Edited sentence: " Characters also refer to it as "reefer," though they always describe the joints as cigarettes." Inhaling marijuana smoke initially makes King lethargic and he loses all sense of time -- something that continues throughout the story as he thinks several days have gone by despite it being the same night; his murder of Eleanor is prompted by his insistence that a half hour has passed since she ordered room service, when in fact it was only five minutes." King's lethargy soon turns to hallucinations and paranoia, which causes him to embark upon his murder spree.Detective Spillane appears throughout the story as a competent officer who is simply one step behind King, and genuinely wants to help him.However the rest of the police force does not fare so well.King and his friends also experience munchies which causes Bill to raid the ranch's kitchen for food; King later notes that "the hempseeds create a false, insatiable appetite.Likewise, the officer King shoots was attempting to purchase an illegal numbers ticket from the owner of the candy store.Peculiarly, Woolrich has the ranch operate as a buffet, with each visitor paying a cover charge in exchange for an unlimited amount of marijuana.The "ranch" operates similarly to a speakeasy -- the proprietor bribes local police officers, visitors leave their cars several blocks away so as not to draw attention to the ranch, and a bouncer guards the door, inspecting each person through a peephole before letting them enter.The term "ranch" is Woolrich's own invention, derived from the slang term for marijuana, "grass.Though King and his friends are all middle class, they travel to Hell's Kitchen, an area that had been a center for bootleggers during Prohibition.When the two officers arrive at the ranch, the proprietor lets them in without making any effort to hide the illicit behavior inside, indicating that the officers are on the take.Woolrich's depiction of marijuana is in keeping with popular views of the time which saw the drug as causing "insanity, criminality, and death