Notes

1. Jerry Kamstra, Weed, p. 1. The material on potency and chemistry is derived from two books in particular: Michael Starks, Marijuana Potency and Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal, Marijuana Grower's Guide. (back)

2. This device was invented in 1976 by David Hoye, author of Cannabis Alchemy, and within a year had been sold to more than a thousand eager alchemists, one of whom claimed that the machine was "the greatest advance in smoking since the development of the match." Isomerization is recommended by experts only when the CBD content is fairly high. In good varieties of marijuana, however, this rarely occurs; the machine is most useful in making "trash weed" into acceptable smoking material. Some smokers are skeptical about such artificial changes. As Lenny puts it, "Imagine that you were at a party, and somebody came up to you with a glass of wine, and started telling you how he wrapped the bottle in burlap and kept it in the cellar for three months, and then put it through a boozifier to increase its potency. You'd think the guy was crazy. We all know how wine is made, but few people have any idea how marijuana gets from the plant to the joint, or how it can be made better." (back)

3. As this book goes to press, a Cambridge corporation has just produced an inexpensive device for home use which does exactly this—but all at once. Using steam as a heating medium and water as a timer, the Maximizer, as it is called, activates THC from the organic acid precursor produced naturally by the plant, thus bringing the marijuana to its fullest strength and potential within about an hour. (back)

4. Mechoulam: Marijuana Potency, p. 14. (back)

5. Frank and Rosenthal: Marijuana Grower's Guide, p. 40. (back)

6. This higher figure comes from the Marijuana Research Project of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which c]aimed that between 1974 and 1978 the average THC content of marijuana jumped from .3 5 percent to 3.69 percent. These figures, it turns out, include the readings of hashish and hash oil, cannabis products that are often many times more potent than marijuana. (back)

7. Jones experiments: Uses of Marijuana, p. 64. (back)

8. Jones quote: letter to author, 27 July 1978. (back)

9. Mexican marijuana: see Weed, and "R.," "Bring Back "Mexican," High Times, June 1978, pp. 36-37. (back)

10. "R": "Bring Back Mexican," p. 36. (back)

11. Colombian: see "The Columbian Connection," Time, 29 January 1979, pp. 22-29. See also "R.," "Vintage Columbian Tasting," High Times, July 1978, pp. 38-39. (back)

12. Hawaiian: see "R.," '&Hawaiian—The Great Dope Hope," High Times, April 1979, pp. 18-19. (back)

13. California marijuana: William Carlson, "Marijuana Crops Revived California Town," New York Times, 1l March 1979. See also John Dowdy, "Spice Valley, U.S.A.: Marijuana Moonshiners," Atlantic Monthly, January 1979, pp.6-24. (back)

14. Coffee-table book: Jim Richardson and Arik Woods, Sinsemilla. (back)

15. For a dissenting view on sinsemilla, see "R.," "Talking Sense About Sinsemilla," High Times, September 1978, pp. 24-25. (back)