers, and pornography. The author has focused primarily on the economic aspects of the underground. The topics themselves are quite interesting. Reading about the strict laws against marijuana use are both frightening and mind-boggling. How can consuming something as harmless as a joint warrant a harsher sentence than what is often handed out to murderers or other violent crimina...more

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Jul 02, 2007 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: hypocrites

Shelves: booksofthepast

This book proves how bloody hypocritical the American government is (as if anyone doubted it already). An in-depth look at three of the US's most productive underground industries (pornography, illegal immigrant labor, and the marijuana trade), "Reefer Madness" details the ridiculousness with which the US government approaches the processes that make up ten percent of the country's total business. Judging by sales, Americans love pot and porn, but live in a country that has law about them that a...more

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Jul 10, 2007 Randy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: keithharris@gmail.com

I read and enjoyed Fast Food Nation several years ago. This book is by the same author, Eric Schlosser.

None of the detail or commentary in this book is original, but it is put together in a compelling package and in a manor that makes you think about how some of the laws and prejudices that we have in place are that way, and it just may make you think to question that.

There is a quote in the ending narration of the book that talked about what Freedom means, and it said that if you are going to b...more

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Nov 25, 2007 Pantea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another book on CD I listened to on the way to work - it was really fascinating... lots and lots of info on the taboo topics of the US underground trades of drugs, sex and illegal workers. I liked how the main focus was on the economic and legal impact of each of these issues and not so much on the morality surrounding it (although the laws are often impacted by that!). The author spent a lot of time on the drug trade (almost exclusively about marijuana use/sale) and way too much time on the sex...more

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Mar 22, 2007 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: consumers, pornographers

Many of the themes in "Fast Food Nation" return here, particularly in the section on migrant labor: Reading it, you quickly become aware of the corner into which our economy has backed itself. As is the case with the fast-food industry, the low costs we take for granted are only possible at the expense of the workers who produce these products. The section on pot is particularly disturbing as well; among other things, it's yet another reminder of what a disaster mandatory minimum sentencing laws...more

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Jun 14, 2007 Rogelio Garcia rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: yeppers.

Actually, I listened to this book on tape--one winter as I drove to Hell Paso from SLC--it's a 15 cassette book, perfect for the dry silent Utah dessert. Most painful and anger producing was the long detailed story about the guy who got 50 plus years in prison for introducing two of his friends to one another. The two friends sold/bought some gange from one another and six months later the friend who introduced them was put in prison--this being his third strike. Made me paranoid--so paranoid th...more

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Jul 26, 2007 Michael Hildrum rated it 3 of 5 stars

I normally really like books written with views that strongly correlate to my views. However this one was just mediocre.

It is really a collection of three essays by Schlosser.

Marijuana, illegal migrant workers, and pornography are the topics.

Marijuana is the best, as it presents some sort of viewpoint about marijuana laws and punishments. Pornography is the worst, as it jumps around in time and subject from one porn guy to another, and basically just seemed like a jumbled biography of Reuben St...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Frederick Bingham rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is really three essays with a common theme, the underground economy.The first one talks about illegal drugs and the drug laws. Specifically, it talks about marijuana. It is one of the most lucrative crops in the country, grown widely in every region. The essay talks about some growers in the midwest. It goes in detail about the nation's drug laws, which are incredibly irrational and counterproductive.The second essay, the weakest one in my opinion, is about illegal immigration and farming....more

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Jan 19, 2013 David Sarkies rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

By the author of Fast Food Nation, this book contains three case studies each dealing with an area of the black market in America, namely marijuana, immigrant workers in the strawberry fields on California, and the hard core porn industry. As one can expect from Schlosser, it is a thoroughly researched and objective view of these industries, and does not necessarily try to reach some left wing conspiratorial conclusion.
Basically there are lots of books on marijuana in the United States and the...more By the author of Fast Food Nation, this book contains three case studies each dealing with an area of the black market in America, namely marijuana, immigrant workers in the strawberry fields on California, and the hard core porn industry. As one can expect from Schlosser, it is a thoroughly researched and objective view of these industries, and does not necessarily try to reach some left wing conspiratorial conclusion.
Basically there are lots of books on marijuana in the United States and the nature of the war on drugs. Being an Australian where possession of small amounts (up to three ounces in some places) is pretty much a misdemeanor that results in a small fine, it is difficult to understand the nature of the war on drugs. In a way the war itself is scary, because it has been suggested that if you are caught with even one joint in the United States you can be classified as a dealer, locked up, and have all of your possessions confiscated, even before you have been convicted. In a way I believe that this is a really heavy handed approach, particularly since the laws date back to the 1930s, where Dupont pushed for the criminalisation of marijuana so that it could dominate the textile industry.
Another argument is also that since it is only recently that marijuana has become a popular anglo-saxon drug (up until the sixties, marijuana was predominantly a Mexican pleasure, and its narcotic purposes were only used in cure-all potions made by chemists, who in those days, did not necessarily need a license to practice). Unfortunately, it is very difficult to access anything these days on the history of drugs and drug use since many of these documentaries are generally not made. In a way, it feels as if marijuana did not exists prior to the sixties, and that modern drugs such as meth-amphetamine did not exist until the late 90s (which is not true because Hitler used it during World War II and also apparently fed it to his troops).
It appears however that this book is about the black market and how the market influences all of our lives and how in a way we are all exposed to it, whether we smoke pot, or rent dodgy videos from those dodgy video stores that have no windows. This is where the second case study comes into play and that is in regards to illegal immigrants. Schlosser looks particularly are strawberry growers, but this applies to a lot of industries across the United States (and while it happens in Australia, the fact that we do not have any land borders with poorer nations, we have a lot less illegal immigrants than do the United States). The reason illegal immigrants are so popular is because the laws do not apply to them, so they can be paid under the minimum wage, which means more profits for the corporation, and that they are not restricted by the unfair dismissal laws.
While the section on the porn industry also applies to the black market as well, much of this has more to do with the freedom of speech amendment than it has to do with the black market (even though while they industry was fighting the obscenity laws the profits coming from the porn industry were effectively apart of the black market). Mind you this section surprised me because I was expecting it to deal with Hugh Heffner or Larry Flynt, but they barely made a mention in this section. I guess the reason is that we are dealing not with what is termed as soft porn (if there is such a thing) but rather with hard core pornography. Mind you, porn has been around as long as there have been people willing to pay for it (even though before photography, we had to pay for live shows, and then we might as well go to a brothel). (less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Kater Cheek rated it 3 of 5 stars

Schlosser wrote FAST FOOD NATION, which I felt was well researched but lacked consistent writing. I figured he might be a better writer by now, so I picked up REEFER MADNESS, the unfortunately named book that is not strictly about marijuana so much as it's about underground economies.

The book is divided into three sections, the first of which deals with marijuana. You could write a book entirely about marijuana cultivation in the US, and many people have. Schlosser touches a little on the absurd...more Schlosser wrote FAST FOOD NATION, which I felt was well researched but lacked consistent writing. I figured he might be a better writer by now, so I picked up REEFER MADNESS, the unfortunately named book that is not strictly about marijuana so much as it's about underground economies.

The book is divided into three sections, the first of which deals with marijuana. You could write a book entirely about marijuana cultivation in the US, and many people have. Schlosser touches a little on the absurdity of the drug war, a subject that riles me up like few others do. Schlosser, like me, believes that the war on drugs is a senseless waste of blood and treasure that destroys lives far in excess of the drugs that big government seeks to protect us from. The ones who profit are drug dealers, the law who steal property in forfeitures, and the people who build and staff prisons to house these non-violent offenders.

I had a hard time listening to the first section. Even though I don't do drugs and don't know anyone who's been affected by our asinine drug war, denying civil liberties and wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money to defend someone else's arbitrary moral code makes me very sad. I stuck it out, however, and listened to the next section, which is about illegal immigrants.

The section about illegal immigrants focuses mainly on strawberry pickers in the central valley of California. It talks about the poor working conditions of the illegal immigrants who migrate north every year from Mexico looking for work. He briefly touches on the history of agriculture in California, and its historical dependence on a low-paid "peasantry" to subsidize fruit, vegetables, and other cash crops.

While I would have liked to hear more about the history of agriculture, Schlosser delved into this subject more deeply than other books I've read, so I found it informative. He deals with this subject objectively, discussing the costs and benefits of illegal immigrant serfdom from the point of view of growers and workers alike. It's a complex issue, and he treats it as such. In the end of the book, Schlosser does give his opinion on what should be done RE: illegal immigration, but during this section he maintains objectivity.

The third section is by far the longest, dealing with the port industry. I don't watch porn, and know very little about the industry, so its history was completely unknown to me. I didn't realize the extent to which obscenity laws curtailed pornographic or erotic images, and how much they fueled censorship and the war against contraception. He delves into the career or Ruben Sturman, who was the leading figure in the porn industry for most of the twentieth century, finally brought down int he 90s by a tax evasion suit. I found myself rooting for Sturman, and indignant at the cocky young IRS agent who devoted his life to bringing him in, like some twisted Javert dedicated to destroying Jean Valjean. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not. I usually have little sympathy for tax evaders, but I also get indignant at a government that tells me I'll be irrevocably harmed if I'm able to watch naughty movies.

I found the third section the least interesting, not because of its subject, but because of its length. The sections are not 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, but 1/4, 1/4, 1/2. I learned some interesting things about the sex industry, but the long, complicated discussions of the legal battle against Ruben Sturman went on too long. Schlosser made pot, migrant labor, and porn interesting, but he couldn't do the same with tax evasion and laundering.

I recommend this book for people who are interested in political theory.(less)

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Jun 16, 2012 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
310 pages
© 2003 Eric Schlosser

What do pornography, marijuana, and migrant labor have in common? They're all factors in an underground economy, a vast web of cash-heavy transactions barred (or limited) by laws and social mores, but which generate substantial wealth for those willing to risk criminality. Reefer Madness contains thre seperate exposes on these subjects by the author of Fast Food Nation, followed by a conclusion...more Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
310 pages
© 2003 Eric Schlosser

What do pornography, marijuana, and migrant labor have in common? They're all factors in an underground economy, a vast web of cash-heavy transactions barred (or limited) by laws and social mores, but which generate substantial wealth for those willing to risk criminality. Reefer Madness contains thre seperate exposes on these subjects by the author of Fast Food Nation, followed by a conclusion which attempts to tie them together and glean some general lessons about the black market. Although the three don't quite fit together as well as Schlosser might hope, each piece is well worth considering on its own, pointed as well as entertaining.

Although "An Empire of the Obscene" is something of an oddity (pornography isn't illegal), the preceding sections ("Reefer Madness" and "In the Strawberty Fields") address subject alive and well in American politics today. All three mix colorful history and contemporary exposition which reveal both fascinating trivia and lessons about the specific subjects and the black market in general. The underground economy is not marginal, and its size should concern us not because of potential tax revenues lost by corrupt porn kings like Reuben Sturman, but because they fundamentally alter the rules that everyone else plays by. The use of undocumented workers in California, for instance, keeps food prices artifically low and stifles innovation by allowing companies to be dependent on cheap labor, just as the American south stagnated based on its use of slave labor. Considering the conditions migrant workers are forced to live in, the comparison to slavery is most apt. Despite the long-term consequences of allowing this behavior to go on -- tolerating it because it keeps food cheap -- the US government's attitude toward companies that seek out migrant labor is far too lenient. In other cases, the government is far too heavy-handed. This is the case with marijuana; Schlosser covers our bizaare obsession with it, which far exceed the concern the facts would merit we have. In what other nation can a person receive a lighter sentence for murder than selling a largely harmless drug? Considering the US's economic woes, decriminalizing the drug would go a long way in freeing up police and prison resources that could be better used elsewhere.

Schlosser believes that a study of the black market can teach us about the market in general -- and namely, impart the lesson that Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' is not always one of providence. It is one, in fact, that can lead to great abuses (like exploitation of migrant labor). What they excel in providing us outside the bounds of the law tells us secrets about ourselves; that we have a 'deep psychosis' regarding marijuana, for instance, and that Puritanical rejection of sexuality is out of line with human nature. Reefer Madness is a call for sensibly-informed moderation, although it misses one point certainly worth mentioning, that foolish laws, or the lack of laws when they are crucially needed, saps the public's respect for law in general.

Choice quotations:

We have been told for years to bow down before 'the market'. We have placed our faith in the laws of supply and demand. What has been forgotten, or ignored, is that the market rewards only efficiency. Every other human value gets in its way. [...] No deity that man have ever worshiped is more ruthless and more hollow than the free market unchecked. [...]

p. 108

Black markets will always be with us. But they will recede in importance when our public morality is consistent with our private one. The underground is a good measure of the progress and health of nations. When much is wrong, much needs to be hidden.

p. 221

Related:
Off the Books: the Underground Economy of the Urban Poor, Sudhir Venkatesh
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser(less)

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Dec 04, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book about Marijuana policy embedded into the context of the history and mainstream emergence/tolerance of Pornography and immigrant labor issues, specifically within the realm of Cali strawberry farms. Or, perhaps, it’s an equal and parallel treatment of all three issues. Either way this was a quite interesting read.

Schlosser, of Fast Food and meat industry shenanigans exposé fame, provides an overview of these three areas - with their Black Market machinations - in an attempt to expo...more This is a book about Marijuana policy embedded into the context of the history and mainstream emergence/tolerance of Pornography and immigrant labor issues, specifically within the realm of Cali strawberry farms. Or, perhaps, it’s an equal and parallel treatment of all three issues. Either way this was a quite interesting read.

Schlosser, of Fast Food and meat industry shenanigans exposé fame, provides an overview of these three areas - with their Black Market machinations - in an attempt to expose these as important and contentious US phenomena. I don’t know that the three segments always directly interrelate, but all of this receives a high level of consideration by the author.

The Porn portion is perhaps the most interesting (well, aside from the often bizarre imbalances in drug penalties versus murder, rape, and other arguably more heinous crimes. Murder gets you 11 years and 4 months on average whereas some states mandate life for certain quantities of weed involved!) The emergence of the prerecorded sex industry is interesting in many ways - the initial viability of VHS and, later, the Internet can be almost fully credited to the Republican-majority led skin flicks industry. Porn and all that is not admittedly high - or even on - my list of general interests so perhaps this was simply the section that I found most informative. I’ve already read about the exploits of the slaughterhouse / meat packing industries via Schlosser, Sinclair, et. al. so the sorry state of labor-relations in the strawberry fields wasn’t unexpected or surprising. Also the specificity or limited scope of this in relation to a more comprehensive history of porn’s rise (so to speak) makes the dirty movies/mags overview more engaging. It’s hard to top the legalistic absurdities inherent in such observations as, “Although an eighteen-year-old woman cannot legally purchase a beer in Southern California, she can be paid a few hundred dollars to screw half a dozen men in a porn film without breaking any law.” Indeed. One area that I think received too limited attention - though I think it was broached - is the fact that sex-for-money on film (that is then available to be seen by the masses) is legal but sex-for-money in some Chevy in an alley (where typically only the John and “vendor” are exposed to it) is illegal. Is it just me - that’s messed up right?

Anyway, the pot-specific part is also packed with great information and ridiculous inconsistencies such as the predictable scenarios where Governmentally embedded anti-drug/harsh penalty proponents get their kid off the hook when he/she gets busted. The comeback kid Newt G. introduced a bill as early as 1981 to legalize medicinal marijuana. Then, fifteen years later, sponsored life-sentence marijuana legislation! Plenty of fun facts abound - the first American drug law outlined that every household was required to grow marijuana in my home colony!

It’s not a simple issue obviously - Schlosser seems to stay neutral though logically you can assume he stands on one side of the divide - but the wanton disparities in how this is handled state-by-state and over time is mind-boggling. For the more cynical set, the innumerable absurdities that have plagued all three topics might make you think we operate on some Dark Ages judicial system where the vagaries of crystal-ball feedback determines everyone’s fate. Perhaps all judges are controlled by strings wielded by those Kardashian broads - one of whom Peter Sagal recently speculated got divorced in order to “keep working as the leading stain on our national honor.”
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Apr 18, 2011 Audrey rated it 3 of 5 stars

So I was hoping for something along the Botany of Desire meets Freakamonics. But I have to say this guy is just not a good writer. I couldn't finish his Fast Food Nation. (This book I did finish but I'm not sure if it counts since 50% of the book was acknowlegements......) Anyway, the 3 stories are very interesting topics - the underground economies around marijuana, pornography and migrant labor. And since I read the book I have really thought a lot on the topics. If this guy wrote like Michael...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is essentially 3 books in one which I give an average of 3 stars. The first component of the book focuses on the U.S. marijuana underground. It is heavy on the legal cases, but this is necessary to demonstrate the madness of our judicial system that will give harsher punishment to someone caught with a joint than guilty of a violent crime. It was also enlightening to learn about the enormous underground here in the U.S. Silly me, I though most of our marijuana came from Mexico. The second p...more

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May 11, 2010 Dennis Littrell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime

Schlosser, Eric. Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market (2003) *****
Journalism as social criticism--or vice versa

There are three long, but very well-written essays in this book, portions of which previously appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone and the US News and World Report.

The first, the title essay, is on the marijuana business in the United States with a concentration on the "killer weed's" legal history, its economics and how it is cultivated to...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Justyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In Reefer Madness, Eric Schlosser thoroughly examines the vast underground economy in the United States. The book is made up of three essays discussing marijuana in the black market, illegal immigration/cheap labor, and the porn industry.

Throughout his essay on marijuana, I like how Schlosser doesn’t just state statistics, but actually goes into detail on the topic. He explains overly-harsh penalties for marijuana dealers, growers, and smokers with real life facts and examples. This is shown wh...more In Reefer Madness, Eric Schlosser thoroughly examines the vast underground economy in the United States. The book is made up of three essays discussing marijuana in the black market, illegal immigration/cheap labor, and the porn industry.

Throughout his essay on marijuana, I like how Schlosser doesn’t just state statistics, but actually goes into detail on the topic. He explains overly-harsh penalties for marijuana dealers, growers, and smokers with real life facts and examples. This is shown when he tells the story of a man named Mark Young. Young lived in Indiana where the average sentence of a convicted rape crime is eight years. He became the middleman in a marijuana grow operation, introducing two growers to a place to grow and buyers. The men, Claude Atkinson and Ernest Montgomery, began their grow operation and gave Young $100 for every pound they sold. Eventually they got caught through a federal raid of one of their houses and found Young’s name in a briefcase. Young couldn’t talk as he had no information that the other men wouldn’t provide, and he received life in prison without parole for conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana in a quantity in excess of 1,000 plants. This part of the book was the most interesting to me because of the actual examples and the seriousness. He included facts such as 3 million Americans smoke marijuana on a daily basis, which really kept the 64 pages enjoyable. I liked Schlosser’s point of view on the issue, although he didn’t include many negatives of marijuana smoking or decriminalization.

The second essay in Reefer Madness was labeled “In the Strawberry Fields.” Although the shortest part of the book, I also found it to be the most boring. Illegal Immigration isn’t something that I am interested in and enthusiastic about but I gave the essay a chance. Schlosser takes a different view in this essay, going after the bosses who hire illegal immigrants and the system of illegal immigration itself, not the government as in his other essays. It basically talks about immigrants from Mexico and other bordering countries working for under our minimum wage with nothing new brought to the table, reiterating information that is widely already known and uninteresting.

The last essay in Reefer Madness is titled “An Empire of the Obscene.” This essay was definitely very interesting all the way through although it was the longest. It focused around a man by the name of Rueben Sturman, who was a huge figure in the porn industry up until the 90’s. It goes through his business, how he kept in the shadows. He hired Canadians to run his stores and smaller businesses, taking some of the profits from the peep shows and booths that he placed throughout the United States. He became a multi-millionaire through the porn industry, and evaded his taxes through offshore and foreign bank accounts under pseudonyms. Eventually it caught up to him and, after many court cases, he decided to ease out of the business, shredding documents and handing over companies to trusted friends and business partners. Schlosser throws in many interesting facts in this section such as the fact that the VHS became popular through porn because when it first came out no movie producers were using them.

Overall, I liked this book. It got a little boring through some parts as essays aren’t my favorite things to read, but this book was filled with a lot of information that got me to look further into information that I found interesting and it is definitely a must read if this is your type of book.
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May 18, 2012 Alexandria Baca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Warning: The title of this book is a bit more risqué than its content.

Eric Schlosser explores pot, porn and illegal immigrants in his 2003 book, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. The book, comprising three essays, is part historical, part narrative and part story.

I had high hopes for this book: It was a New York Times bestseller, and Schlosser had previously found success as the author of Fast Food Nation. But I wasn't impressed with the whole package.

Ea...more Warning: The title of this book is a bit more risqué than its content.

Eric Schlosser explores pot, porn and illegal immigrants in his 2003 book, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. The book, comprising three essays, is part historical, part narrative and part story.

I had high hopes for this book: It was a New York Times bestseller, and Schlosser had previously found success as the author of Fast Food Nation. But I wasn't impressed with the whole package.

Each essay was interesting and easy-to-read, an unlikely feat for arguments tracing the history of the criminalization of marijuana, the undocumented workers who work California's strawberry fields and the rise of the adult entertainment industry. Each essay could have been its own book, and in the end, I wasn't quite sure why the topics were grouped together.

Each industry is part of the underground economy in America, but the essays touched on just a small aspect of each. I would've preferred to have read three separate books in Schlosser's writing style. And furthermore, the essays varied too much in-depth. The essay on illegal immigration was about 35 pages, while the porn industry — focused mostly on the story of Reuben Sturman — occupied about 100 pages. Certainly, there's a lot to say about both subjects, so why the discrepancy?

Schlosser's arguments were compelling, thanks in part to his in-depth reporting and humanizing of each industry. His conversational tone lends simplicity to otherwise, often complicated and controversial topics. His most compelling essay, also the book's namesake, argues for the decriminalization of marijuana and offers historical, geographical and legal context on the issue. His focus on marijuana crops in the Midwest provides an interesting, too-close-to-home angle. I've recently marked a couple of books to read about drugs in the American Midwest, which seems to be a growing problem and one I've heard mentioned a couple of times since I moved to Missouri.
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May 05, 2011 kate added it

I had been meaning to read this book since it came out, so when I found it recommended at the back of my economics text, it gave me an excuse to pick it up. The marijuana chapter held no surprises - as a vancouverite, the insanity of pot laws is familiar territory.

However, the middle chapter - about migrant labour in california agriculture - split open the immigration reality in america. there are whole industries in the united states economically dependent upon the reality of illegal immigrant...more I had been meaning to read this book since it came out, so when I found it recommended at the back of my economics text, it gave me an excuse to pick it up. The marijuana chapter held no surprises - as a vancouverite, the insanity of pot laws is familiar territory.

However, the middle chapter - about migrant labour in california agriculture - split open the immigration reality in america. there are whole industries in the united states economically dependent upon the reality of illegal immigrants providing dirt cheap migrant labour. Which is why so many conservative politicians in california look the other way when passing laws that allow this to continue. The immigration "debate" is a lot like the drug "debate". A debate without facts or history - based in hysteria and dishonestee. I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed, but, of course, I am.

And the last chapter is about the rise of pornography in america. again, pornography is a political issue in vancouver as well, what makes it across the border sometimes depends upon the politics of the viewer.

But I learned some fascinating things about the creation of america's porn empire, including the story of mr.reuben sturman - american folk hero of sorts. Mr. Sturman began porn as big business in america and as a result, he is an interesting study of a) law enforcement harassment techniques out to destroy you no matter how dirty they need to play b) how to fight the authorities on every legal front you can and sometimes win for the greater good even when selling dirty stories.

quote:

"as Gay Talese noted in 'Thy Neighbour's Wife" it was the publishers of sex pulps [including such titles as 'Sex life of a Cop'] - and not mainstream literary publishers in [elitist] New York - who won freedom of expression for America's novelists."

The obscenity test developed by the Supreme Court arose from attempted porn prosecutions - the same test that liberated Ginsberg, Lawrence, Whitman, Tolstoy and Shaw. An informative chapter about how freedom can be won and by whom. In this case, unromantically - a smut peddler from Cleveland, Ohio.

I enjoy books like this because I am tired of being sold platitudes by programs that please their sponsors and repeat beck, palin and talking points ad nauseum. Those people aren't finding solutions because they aren't really talking about problems in real terms.
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Aug 24, 2011 Nathan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is 3 investigative reporting stories under a single cover. The central theme is the failed prohibition of Marijuana, Mexican labor in the US, and Obscenity.

The Reefer Madness section is good, but contains no new information vs movies like Hemp Revolution or High.

The Mexican Farm Labor story centers around Strawberries in California. The laws and legal dodges surrounding farm labor have changed enough this decade that this is more historical than topical.

The Obscenity Laws question center...more

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Dec 16, 2008 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was somewhat disappointing after the first section. The section on illegal immigration focused almost entirely on strawberry farmers. That was fine as far as it went (and I don't know that I'll ever buy strawberries again). I was expecting a more broad description of the labor "underground" - and perhaps hoping for a further exploration of the illegal labor market in house cleaning and yards. Those are the places that regular Americans most encounter illegals and I think would have been mor...more This was somewhat disappointing after the first section. The section on illegal immigration focused almost entirely on strawberry farmers. That was fine as far as it went (and I don't know that I'll ever buy strawberries again). I was expecting a more broad description of the labor "underground" - and perhaps hoping for a further exploration of the illegal labor market in house cleaning and yards. Those are the places that regular Americans most encounter illegals and I think would have been more interesting than farm policy. But we're talking here about my expectations - he just wrote a different book (with a narrower focus) than I was wanting.

The third section, on the pornography trade, went completely off the tracks of what was sold, in my opinion. Once again, what he wrote was interesting but it didn't really give much information about the pornography business. The majority of the section was spent on Reuben Sturman, who was the "king of porn" for most of the latter half of the 20th century. Rather than using Sturman as a jumping off point to describe the porn industry, Schlosser gives us a "true crime" style story. He goes into great detail on Sturman's tax-evasions and the IRS and FBI attempts to catch him for one thing or another. Schlosser glosses over and gives small details on some of the things that would have highlighted the porn industry (why do women get into it, who were the customers, etc.) in favor of the Sturman story. While a story of Swiss banks and FBI forensic accounting can be interesting (and a general topic of tax cheats in America would even somewhat fit the overall theme of the book), it wasn't a description of the specific portion of the underground economy (porn) being discussed. The Phil Harvey story was very interesting and was exactly what the Sturman story should have been - a description of one of the major industry figures whose story is told to flesh out the overall topic but doesn't take it over.

It was an interesting book overall and I liked reading it, but I think it could have been better.(less)

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Nov 24, 2008 Charlie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: radical-politics

What suprised me was to learn that the lion's share of domestic marijuana is being produced in the agricultural midwest and that places like northern California and Hawaii are just fringe markets maintained by the weed connoisseurs. The other thing that suprised me (and as one of the reviewers here mentions this was a first class piece of investigative journalism with thorough citations of source material) that there was but one bull headed capitalist who fought the powers that be for decades to...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Gloria rated it 3 of 5 stars

The marijuana chapter was pretty fascinating (especially since I was on my way to Humboldt County, which is ground zero of the weed-based economy). The strawberry chapter made me feel guilty but enlightened (though not as much new there). I found the porn section - the longest in the book - surprisingly the most boring. Which may be part of Schlosser's point; porn has become just another commodity, traded without judgement or excitement by big businessmen (and a few women).

Lots of interesting o...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Lou rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: social-history, non-fiction

Eric Schlosser is one great writer. Having said that, the title of this book is a bit of a misnomer.

I came to this book thinking it was going to be about Marijuana and it's role in American society, which it is to a certain degree, particularly in terms of America's relationship to this drug in the past 40 years and the underground society it has engendered. However, the book is in three sections with the second section about strawberry farming in California and how a whole underground immigrant...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Kevin Rayfield rated it 4 of 5 stars

While not as focused and impactful as Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation", "Reefer Madness" is still quite startling and rich in narrative. It's divided into three distinct sections, each focusing on one black market trade in America (Pot, Illegal Labor, and Porn) with one final section tying them all together. Each one tends to follow one individuals story while throwing in a ton of factoids and related history which gives the whole thing a really human and involving feel, thus avoiding becoming som...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Patrick McCoy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Eric Schlosser’s Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market is every bit as interesting as his excellent and informative previous book Fast Food Nation. The first section “Reefer Madness” looks at the underground economy of marijuana. It underscores the ridiculous mandatory sentencing drug laws that keep non-violent, low-level drug dealers in jail longer than murderers, rapists, and child molesters. Just another holdover form the overzealous Regan administration’s “...more

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Oct 20, 2010 Mike Moskos rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book

This is a great book on the underground economy in marijuana, farms, and porn.

To give you a taste both of this book and his writing, here is my favorite paragraph from the section on farm workers, "Driving back to my motel that night, I thought about the people of Orange County, one of the richest counties in the nation--big on family values, yet bankrupt from financial speculation, unwilling to raise taxes to pay for their own children's education, unwilling to pay off their debts, whining abo...more

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