Weed reads

Getting a book on a topic about which you’re passionate is one of life’s great joys. And if you’re passionate about cannabis, there’s plenty of reading material available to pique your interest in topics ranging from the plant’s purported medical benefits to how to cook with cannabis. The following titles are available on websites like Amazon and can also often be found at or ordered through local bookstores like Grassroots Books and Sundance Books and Music.

Cannabis and health has long been a hot topic. Written by Uwe Bleshing, PhD, a medical journalist, The Cannabis Health Index provides an in-depth reading experience that relies on more 1,000 scientific studies to explain how marijuana and mindfulness techniques can work together to help people manage over 100 chronic diseases and their associated symptoms. The book is comprehensive and gives an evidence-based look at cannabis as medicine. What's nice about this book is that you need not read the entire volume if you're only interested in learning about pot as it relates to certain maladies. Its thorough sections translate dense scientific literature into simpler language to allow you to look at pot in relation to inflammatory, cardiovascular, neurological and other diseases.

Cooking with marijuana is becoming an increasingly popular pastime, and there are plenty of cannabis cookbooks on the market. A particularly well-reviewed one is Bong Appétit: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Weed. It's been called by some the “Joy of Cooking for a new generation.” Inspired by Viceland Television's cooking channel and its series, Bong Appétit, the book not only offers up recipes ranging from weed chimichurri to classic weed brownies. It also breaks down the science of infusing things ranging from oils to milks to alcohol. As a bonus to readers, the book also touches on topics like dosage and marijuana politics.

If the politics of cannabis is something you're specifically interested in, Marijuana Politics: Uncovering the Troublesome History and Social Costs of Criminalization by Robert Hardaway may be the book for you. It covers a lot of ground, from historical uses and common cannabis misconceptions to the botany of the plant. Mostly, though, it focuses on the politics of prohibition and legalization of cannabis here in the United States. The book gives good perspectives on the trends in marijuana and alcohol prohibition and the legal developments that have affected the regulation of vices, including harder drugs like cocaine and heroin.

If you've found yourself considering growing your own pot, there are plenty of books to get you started—though it's worth noting that there are laws surrounding pot cultivation, including a prohibition on growing pot in Nevada if you live within 25 miles of a dispensary. With that said, for would-be growers, writer, photographer and senior cultivation editor for High Times magazine Danny Danko's book, Cannabis: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Marijuana, provides a good starting place. The book is accessible, easy to read and only 144 pages long. It covers the basics of successful pot cultivation, including primers on everything from setting up a grow room to germination to sexing pot plants and cloning them.

As cannabis becomes increasingly destigmatized, the wealth of literature surrounding it is hitting bookstore shelves with greater regularity. Do you have a favorite book about marijuana? Share it with us by sending a letter to the editor at renoletters@newsreview.com.