If you ask my dad, my love of reading came from our Tuesday night visits to Borders. If you ask my high school English teacher, it was her never-ending dissection of turn-of-the-century literature. If you ask me, it was probably Twilight.
While there is no shortage of quirky weed-themed books in the Urban Outfitters home department called things like The Stoner’s Guide to A Totally No-Fucks-Given Life or Dr. 420’s Super Blazed Baked Goods, sometimes a weed leaf-adorned cover isn’t enough to match your literary sensibilities.
This month, I’m rounding up a few of my favorite canna-centric books to complement your perspective (and your decor).
It’s Just a Plant by Ricardo Cortés
It’s never easy to talk to kids about weed, but destigmatization starts at home. It’s Just a Plant is a delightfully illustrated children’s book that follows the journey of a young girl who becomes curious about what she catches her parents smoking, taking a journey speaking to her parents and neighbors, from a farmer to a doctor to a police officer, to learn about the role the plant plays in the community.
This book allows parents to talk to their kids about cannabis as a healing tool rather than a party drug, getting ahead of misinformation-rich, War on Drugs-driven school education programs. Thoughtful, age-appropriate, and fact-forward, it also features an afterword by drug education activist Dr. Martha Rosenbaum.
Higher Etiquette by Lizzie Post
A new-age spin on Emily Post’s iconic Guide to Etiquette, this is the perfect pick for fans of the classic Tom Ford coffee table book, but maybe without the budget (or the counter space).
Though they argue Emily herself likely wouldn’t have been burning one down, she fought ardently against alcohol prohibition during her time despite not drinking, disgusted with the government’s grip on the throat of citizen rights.
The book covers everything a newbie to the weed world needs to know from street lingo to unspoken rules, botany to hosting, and everything in between. Having received this book as a gift myself, I highly recommend it for any housewarming, but especially for a type A friend who needs to know everything there is to know before trying it for themselves.
An American Cannabis Story by David Goodman*
Those in the cannabis industry are well aware of the devastating environmental impact of massive corporate marijuana grows. With CO2 emissions comparable to 3.3 million additional cars on the road, it’s essential that the average consumer start to understand it, too.
Just released in late June, An American Cannabis Story offers a look inside a growing season at Puffin Farms in Yakima, WA – one of the nation’s first state-licensed cannabis farms – from seed to harvest. The family-run farm is fully organic, biodynamic, and sun-grown with a mission to prove that “green” weed doesn’t compromise on aroma or cannabinoid content compared to its energy-sucking market counterparts.
The book is a compilation of storytelling and photography that not only showcases the farm’s vast, sun-soaked fields and gorgeous bud, but encapsulates the energy of the farm and the love story at the center of it.
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
A staple on the bookshelves of hippie aunts everywhere, Michael Pollan is a food-turned-plant writer with a deep interest in how the natural world has shaped social standards – from the normalization of coffee to the anxiety-ridden presentation of mescaline.
Despite its publication over twenty years ago, its prescient insights on plants’ response to human cravings, including our favorite, remain relevant.
Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America by Box Brown
This graphic novel begins in 1519 AD in Mexico with the introduction of hemp to the region during violent colonization in order to tell the super brief, famously un-complicated history of racist oppression under the War on Drugs.
From the plant’s popularity among slaves to its Schedule 1 designation on par with heroin, Brown guides the reader all the way through our nation’s history to today’s mass imprisonment of young black men. The story tells the soaring tale of plant demonization and ensuing societal collapse.
*This edition of High Design features sponsored content, meaning I have a financial incentive to mention certain products. That being said, I only accept sponsorships I use, love, and stand by 100%.