So despite a history of puritanism ranging from New England proclamations to recent Drug War legislation, our very American idiom seems directly related to our love of a good buzz. Unfortunately, one recent contribution to this history leaves the reader feeling that any significant exploration has been reduced to a giggle, a wink, an anecdote. What a drag. Yet, it's not so cool once the reader realizes that beyond the funky fonts, beneath the vast factoid lists of often too-quirky historical tidbits, and behind the reeking sincerity of the author, there's a lack of substance. But in his constant quipping of the light fantastic, he tends to gloss over some very important information and implication.
Conspiracy theorists have other ideas.
Others suggest that the government was moving to protect the interests of a few large companies who made wood, paper, and plastic products that competed with hemp. But you can't help but feel that Rubin has ripped you off. There's an important, critically aware book to be written about marijuana, one that, unlike Offbeat Marijuana , avoids tendencies to popularize in the most superficial sense the issues, histories, and economies at hand and doesn't reduce the image of these ecstatic experiences to simple Dead Head silliness. In any case, Offbeat Marijuana makes wonderful reading for those seeking coffee-table trivia. Plus, in a pinch, you can always roll up with the pages.