Reefer Mildness

“How does a society treat something as a harmless, ubiquitous joke,” asks Andrew Sullivan in his introduction to The Cannabis Closet (The Daily Dish), “and then arrest hundreds of thousands of people a year for doing it?” Part of the answer is that responsible, productive marijuana consumers are reluctant to stand up and be counted. In this collection of personal accounts, pot-smoking readers of Sullivan’s blog testify that marijuana did not kill their grades, ruin their careers, or wreck their families.

To the contrary, it has improved their lives, helping them unwind and enhancing enjoyable activities such as eating, sex, listening to music, watching movies, and hanging out with friends. The dutiful parents, dedicated teachers, high-powered lawyers, and successful entrepreneurs in this book may not be a random sample of pot smokers, but they are surely more representative than the cautionary examples featured in anti-drug ads. Illustrating the very problem this book aims to address, not one contributor reveals his name. —Jacob Sullum