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The legalization of marijuana is the next great reversal of history. Perhaps the most demonized substance in America, scientifically known as Cannabis sativa, simply a very fast growing herb, thrived underground as the nation's most popular illegal drug. Now the tide has shifted: In 1996 California passed the nation's first medical marijuana law, which allowed patients to grow it and use it with a doctor's permission. By 2010, twenty states and the District of Columbia had adopted medical pot laws. In 2012 Colorado and Washington state passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana for adults age 21 and older.The magnitude of the change in America's relationship to marijuana can't be measured in only economic or social terms: There are deeper shifts going on here - cultural realignments, social adjustments, and financial adjustments.



About the Author

Bruce Barcott

Bruce Barcott is a Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction and an award-winning author who writes about science, the environment, and the outdoor world. His new book, Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America,will be published by Time Books in April 2015. For the past 15 years Barcott's science and environmental writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Outside Magazine, and other national publications. His previous books include The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw; The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier; and Northwest Passages. He lives on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, with his wife, author Claire Dederer.



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