Overview - Cannabis - A Subject Guide - JCLS at Jackson County Library Services

Terminology

In reference to the drug:

Marijuana
Cannabinoids
Cannabis

In reference to the plant:

Cannabis Sativa and
Cannabis Indica

Main chemicals:

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)
CBD (Cannabidiol)

Leafly Glossary of Cannabis Terms

Reports and Studies

The Health Effects of Canabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research (2017)
Recent research on the health effects of recreational and therapeutic cannabis use from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Oregon was the first U.S. state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis, and among the first to authorize its use for medical purposes. Oregon Ballot Measure 91, an initiative petition to allow recreational use of marijuana, passed in November 2014. Effective January 1, 2017, marijuana can be sold for recreational use by businesses that have obtained a recreational license from the OLCC; such businesses can also sell for medical use. Medical marijuana dispensaries without a recreational license continue to sell marijuana for medical use.

Recreational marijuana sales in Oregon produced $60.2 million in state tax revenue in 2016, the first year of state-taxed pot sales. As of June 2016, there were 122 applications to grow pot in Jackson County and 91 were in neighboring Josephine County. Southern Oregon has long been the state's cannabis production hotbed, legal or illegal. The cannabis industry has quickly become a major force in the local economy, and the vibrant medical marijuana community continues to thrive.

Here are some of the books, magazines and other resources for learning more about the medical, recreational, economic and legal aspects of cannabis that you can find in your library.

Books on History, Legislation, Spiritual, and Recreational Aspects of Cannabis

Grass Roots by Emily Dufton
ISBN: 9780465096169
Publication Date: 2017-12-05

In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. In Grass Roots, historian Emily Dufton tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work. For the moment, these activists are succeeding, but marijuana's history suggests how swiftly another counterrevolution could unfold.
The Leafly Guide to Cannabis by Sam Martin; Leafly Team
ISBN: 9781455571994
Publication Date: 2017-12-05

A savvy connoisseur's guide from the editors of the world's most popular cannabis platform. Cannabis is at the very beginning of a craft and educational renaissance. It is emerging from the legislative shadows and a second awakening is occurring: people are proactively seeking information about how to properly consume and enjoy it. And cannabis is a wildly diverse product, even more so than alcohol. Consumers can experience not only different flavor profiles, but also different cerebral and body effects; they can consume using different methods, from vaporization to combustion to topical application; and they can pick and choose between an ever-growing number of different strains and products.
Where There's Smoke by Char Miller (Editor); Jared Huffman (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9780700625222
Publication Date: 2018-01-31

Over the course of a year, in just one national forest in California, raids on illegal marijuana growing operations yielded 19,710 pounds of infrastructure, 138 ounces of restricted poisons, 4,595 pounds of fertilizer, 12 gallons of common pesticides, 5.6 miles of waterlines, and 102 propane bottles.This first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary anthology draws on the insights of scientists, researchers, and activists and ranges across the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences to explore the troubling environmental consequences of illegal marijuana production on public, private, and tribal lands.This book will prove essential to an understanding of the complex social and environmental ramifications of marijuana policy and politics in the United States.
Just Say Yes by Catherine Hiller
ISBN: 9781942762010
Publication Date: 2015-04-20

Just Say Yes, perhaps the first marijuana memoir ever published, is a positive account of long-term cannabis use. With ruthless honesty and deadpan humor, the author observes the effect of weed upon every aspect of her life: marriage, motherhood, friendship, work, sport, sex. Phillip Lopate, Nonfiction Director of Columbia University's MFA Writing Program, lauds Just Say Yes: "This funny, wry and very candid memoir purports to be a Confession of an American Pot-Smoker but is really a cultural/personal history of the past fifty years. The narrative progresses backward and not only the past but innocence itself is recaptured."
Beyond Buds by Ed Rosenthal; David Downs (As told to)
ISBN: 9781936807239
Publication Date: 2014-10-21

Beyond Buds is a handbook to the future of marijuana. Prohibition’s end has led to a technological revolution that’s generated powerful medicines and products containing almost zero carcinogens and little smoke. Marijuana icon Ed Rosenthal and leading cannabis reporter David Downs guide readers through the best new consumer products, and demonstrate how to make and use the safest, cleanest extracts.Beyond Buds details how award-winning artisans make hash and concentrates, and includes modern techniques utilizing dry ice and CO2. The book is a primer on making kief, water hash, tinctures, topicals, edibles, and other extracts from cannabis leaves, trim, and bud bits, and it goes on to explore and simplify the more exotic and trendy marijuana-infused products, such as butane hash oil (BHO), shatter, wax, and budder. More complex than lighting a joint, these innovative products call for new accessories -- special pipes, dabbing tools, and vaporizers -- all of which are reviewed and pictured in the book.Beyond Buds expands on Rosenthal’s previous bookAsk Ed: Marijuana Gold: Trash to Stash. Completely updated with full-color photographs that are both "how-to” guides and eye candy, this book enables not only the health-conscious toker but also the bottom line-driven cultivator.
Brave New Weed by Joe Dolce
ISBN: 9780062499912
Publication Date: 2016-10-04

The former editor-in-chief of Details and Star adventures into the fascinating "brave new world" of cannabis, tracing its history and possible future as he investigates the social, medical, legal, and cultural ramifications of this surprisingly versatile plant. Pot. Weed. Grass. Mary Jane. We all think we know what cannabis is and what we use it for. But do we? Our collective understanding of this surprising plant has been muddled by politics and morality; what we think we know isn’t the real story. A war on cannabis has been waged in the United States since the early years of the twentieth century, yet in the past decade, society has undergone a massive shift in perspective that has allowed us to reconsider our beliefs. In Brave New Weed, Joe Dolce travels the globe to "tear down the cannabis closet" and de-mystify this new frontier, seeking answers to the questions we didn’t know we should ask. Dolce heads to a host of places, including Amsterdam, Israel, California, and Colorado, where he skillfully unfolds the odd, shocking, and wildly funny history of this complex plant. From the outlandish stories of murder trials where defendants claimed "insanity due to marijuana consumption" to the groundbreaking success stories about the plant’s impressive medicinal benefits, Dolce paints a fresh and much-needed portrait of cannabis, our changing attitudes toward it, and the brave new direction science and cultural acceptance are leading us. Enlightening, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Brave New Weed is a compelling read that will surprise and educate proponents on both sides of the cannabis debate.
The Cannabis Manifesto by Steve DeAngelo; Willie L. Brown (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9781583949375
Publication Date: 2015-09-22

The Cannabis Manifesto is both a call to action and a radical vision of humans' relationship with this healing but controversial plant. Steve DeAngelo, the founder of Harborside Health Center, the world's largest medical-cannabis dispensary, presents a compelling case for cannabis as a wellness catalyst that must be legalized. His view that there is no such thing as recreational cannabis use challenges readers to rethink everything they thought they knew about marijuana. The Cannabis Manifesto answers essential questions about the plant, using extensive research to fuel a thoughtful discussion about cannabis science and law, as well as its biological, mental, and spiritual effects on human beings. With a cultural critic's eye peering through the lens of social justice, DeAngelo explains how cannabis prohibition has warped our most precious institutions--from the family, to the workplace, to the doctor's office and the courtroom. In calling for a realistic national policy on a substance that has been used by half of all Americans, this essential primer will forever change the way the world thinks about cannabis, its benefits, and the laws governing its use.
Sacred Bliss by Mark S. Ferrara
ISBN: 9781442271913
Publication Date: 2016-10-20

One of the most important relationships that human beings have with plants is changing our consciousness consider the plants that give us coffee, tea, chocolate, and nicotine. Sacred Bliss challenges traditional attitudes about cannabis by tracing its essential role in the spiritual and curative traditions in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas from prehistory to the present day. In highlighting the continued use of cannabis around the globe, Sacred Bliss offers compelling evidence of cannabis as an entheogen used for thousands of years to evoke peak-experiences, or moments of expanded perception or spiritual awareness. Today, the growing utilization of medical cannabis to alleviate the pain and symptoms of physical illness raises the possibility of using cannabis to treat the mind along with the body. By engaging sacred and secular texts from around the world, Sacred Bliss demonstrates that throughout religious history, cannabis has offered access to increased imagination and creativity, heightened perspective and insight, and deeper levels of thought."
Super-Charged by Jim Rendon
ISBN: 9781604692952
Publication Date: 2012-09-18

Marijuana has been illegal in the United States since 1937. Yet, thanks in large part to a loosely connected underground world of breeders, dealers, and smokers, there are currently more than 2000 varieties available. And since 1996, when California first passed legislation allowing for legalized medical marijuana, the underground has slowly surfaced, pushing what was once a decentralized, lawless world closer to the corporate world of business, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Super-Charged gets up close and personal with the people who have transformed this controversial drug. With personalities and backgrounds as diverse as the plant itself, the growers include a former Silicon Valley software entrepreneur; third-generation Humboldt, California, growers; a publicly traded pharmaceutical company; and the famous marijuana personality Jorge Cervantes. Jim Rendon takes readers behind the scenes and into the homes and grow operations of the committed, quality-obsessed practitioners in the international underground industry responsible for creating today's super-charged cannabis. Ironically, these pioneers who built this illegal industry may one day find themselves out of business in the face of the drug's growing mainstream acceptance. Just how this could come about is part of the incredible story.
Marijuana by Kevin P. Hill
ISBN: 9781616495596
Publication Date: 2015-03-31

Marijuana--or weed, pot, grass, MJ, Mary Jane, reefer, cannabis, or hemp among dozens of other names--has a long, colorful history dating back more than 2,000 years as the one of the most sought-after mood-altering substances in the world. Societal opinion about the drug has dramatically swayed over the years, from viewing it as a grave danger to society in the 1930s film Reefer Madness, to a harmless recreational high in the ’60s, to an addictive substance and gateway to such "hard” drugs as heroin today. The myths and misinformation about marijuana have only multiplied over the years as the controversy over legalization and medical marijuana grows. A nationally recognized clinical expert and leading researcher on marijuana, Kevin P. Hill provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the drug in Marijuana: Cutting through the Myths about the World’s Most Popular Weed. Through research-based historical, scientific, and medical information, Hill will help you sort through what you hear on the streets and in the media and cut straight to the facts. Whether you’re a parent concerned about your child’s use, someone with an illness considering medical marijuana as a treatment option, a user who has questions about its effect on your health, or if you’re just trying to make up your mind about legalization, this book will give you the most current and unbiased information you need to make informed decisions about marijuana.
Smoke Signals by Martin A. Lee
ISBN: 9781439102602
Publication Date: 2012-08-14

The bestselling author ofAcid Dreams tells the great American pot story—a panoramic, character-driven saga that examines the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world’s most controversial plant. Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in more than a dozen other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. Lee, an award-winning investigative journalist, draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape. By mining the plant’s rich pharmacopoeia, medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating read for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb. Smoke Signals is the winner of the American Botanical Council's James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award for 2012
Green by Dan Michaels; Chris Erikson (Photographer); Erik Christiansen (Photographer)
ISBN: 9781452134055
Publication Date: 2015-05-19

Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana is required reading for a new generation of curious and sophisticated pot smokers. Presented in an eye-popping package and filled with hyperdetailed photography of individual buds, this essential guide to marijuana is smart, practical, and exceedingly beautiful. The "Primer" section explores the culture of this complex flower and explains the botany that makes each strain unique. The "Buds" section describes the variations of lineage, flavor, and mental or physical high that define 170 exceptional strains. Poised to become the go-to marijuana guide for recreational and medicinal users alike,Green is easy to pick up and impossible to put down.

Websites of Interest

Ashland Marijuana Regulations
The Ashland Land Use Ordinance was revised in January 2016 to allow the cultivation of four marijuana plants per lot for recreational marijuana or up to six plants for medical marijuana. Section 18.2.3 - Zoning Regulations of the ordinance has more information on homegrown cultivation as well as requirements for marijuana related businesses.

Marijuana Production in Jackson County FAQ
The production and processing of commercial recreational and medical marijuana are regulated by Jackson County Land Development Ordinance chapter 3.13. In addition to answers to the most frequently asked questions, this site provides links to several printable forms.

Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP)
You can apply for a Medical Marijuana card through the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP).

Leafly
The world’s largest cannabis resource for information about strains and products for medical marijuana patients and other consumers.

Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC)
The most reliable source of information about the laws surrounding recreational marijuana.

Oregon Marijuana Worker Permit
Persons employed in the OLCC-licensed recreational marijuana industry, including licensees, must have a valid marijuana worker permit.

Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) FAQs
If you are considering starting a marijuana-related business, start with the OLCC’s frequently asked questions on marijuana licensing.

Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program
Apply to be a medical marijuana dispensary in Oregon.

Cannabis - A Subject Guide: Overview

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