The cannabis industry has, since the first day of January, 2014 in Colorado, jumped state borders across the U.S., country borders in both directions of the American hemisphere, and now oceans. In other words, the entire proposition has jumped the shark, if not the boundaries of prohibition, and will never return there again.
"Green: The First Year of Modern American Marijuana Reform," first published in early 2015, documents the story of that first momentous year, as well as the people, organizations and companies which took the leap into the then unknown. These pioneers assumed, rightly, as it turned out, that a 100 years of international hot war against a plant and those who used it or otherwise engaged with it (including for commercial purposes) was finally coming to an end.
"Green" covers the politics, the reformers and the early startup companies who took prohibition to the mat. It also looks at the economic, political and social forces at play that allowed such a massive revolution to take place. And those forces are still very much in the room if now on a global basis. From the market's start in Colorado, through a history of where it all started (in California) and an overview of the forces that then shaped the Washington State market (the second of the year) as well as in Washington, D.C. and beyond, this book goes where no other history has yet gone. To the mat if not the basics. This is still a first of its kind publication.
Since then, of course the industry has gone international. However some of the more basic issues still remain. Who has access? Who gets funding? What does this plant do on a medical basis that makes it so unique? What will a really inclusive "recreational" market look like? What are some of the bigger issues behind the revolution? All of those were very much in play in 2014 and they continue to this day.
Green is also the first of a series of ebooks that are still being written, about the history of the modern cannabis movement, the industry that has established itself globally and the people who made it happen. It is being republished as the second book is also being written, this time about the global march of revolutionary change that has now touched every part of the planet, and is still evolving.
It is authored by the first "cannabis foreign correspondent" to also look at the industry internationally, starting in 2014, based in Germany. Marguerite Arnold has continued, since this first book was initially published, to cover the industry globally, from Germany. The second installment, "Green II: Spreading Like Kudzu will be available at the beginning of 2020."
