Overview

An eye-opening narrative about the business of medical marijuana

Drawing on unparalleled access to sources including lawyers, The Weed Runners is both journalistic exposé and adventure story. There is a vast network fueling the ongoing nationwide explosion of medical marijuana, and this book focuses on an incredibly dynamic three-year period from 2009 to 2012. During that time, marijuana left the world of illegality and blossomed into a mainstream industry, becoming the fastest growing economic engine in California before the feds swooped in and put pot back in its “proper” place. This fast-moving and exciting account examines the lives of the people involved in today’s marijuana trade as well as recent developments in the federal war on medical marijuana, giving readers a first-hand look at America’s quasi-legal medical marijuana trade.

Reviews

"The Weed Runners is the ultimate ride along; a sharp-eyed trip into the kaleidoscopic world of fantatical growers, righteous stoners, and the tie-dyed enterpreneurs who are turning the War on Drugs upside down and bringing medical marijuana to the people." —Mark Haskell Smith, author Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup 

"For this feverish, wild-eyed, and ever-lapidary engagement of the medical marijuana industry, Nicholas Schou has drawn from his 16 years experience covering this malleable trade.  The result is a book that mimics its unforgettable "characters" (wonderfully nicknamed Racer X, Art Nouveau, Yoga Girl, The Serial Killer, et. al.)-- sometimes surprisingly businesslike, often deliciously ragtag, and ever eager to impart unexpected information, anecdote both twitchy and sobering, and, most importantly, the sort of breathless entertainment found in our best political thrillers, except very, very real."— Matthew Gavin Frank, author of Pot Farm and Preparing the Ghost

Author Biography