Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America

Fellow drug history scholar here. This is a great book on the conflicted role of marijuana in American life and is particularly strong in capturing the period when marijuana see-sawed back and forth between acceptance and prohibition from the 70s into the present day - part of a larger pattern of cyclical drug panics throughout US history. Dufton does a great job charting the ground level activists on both sides of the issue and her initial focus on the parent's movement of the 70s and 80s is a unique contribution. Perhaps most importantly for the general reader, Dufton is an exceptional writer and the book moves at a nice brisk pace, with excellent subsequent chapters on the Just Say No era of the 1980s, the rise of medicinal marijuana, and the deeply conflicted current moment. This book is a must for anyone who wants to know more about the social and political battles over marijuana - or where US policy might go next.

Grass Roots tells the story of the past 50 years of marijuana policy in the United States. Some of the other criticisms seem valid. Perhaps there is an overemphasis on NORML, yet if more attention had been to other pro-legalization organizations, the book might have seemed more lopsided. One of its chief virtues is its attempt to maintain a balance between both sides of the debate. It is an accessible piece of academic writing, and should be read by aspiring politicians and activists. It functions as a think-piece on issue advocacy in general. In the same way that Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" as an example for future leaders and rulers, Dufton has written this book for everyone seeking to affect political change on a hot-button sub-issue. The emerging trends and truths presented here in the book's final chapter are unique to marijuana policy, yet may also serve as a guide to activists in other realms.

I believe this is a new book at a discounted price. There's not a blemish on it and the binding is not cracked. I appreciate the deal from Better World Books. The title itself is packed with fifty years of political and cultural history on marijuana. It is a well-researched and comprehensive narrative and the debate of pro- and anti- marijuana movements.

A highly readable and rigorously researched primer on the activism that has propelled marijuana and drug policy in multiple directions over the last fifty years. Dufton's discussions of the parent movement and the origins of the "Just Say No" campaign complicate the popular narrative of drug control in the 1980s, which is often presented as a simple, top-down initiative from the Reagan admin. In addition, her advice for activists (on either side) in the final chapter presents a model for how historians can and should constructively link past with present. Packed with interesting characters, events, and knowledge, Grass Roots is a must-read for anyone interested in cannabis activism or policy.

This book offers critical background knowledge, information and insight into the fight we have been waging for recreational drug use for the last 100 years. This book serves as somewhat of an instruction manual for grassroots organizations providing valuable insight and lessons learned by those who have waged this war before us. The topics covered range from politics, to religion, to kitchen table/family issues and so much more. I invite you to dig into this book and take this knowledge and share it with whoever you can.

With so much of today's consumable content (web, tv, books, etc.) being one-sided, didactic, assaults, I was a little worried that I'd be bombarded (even in a purported non-fiction 'History' book) with all the reasons why pot should be legal. Instead, I was treated to a Forrest-Gump-style journey through recent American history. Dr. Dufton skillfully weaves important moments in the various movements into the greater political and social fabric of the United States throughout the 20th and early-21st Centuries. The reader may be able to uncover a flavor of preference on the underlying issue, but both sides do seem to have balanced copy throughout the text.

A little bit detailed for me.

Emily Dufton's book is an important study of the nation's varied response to cannabis, the rise of the parent movement, and the role of policymakers in responding to panics around drugs. Anyone interested in the history of drugs, the drug war, parent mobilization, and current day decriminalization of marijuana should read!