About this item
Early in the morning of September 5, 2002, camouflaged and heavily armed Drug Enforcement Administration agents descended on a terraced marijuana garden. The DEA raid on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a sanctuary for severely ill patients who were using marijuana as medicine, is the riveting opening scene in Weed Land, an up-close journalistic narrative that chronicles a transformative epoch for marijuana in America. From the 1996 passage of California's Proposition 215, the nation's first medical marijuana law, through law enforcement raids, clinical studies that revealed medical benefits for cannabis, and the emergence of a lucrative cannabis industry, Weed Land reveals the changing political, legal, economic, and social dynamics around pot.
About the Author
Peter Hecht began reporting on America's marijuana phenomenon in 2009, starting with a quixotic medical marijuana taxation vote in Oakland and continuing with coverage of pot legalization efforts and burgeoning cannabis commerce that swept California and beyond. His marijuana coverage for The Sacramento Bee was honored for explanatory reporting in the "Best of the West" journalism awards and earned an Excellence in Journalism prize from the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.Hecht has served as The Sacramento Bee's political writer and Los Angeles bureau chief. He has reported from nine countries in Latin America and trained journalists in Peru on behalf of the International Center for Journalists.Learn more about his book and current reporting at www.weedlandbook.com
