aThis is a beautifully written account from the front lines of a
struggle between a federal drug war complex determined to keep
demonizing marijuana and the growing movement of patients and
doctors who have found marijuana to be a valuable medicine. Voters
in California and many other states have strongly supported the
patients. The moving stories in this book show why.a
--Craig Reinarman, co-author of "Crack in America: Demon Drugs and
Social Justice"
aChapkis and Webb have done a masterful job in describing the
intricacies of the drug debate and offer brilliant analysis on a
complex and controversial subject. Both baby boomers and the
current teenage population will find this book important and
compelling reading.a
--Terry Williams, author of "Crackhouse: Notes from the End of the
Line"
Marijuana as medicine has been a politically charged topic in
this country for more than three decades. Despite overwhelming
public support and growing scientific evidence of its therapeutic
effects (relief of the nausea caused by chemotherapy for cancer and
AIDS, control over seizures or spasticity caused by epilepsy or MS,
and relief from chronic and acute pain, to name a few), the drug
remains illegal under federal law.
In Dying to Get High, noted sociologists Wendy Chapkis and
Richard J. Webb investigate one community of seriously-ill patients
fighting the federal government for the right to use
physician-recommended marijuana. Based in Santa Cruz, California,
the Wo/Menas Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) is a unique
patient-caregiver cooperative providing marijuana free of charge to
mostly terminally ill members. For a brief period in 2004, it even
operated the only legalnon-governmental medical marijuana garden in
the country, protected by the federal courts against the DEA.
Using as their stage this fascinating profile of one remarkable
organization, Chapkis and Webb tackle the broader, complex history
of medical marijuana in America. Through compelling interviews with
patients, public officials, law enforcement officers and
physicians, Chapkis and Webb ask what distinguishes a legitimate
patient from an illegitimate apothead, a agooda drugs from abad, a
medicinal effects from ajust getting high.a Dying to Get High
combines abstract argument and the messier terrain of how people
actually live, suffer and die, and offers a moving account of what
is at stake in ongoing debates over the legalization of medical
marijuana.
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