A young man battles Hodgkin's disease and survives--with more than a little help from his Mom--in this wry and uplifting memoir about life, love, and beating the odds. When Dan Shapiro's decidely anti-drug mom put aside her convictions and grew marijuana in her backyard garden (behind a discrete screen of sunflowers), he learned that in the face of a crisis we all have the opportunity to decide what is most important to us. In this hilarious, high-spirited, sometimes harrowing memoir, Shapiro invites us into his battle with cancer, his romance with an oncology nurse, his journey through graduate school, and his most important life lessons. He tells his story with wit and grace and indomitable spirit, showing us that only when the rhythm of life is stirred violently are able to discover its full beauty.

An essential guide for moms looking to safely and responsibly incorporate cannabis into their daily lives to improve their health, wellness & family life. Weed Mom is an essential guide for women interested in learning more about THC and how to naturally relax, de-stress, and a better partner and parent. This first and only book made just for busy moms is packed with friendly and practical advice, including: The basics of THC and CBD What to look for at the dispensary Microdosing to boost mood & stay productive How to talk about cannabis with family & friends Understanding the potential downsides Using cannabis to enhance your sex life And much more Whether you are new to the weed game or have experience using cannabis products, this book has something for everyone. You’ll find everything you need to know about taking back your health and wellness, free of stigma. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Praise for Weed Mom “An excellent compendium of cannabis information. If you're curious about how cannabis might fit into your life as a parent, Weed Mom has the answers for you . . . Timely, fun, and educational. It makes a great conversation starter for moms, dads, and anyone else who loves the healing herb!” —Mary Jane Gibson, journalist, actress & host at Weed+Grub “Brand is refreshingly frank about sticky topics like overuse, how to talk to kids about cannabis, and what to do when things go wrong. She also includes an incredibly useful buying guide for those (like me) who feel overwhelmed by the dizzying array of specialized products on the market today.” —Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco “Just how Brand becomes one of weed’s most knowledgeable and ardent crusaders is a story you’ll have to follow in the book, but that she’s been to hell and back—with cannabis riding shotgun—makes her wisdom all the more hard-won and reliable. This is an honest, unapologetic book for real women.” —Melinda Misuraca, Project CBD

A young man battles Hodgkin's disease and survives--with more than a little help from his Mom--in this wry and uplifting memoir about life, love, and beating the odds. When Dan Shapiro's decidely anti-drug mom put aside her convictions and grew marijuana in her backyard garden (behind a discrete screen of sunflowers), he learned that in the face of a crisis we all have the opportunity to decide what is most important to us. In this hilarious, high-spirited, sometimes harrowing memoir, Shapiro invites us into his battle with cancer, his romance with an oncology nurse, his journey through graduate school, and his most important life lessons. He tells his story with wit and grace and indomitable spirit, showing us that only when the rhythm of life is stirred violently are able to discover its full beauty.

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY A blazingly funny, heartfelt memoir from the daughter of the larger-than-life woman who ran Sticky Fingers Brownies, an underground bakery that distributed thousands of marijuana brownies per month and helped provide medical marijuana to AIDS patients in San Francisco--for fans of Armistead Maupin and Patricia Lockwood During the '70s in San Francisco, Alia's mother ran the underground Sticky Fingers Brownies, delivering upwards of 10,000 illegal marijuana edibles per month throughout the circus-like atmosphere of a city in the throes of major change. She exchanged psychic readings with Alia's future father, and thereafter had a partner in business and life. Decades before cannabusiness went mainstream, when marijuana was as illicit as heroin, they ingeniously hid themselves in plain sight, parading through town--and through the scenes and upheavals of the day, from Gay Liberation to the tragedy of the Peoples Temple--in bright and elaborate outfits, the goods wrapped in hand-designed packaging and tucked into Alia's stroller. But the stars were not aligned forever and, after leaving the city and a shoulda-seen-it-coming divorce, Alia and her mom returned to San Francisco in the mid-80s, this time using Sticky Fingers' distribution channels to provide medical marijuana to friends and former customers now suffering the depredations of AIDS. Exhilarating, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartbreaking, Home Baked celebrates an eccentric and remarkable extended family, taking us through love, loss, and finding home.

"You are about to enter a world of drug smuggling, drug greed, and drug murder." With those words, the West Palm Beach assistant DA began the 1986 murder trial of Judy "Haas" McNelis. The only woman on the U.S. Federal Marshal's 15 Most-Wanted List, she gained infamy as head of the "Haas Organization," a reputed $267 million per year marijuana empire. But before her jet-set lifestyle as a drug "queen-pin," Haas was simply a divorcee with two young children and a penchant for growing pot. David McNelis' candid memoir recounts his life with a brash, free-spirited mother determined to achieve success in the male-dominated world of international narcotics smuggling. A studious kid striving for normalcy, McNelis is thrust into an extraordinary adventure where dealers, smugglers, daredevil pilots, federal agents, hitmen, and even an accused KGB spy all become part of "normal" life.

This is the poignant life-and-death story of Johnny Stack, whose young and vibrant life ended by suicide after his descent into addiction to high-potency marijuana and cannabis-induced psychosis. You'll laugh and cry with his mother, Laura Stack, as she retells the story of Johnny's joyful childhood and then takes you through the unthinkable tragedy of his loss. It's every parent's nightmare. But this book is much more than Johnny's story. Today Laura, who is a nationally recognized speaker and best-selling author, leads a national effort of parents, impacted family members, healthcare professionals, coalitions, teachers, and youth who are concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana on our children, teenagers, and emerging adults. This book is a clarion call for parents across America to educate themselves about the risks of today's high-THC marijuana products and to better understand the potentially devastating effects on youth mental health. Laura's real-life story is backed by recent scientific-based research on how today's potent THC products lead to mental illnesses in adolescents, such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, psychosis, and sadly, suicidal ideation. This book is her vision to dramatically decrease adolescent marijuana usage, the false perception of safety, mental illness, and suicide, to allow our youth to live productive, happy lives.

In “a brilliant antidote to all the…false narratives about pot” (American Thinker), an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis. Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers. But legalization has been built on myths—that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths, explaining that almost no one is in prison for marijuana; a tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used; and marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. “Alex Berenson has a reporter’s tenacity, a novelist’s imagination, and an outsider’s knack for asking intemperate questions” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker), as he ranges from the London institute that is home to the scientists who helped prove the cannabis-psychosis link to the Colorado prison where a man now serves a thirty-year sentence after eating a THC-laced candy bar and killing his wife. He sticks to the facts, and they are devastating. With the US already gripped by one drug epidemic, Tell Your Children is a “well-written treatise” (Publishers Weekly) that “takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit” (Mother Jones).