Jólabókaflóð, or “Christmas/Yule Book Flood,” may be over, but it is never too late to pick up or share a good book. Whether the goal is to reduce addictive screen time, get informed, or both, reading is fundamental.
From learning about cannabis economics and regulations to how to make edibles at home, below are a few of the latest books to read to get up to speed on the current state and various aspects of the cannabis industry.
Can Legal Weed Win? The Blunt Realities of Cannabis Economics by Dr. Robin Goldstein and Prof. Daniel Sumner on University of California Press.
Can Legal Weed Win? The Blunt Realities of Cannabis Economics by Dr. Robin Goldstein and Prof. Daniel Sumner on University of California Press.
Bad pot puns aside (we’ve all done it), Legal Weed takes pot shots (oops, I did it again…) at the kind of white male investors who wear douchey T-shirts unconvincingly disguised as satire emblazoned with cringeworthy slogans such as “Buy Weed From Rich White Men” at cannabis conferences while simultaneously lamenting all of the money they have lost investing in legal cannabis companies.
The issue isn’t legalization.
For a start, it is the ridiculous amount of taxes, lack of interstate commerce, credit card purchases, and access to safe banking.
Myriad other issues, including patient privacy violations in legal dispensaries, including ID scanning, being recorded, and facial recognition technology, not to mention the disclosure of medical cannabis purchases to police-held cannabis consumer databases, which should be protected by HIPPA laws that are meant to privatize patient information.
All of the above factors into why legal weed isn’t “winning” over the legacy market.
Some believe that legal weed deserves to win on the simplistic virtue-signaling predication that lawful = moral/good, while illegal = immoral/bad.
However, in any civilized society, laws, like languages, evolve. To conveniently overlook cogent arguments by activists in the unregulated market, many of whom didn’t realize they were inadvertently paving the way for legalized cannabis to be relentlessly colonized by the patriarchy and Big Tobacco, is arguably a mistake.
Those unfamiliar with the battle royale, gender politics, and equity empowerment issues between legal vs. legacy weed might be interested in hearing more caucasian male perspectives on the issue … or not.
The Weed Gummies Cookbook: Recipes for Cannabis Candies, THC and CBD Edibles, and More, by Monica Lo, published by Ulysses Press.
Whether you’re a novice edibles maker with a Levo oil infuser or go all in on the extraction-making process with a Source Turbo, TWGC will help you channel your inner OG ala Elise McDonogh, Guy Rocourt, or even Martha Stewart to create candy edibles at home.
This cookbook applies to canna-curious cooks of all skill sets.
It offers practical ways to infuse a variety of cannabinoids into candies. With step-by-step recipes and mouth-watering images, learn to make candies that rival any dispensary-bought consumer packaged goods (CPG).
This is How We Roll: The Art and Culture of Joints, Blunts, and Spliffs by Noah Rubin, published by Chronicle Books.
This is How We Roll: The Art and Culture of Joints, Blunts, and Spliffs by Noah Rubin, published by Chronicle Books.
How We Roll features commentary from the poster boys of cannabis consumption including Wiz Khalifa and Tommy Chong. (Incidentally, This Is How We Roll is a country song recorded by the duo Florida Georgia Line with fellow country music singer Luke Bryan.)
Roll will teach readers the basic principles of grinding up herb and rolling it into different types of blunts with various levels of complexity. While demonstrated from the typically American perspective of using accessories for assistance, this book will teach the rolling skills to impress people at parties.
However, if trapped on a developing island without access to modern household appliances, grinders to break up weed, neatly packaged blunt wraps, or any other accouterments, learning to roll one up with bare hands and a sugar leaf would be helpful too.
Cannabis Annual 2022: A Year in Review and Guide to All Things Cannabis by Jay Kitchen and Graham Hnedak.
A gorgeous, weed-porn coffee table book that celebrates the contemporary pioneers of pre-legalization cannabis culture.
Cannabis Annual 2022 acknowledges and honors some groundbreaking cannabis advocates who have dearly departed too soon, including Frenchy Cannoli, Lester Grinspoon MD, and Neville Schoenmakers, while featuring art and essays from the pre-influencer, tastemakers of the cannabis community.
Cannabis and Sustainable Development: Paving the Way for the Next Decade in Cannabis and Hemp Policy, by Kenz Riboulet-Zemouli and Michael Krawitz et al., published by FAAAT Editions.
Cannabis and Sustainable Development: Paving the Way for the Next Decade in Cannabis and Hemp Policy, by Kenz Riboulet-Zemouli and Michael Krawitz et al., published by FAAAT Editions.
Paving the Way explains how cannabis cultivation aligns with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
Two of the most extraordinary things about this well-researched book are 1) It comes in English and Spanish and 2) It is free, although donating to the author or the publisher, the non-profit organization FAAAT, would be mindful.
The Sustainable Cannabis Policy Toolkit is a comprehensive report analyzing the opportunities and challenges of cannabis & hemp regulations under the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals policy framework.
The work is a significant contribution to post-prohibition studies. According to one of the authors, Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli, “The toolkit assists decision-makers, scholars, policy advocates, as well as curious minds and the general public, in adopting a regulatory approach to cannabis and hemp that balances health, profits, peoples, societies, and the environment.”
2022 California Cannabis Laws and Regulations by Omar Figueroa, published by Lux Law Publishing.
2022 California Cannabis Laws and Regulations by Omar Figueroa, published by Lux Law Publishing.
Yale and Stanford graduate and attorney Omar Figuera says, “One cannot win the game unless one knows the rules.”
Therefore, this book is helpful to anyone who is trying to navigate the convoluted framework and regulations which currently have a stranglehold on the cannabis and hemp industries in California.
Containing charts of California cannabis license types, it unpacks how daunting the system is and how the regs work.
Cannabis (seeing through the smoke): The New Science of Cannabis and Your Health, written by David Nutt and published by Yellow Kite.
Cannabis (seeing through the smoke): The New Science of Cannabis and Your Health, written by David Nutt and published by Yellow Kite.
Recommended by Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Peter Grinspoon and substantiated by Professor David Nutt’s two-year research trial in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Nutt’s book covers cannabis’ impact on the human body and brain and its efficacy for treating an array of physical illnesses, including but not limited to chronic pain, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, and mental conditions such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
This definitive knowledge provides evidence-based information that will most likely improve patients’ lives.
Do you have a book recommendation? Drop me a line at sbsomerset@cannatechtoday.com.
