Pot for Profit

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The United States has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes towards marijuana use from the 1970s, when only 12% of Americans said that they thought that marijuana should be legal, to today. What once had been a counterculture drug supplied for the black market by socially marginal figures like drug smugglers and hippies has become a big business, dominated by a few large corporations. Pot for Profit, traces the cultural, historical, political, and legal roots of these changing attitudes towards marijuana. The book will also showcase interviews with dispensary owners, bud tenders, and other industry employees about their experience working in the legal marijuana industry, and marijuana reform activists working towards legalization. Mello argues that embracing the profit potential of this drug has been key to the success of marijuana reform, and that this approach has problematic economic and racial implications. The story of marijuana reform shows that neoliberalism may not be an absolute barrier to social change, but it does determine the terrain on which these debates must occur. When activists capitulate to these pressures, they may make some gains, but those gains come with strings attached. This only serves to reinforce the totalizing power of the neoliberal ethos on American life. The book concludes by meditating on what, if anything, can be done to move the cannabis legalization movement back onto a more progressive track"--