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Connoisseur's Handbook of Marijuana
The most informative book on the subject of pot... a level-headed compendium of material of interest to sev-enty-two million law-breaking Americans... intelligent, well-illustrated information about every aspect of the Devil Weed." - Los Angelos Times... Contents; Preface; Chapter We took Bhang and the Mystery I Am he grew Some Literature of the Cannabis from several Countries; Chapter A brief ramble through the history of Hemp in various cultures; Chapter The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission' Report, Appendices I and The Report, 1893-94; Chapter Marijuana in A 'Scientific' confrontation; Chapter Botany & A complete and extraordinarily useful course; Chapter Cannabis Cookery; Chapter Further reading.
255 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 1971
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March 20, 2011
I'm a little saddened to learn through Amazon that I actually have either the 3rd or 4th edition. I also thought the book was a bit rarer but as it's not if you're intrigued, you can pick up a copy relatively easily.
Don't let the cute Freak Brothers drawings and psychedelic art fool you, the Handbook is quite dense and substantive in its content. The first section is a series of historical accounts with cannabis followed by a second section on cannabis through history. Of course, there is an Indian and Egyptian focus to these excerpts with viewpoints often limited to the British colonials, but considering the Handbook was published in 1971 these excerpts represent a great deal of research and a commitment to giving the reader a firm foundation in primary source documents.
This trust is further built upon in the third section, which recounts The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1893-94. Although the majority of this section is, again, excerpts from the body of the report, Drake also comments on how the dynamic between British (external) colonizers and Indians differs from American (internal) government regulating its own citizenry. Despite these considerations, a thoughtful reader will appreciate the depths the British went to in order to find concrete evidence of marijuana's corruptive influence. Not only did they take testimonials from citizens during court investigations, but they also cross-referenced these accounts with the trial transcripts of the criminals (when identifiable) to determine if the informers were correct about marijuana playing a part. Unsurprisingly, most cases were eliminated and the general conclusion of the report was that it was better economically (and morally) for the British to leave cannabis sale and consumption unfettered as interfering with it would cause more harm than good.
Unfortunately, the short fourth section on marijuana in America leaves the reader slightly off-kilter as the dense third section in comparison dwarfs it. There is also an odd focus on marijuana research. The reviewer believes Drake may have already seen a market full of books on the American cannabis scene, so probably didn't see a need to re-visit old history.
The fifth section leaves history entirely to focus on cultivation. The text is a blend of strong agricultural science and hippie lingo about the energy of your plants. If you can tune out the latter, there is some solid information in this section. For instance, did you know you could graft hops plants onto cannabis roots? Neither did I. There's also excellent diagrams for constructing a drying box. Finally, this section ends on the odd note of how to detect whether your grass is laced with opium (including how opium is produced) which the reviewer assumes is more of a problem in the 1970s than it is today.
Last but not least, the sixth section provides half a dozen recipes including a beverage recipe for bhang. Unfortunately, the recipes call for 1/2 oz - 2 oz of marijuana and they're Indian, so use may be rare and experimental at best. The Handbook finishes with an excellent bibliography featuring many government publications.
Don't let the cute Freak Brothers drawings and psychedelic art fool you, the Handbook is quite dense and substantive in its content. The first section is a series of historical accounts with cannabis followed by a second section on cannabis through history. Of course, there is an Indian and Egyptian focus to these excerpts with viewpoints often limited to the British colonials, but considering the Handbook was published in 1971 these excerpts represent a great deal of research and a commitment to giving the reader a firm foundation in primary source documents.
This trust is further built upon in the third section, which recounts The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1893-94. Although the majority of this section is, again, excerpts from the body of the report, Drake also comments on how the dynamic between British (external) colonizers and Indians differs from American (internal) government regulating its own citizenry. Despite these considerations, a thoughtful reader will appreciate the depths the British went to in order to find concrete evidence of marijuana's corruptive influence. Not only did they take testimonials from citizens during court investigations, but they also cross-referenced these accounts with the trial transcripts of the criminals (when identifiable) to determine if the informers were correct about marijuana playing a part. Unsurprisingly, most cases were eliminated and the general conclusion of the report was that it was better economically (and morally) for the British to leave cannabis sale and consumption unfettered as interfering with it would cause more harm than good.
Unfortunately, the short fourth section on marijuana in America leaves the reader slightly off-kilter as the dense third section in comparison dwarfs it. There is also an odd focus on marijuana research. The reviewer believes Drake may have already seen a market full of books on the American cannabis scene, so probably didn't see a need to re-visit old history.
The fifth section leaves history entirely to focus on cultivation. The text is a blend of strong agricultural science and hippie lingo about the energy of your plants. If you can tune out the latter, there is some solid information in this section. For instance, did you know you could graft hops plants onto cannabis roots? Neither did I. There's also excellent diagrams for constructing a drying box. Finally, this section ends on the odd note of how to detect whether your grass is laced with opium (including how opium is produced) which the reviewer assumes is more of a problem in the 1970s than it is today.
Last but not least, the sixth section provides half a dozen recipes including a beverage recipe for bhang. Unfortunately, the recipes call for 1/2 oz - 2 oz of marijuana and they're Indian, so use may be rare and experimental at best. The Handbook finishes with an excellent bibliography featuring many government publications.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review