In Weed the People (Time Home Entertainment, $27.95), former Seattle Weekly writer/editor Bruce Barcott describes a personal transformation common among people who never imagined they’d see a system of licensed and taxed legal marijuana. After almost voting against Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana in Washington—he worried about the rise of drugged driving and the prospect of kids having increased access—Barcott ends up becoming a medical marijuana patient, attending the Cannabis Cup and Hempfest, and calmly sharing a joint with sources in the alley behind an art gallery. In between, he weaves a rudimentary history of the war on drugs and the campaigns for legalization in Washington and Colorado, threaded with predictable observations about the a-changing times and tired jokes about stoners getting “the munchies.”
To be fair, the book serves as an accessible primer for those who haven’t been paying close attention…
