GUIDE TO WEED LAND
Website: www.weedlandbook.com
Email for Peter Hecht: [email protected]
Telephone: 916-955-4430, cell; 916-326-5539, office
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
Weed Land, Inside America’s Marijuana Epicenter and How Pot Went Legit
(University of California Press, 2014) is a work of narrative journalism that chronicles a
transformative era for marijuana in California that stoked pot liberalization across much
of America. The book spans an epoch that begins with the early days of the AIDS crisis
in San Francisco. Its story extends through California’s passage of the nation’s first
medical marijuana law in 1996, through federal and state raids on medical cannabis
providers and through the emergence of a burgeoning marijuana industry in the late
2000s. It tracks an historic move to legalize pot for recreational use, a sweeping law
enforcement backlash and, ultimately, potential landmark concessions for ending
marijuana prohibition in America.
Weed Land is not an advocacy work for marijuana liberalization or drug
enforcement policies. It instead tracks a remarkable evolution for marijuana in politics,
law, medicine, business and popular culture through up-close stories that focus on people
and places in California, the birthplace of the medical marijuana movement and the
modern cannabis economy. The book can be broken down by chapters for study and
analysis on themes, locales and characters presented in the story. Chapter notes provide
source materials.
Rather than taking a strict, linear approach to this period in history, Weed Land
explores overlapping factors in the marijuana phenomenon in the first nine chapters as it
builds towards ultimate confrontations and resolutions.
The first chapter, The Way It Was Supposed to Be, on a 2002 DEA raid on a Santa
Cruz marijuana garden for the severely ill, prepares the reader for contrasts to follow as
the cannabis industry grows and its politics evolve.
From there, Oaksterdam, set in Oakland, presents the political nerve center of the
cannabis movement.
The third chapter, Kush Rush reveals the migratory nexus for cannabis in
California’s north coast Emerald Triangle.
Reefer Research, set in San Francisco, tells of medical cannabis research inspired
by young men suffering from AIDS who turned to marijuana for relief. And The Pot
Docs, unfolding from Sacramento to the boardwalk of Los Angeles’ Venice Beach,
reveals cannabis physicians who became conduits for the new marijuana economy.
The sixth chapter, L.A. Excess, set in Los Angeles, chronicles challenges of
exploding cannabis commerce. Wafting Widely offers a statewide narrative on medical
marijuana’s impact on popular culture.
Courting Compassion, set in San Diego, shows how marijuana advocates and
defendants impacted the legal system. And the ninth chapter, Martyrdom for the
Missionaries, set in California’s Sierra Nevada, follows a legal saga that spans much of
the life of the California cannabis movement.
The Weed Land story notably accelerates, and characters reemerge, in Campaign
for Cannabis. The chronicle of the Proposition 19 marijuana legalization campaign –
presented in Chapter Ten - begins to set up the coming clash over federal marijuana
authority that will lead to the book’s conclusion.
The eleventh chapter, A Mile High and Beyond, set in Colorado, shows how the
Golden State’s marijuana experiment is overtaken elsewhere and signals peril over
California’s failure to regulate the vast industry it birthed.
Cultivating Trouble, set in Oakland and other California towns that bet on
cannabis, reveals an overreach that infuriated the feds. Return of the Feds chronicles the
inevitable crackdown.
Ultimately, Back to the Garden, the fourteenth chapter and epilogue, wraps up
the story by returning to the pot garden in Santa Cruz and reflecting on the evolutionary
change that has occurred.
DECONSTRUCTING WEED LAND
Outline by chapters and key characters
CHAPTER ONE: The Way It Was Supposed to Be
Theme:
The story of the raid by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents on a garden for
seriously and terminally ill medical marijuana patients sets up contradictions of the
marijuana epoch to come. The raid in the Santa Cruz Mountains stirs national awareness
over medical marijuana. It draws compassion for people using cannabis to alleviate
suffering and provokes anger over heavy-handed tactics by law enforcement. The events
lead to state legislation to protect rights of sick people to collectively cultivate and share
marijuana. Yet the notion of compassionate, collective cultivation begins to morph into a
billion dollar industry bearing little resemblance to the small cannabis colony in Santa
Cruz.
Key characters:
- Valerie Corral: Seizure patient, co-founder of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical
Marijuana and a woman who becomes known as the Mother Teresa for the marijuana
movement.
- Mike Corral: Valerie’s husband and co-founder of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical
Marijuana.
- Patrick Kelly: The commander of the DEA raid and former Marine Corps captain on his
first assignment after completing a special detail as an air marshal defending against
terrorism after 9/11.
- Suzanne Pfeil: Polio patient and medical marijuana user who alerts the cannabis
community and news media about the raid.
CHAPTER TWO: Oaksterdam
Theme:
The intersecting life stories of three unlikely protagonists in the California medical
marijuana movement weave a narrative about a place – Oakland – that becomes the
political nerve center for pot’s legalization and a nexus for the commercialization of
cannabis.
Key characters:
- Richard Lee: A paralyzed ex-rock and roll roadie and former ultra-light pilot from
Houston. He founds the Oaksterdam university marijuana trades school and challenges
skeptical medical cannabis advocates by bankrolling an effort to legalize marijuana as a
recreational drug.
- Jeff Jones: A clean-cut newcomer from South Dakota who establishes the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers Cooperative with memories of a father who died of cancer. He brings a
landmark challenge to the United States Supreme Court over federal intolerance for
medical marijuana.
- Steve DeAngelo: A flamboyant transplant from Washington D.C. who founds the
Harborside Health Center and builds it into the largest marijuana dispensary in the world
as he markets medical marijuana as a “wellness” drug for daily living.
CHAPTER THREE: Kush Rush
Theme:
The growing marijuana economy fuels a new cannabis migration to California and a
cultural clash in the Golden State’s most renowned pot growing region: the north coast
Emerald Triangle once settled by ‘60’s hippie homesteaders out of San Francisco’s
Summer of Love. The new economics of weed challenge a place where logging and
salmon industries vanish and family livelihoods and the regional well-being increasingly
depend on marijuana.
Key characters:
- Stephen Gasparas: A wannabe marijuana grower from suburban Chicago drawn to the
cannabis wonderland of Humboldt County.
- Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman: A former student body president from
southern Humboldt, Allman seeks to distinguish legitimate growers from audacious
profiteers as cannabis growing overwhelms his county.
- Joey Burger: Humboldt-born marijuana grower who wants to bring a long illicit
cannabis culture into the light as a sanctioned industry.
-Matthew Cohen: The model grower for Mendocino’s unique cannabis regulation
program and an advocate who envisions a future in which Mendocino and Humboldt
become pot’s tourism equal of nearby wine counties of Napa and Sonoma.
CHAPTER FOUR: Reefer Research
Theme:
A drop back in time to the early days of the California medical marijuana movement
recalls the AIDS crisis in San Francisco and the work of determined medical researchers
seeking to find a cure. As thousands of young men wasting away from illness turn to
cannabis to alleviate their symptoms, doctors face government resistance to research into
marijuana’s medical efficacy. Ultimately, a breakthrough clinical trial in San Francisco
shows promising benefits for pot and leads to a new generation of medical marijuana
research.
Key characters:
- Dr. Donald Abrams: An openly gay doctor at San Francisco General Hospital and a
leading AIDS researcher, whose lover is dying of the disease, leads the fight for medical
marijuana studies.
- Researchers for Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research: University of California
medical scientists, led by University of California San Diego neuropsychiatrist Dr. Igor
Grant, who conduct unprecedented state-funded clinical trials into pot’s medical benefits.
Chapter Five: The Pot Docs
Theme:
The growth of the modern marijuana economy is enabled by medical marijuana
physicians capitalizing on fortunes to be made from writing “recommendations” to
people seeking legal protection to use cannabis for conditions from severe to benign.
Key characters:
- Dr. David Allen: A former star heart surgeon from Mississippi who comes to
Sacramento to become a California marijuana doctor, only to be hunted down by eager
narcotics officers back home.
- Dr. Marcus Conant: A respected AIDS physician from San Francisco who risks federal
prosecution in a legal fight to win the rights for physicians to recommend marijuana as
medicine.
- Dr. Tod Mikuryia: A former government research psychiatrist who becomes the “doctor
of last resort” for medical cannabis patients. He drafts an enduring list of more than 250
conditions for which marijuana is said to provide relief.
- The Medical Kush Doctor: With carnival barkers and hash bars partnering with doctors,
the physician clinics on the boardwalk of Venice Beach accelerate California’s wild
medical marijuana marketplace.
CHAPTER SIX: L.A. Excess
Theme:
With neon pot signs, fragrant vapor rooms and Hollywood sizzle, hundreds of marijuana
stores transform the landscape of Los Angeles, stirring unfathomed challenges in
America’s second largest metropolis.
Key characters:
- Yamileth “Yami” Bolanos: Liver transplant recipient, operator of the Pure Life
Alternative Wellness Center and a fiery voice for cannabis patients at Los Angeles City
Hall.
- Carmen Trutanich: A pugnacious city attorney leading efforts to shutter marijuana
stores.
- Brad Barnes: A former porn star known as “Brick Majors” who opens a medical
marijuana dispensary as the newest feature at his San Fernando Valley adult
entertainment complex.
CHAPTER SEVEN: Wafting Widely
Theme:
The emergence of the medical marijuana economy stirs a new cultural wave for pot. As
Californians consume 16 million ounces of weed a year, marijuana is hyped as both a
healing medicine and a pleasurable pursuit. Pot changes political attitudes and the social
dynamic.
Key characters:
- Dragonfly de la Luz (Stephanie Taylor): A cannabis reviewer for marijuana magazines,
she celebrates purely recreational rewards of marijuana through her “Getting High with
Dragonfly” pot strain critiques and persona as “the ganja princess.”
- Lanette and Bryan Davis: Owners of Christian-run Canna Care dispensary in
Sacramento, they serve up buds with Bibles and underscore a broadening acceptance for
medical cannabis.
- The 420 Nurses and the Hot Kush Girls: Cannabis trade show darlings reveal marijuana
marijuana’s commercial marketing less as healing medicine than as a party option for
healthy young dudes.
CHAPTER EIGHT: Courting Compassion
Theme:
Media-savvy cannabis advocates and court defendants impact the legal process and
begin to outflank authorities by shaping public opinion with stories framed in
compassionate narratives about sick people, lives and spirits lifted by medical marijuana.
Key characters:
- Eugene Davidovich: Former U.S. Navy petty officer who turns to social media and
nightly webcasts to challenge authorities prosecuting him for illegal marijuana sales,
while assailing a San Diego crackdown on medical marijuana patients and providers.
- Ed Rosenthal: Author and cannabis growing guru whose federal conviction provokes a
jurors’ revolt after they realize he was cultivating marijuana for medical use.
- Patrick Kevin Kelly: Unlikely legal hero for the cannabis movement whose appeal of
his conviction for seven backyard pot plants prompts the Supreme Court of California to
throw out state-mandated cultivation limits.
CHAPTER NINE: Martyrdom for the Missionaries
Theme:
The 14-year-saga and ultimate federal prosecution of Sierra Nevada cannabis physician
Dr. Mollie Fry and lawyer husband Dale Schafer haunts the medical marijuana
movement and reignites fears of sustained federal raids on “God’s medicine.”
Key characters:
- Dr. Marion P. “Mollie” Fry: Breast cancer survivor and medical marijuana physician.
- Dale Schafer: Husband caregiver and cannabis advocate.
- El Dorado County detective Robert Ashworth: Narcotics investigator who wins the
couple’s trust as he directs probe against them.
- Michael Harvey: Beleaguered house guest of Fry and Schafer who becomes a reluctant
government witness in United States District Court.
CHAPTER TEN: Campaign for Cannabis
Theme:
An upstart campaign to legalize marijuana in California for adult recreational use roils
divisions in the medical marijuana community, triggers concerns of the United States
Justice Department and ignites an all-out fight for the endorsement of a dead man.
Key characters:
- Richard Lee: Founder of Oaksterdam University and chief funder of the Proposition 19
campaign.
- Jeff Jones: Protagonist in failed U.S. Supreme Court challenge over medical marijuana,
cosponsor of Proposition 19.
- Dale Sky Jones, Jeff Jones’ wife: Polished corporate marketing executive who becomes
the face of the campaign.
- Dan Rush: Powerful California union organizer who embraces Proposition 19 and
marijuana cause as fertile ground for creating a unionized pot work force.
- Dragonfly de la Luz: Ganja princess who emerges to lead celebrated political revolt,
Stoners Against Proposition 19.
- The late Jack Herer: Famed cannabis author and advocate whose death stirs bitter
dispute over how he would have viewed the initiative.
- Eric Holder: The attorney general of the United States who notably weighs in on the
California ballot measure.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: A Mile High and Beyond
Theme:
States across America build upon the California medical marijuana experiment.
Colorado creates an unabashedly for-profit, regulated state medical marijuana industry,
surpassing California by licensing cannabis businesses and establishing potential
protections to ward off federal raids. California advocates stumble in efforts to draft
rules for the Golden State’s vast cannabis landscape.
Key characters:
- Dan Rogers: Former banking executive travels to Oaksterdam University in Oakland for
higher education on the business of cannabis, then returns home to cash in on Colorado’s
booming state-regulated marijuana industry.
- Matt Cook: Ex-cop from Colorado Springs who brings Republicans and Democrats
together on unprecedented legislation to issue state licenses to Colorado pot workers and
meticulously oversee cultivation and sales.
- Dale Gieringer: Veteran California marijuana legalization advocate. While seeing
Colorado’s rules as onerous intrusions on pot liberties, he warns that the Golden State
needs cannabis industry oversight to avoid federal enforcement actions.
CHAPTER TWELVE: Cultivating Trouble
Theme:
Mounting concerns over Proposition 19 and continuing plans by the city of Oakland to
license cavernous indoor farms to produce medical marijuana for California consumers
stir concerns at the United States Justice Department that America’s largest cannabis
economy is out of control and needs reigning in.
Key characters:
- John Russo: Oakland city attorney who warns City Council members their commercial
cannabis ambitions threaten a fragile federal truce over medical marijuana.
- Yan Ebyam: A mysterious Oakland entrepreneur who sets out on an ambitious business
scheme for wholesale production of pharmaceutical grade cannabis.
- Thomas and David Jopson: Two rural farmers in Northern California who see
converting their heirloom tomato greenhouses to pot production as a ticket to gilded
retirements.
- Isleton: A small, struggling town on the Sacramento River Delta that seizes upon a
medical marijuana cultivation scheme as a civic option for economic salvation.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Return of the Feds
Theme:
Federal authorities launch sweeping raids and prosecutions against California cannabis
businesses and icons of the medical marijuana movement.
Key characters:
- California’s four United States attorneys: Benjamin Wagner, Melinda Haag, Andre
Birotte Jr. and Laura Duffy.
- Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.
- Matt Cohen: Mendocino cannabis grower and regulation advocate.
- Richard Lee of Oaksterdam University and Proposition 19.
- Steve DeAngelo of the Harborside Health Center, the world’s largest dispensary.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Back to the Garden
Theme:
As voters in Colorado and Washington approve historic legalization of marijuana for
purely recreational use, the feds offer potentially landmark terms of concession. A way of
life remains unchanged in the communal garden of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical
Marijuana in Santa Cruz. A small group of sick and dying people, long ago raided by
heavily-armed federal agents, continue to cultivate marijuana and share the medicine. A
reflection on the seismic change in the cannabis landscape offers an epilogue on leading
characters in the book.