“Cannabis is the noisiest plant on earth.” This first sentence of the foreword by Joe Dolce in The Science of Weed sets the stage for the topics covered in this landmark book by Dr. Godfrey Pearlson, a professor at Yale University and a director at the Institute of Living in Hartford.
Every few years, a nonfiction book is published by an academic press that becomes a game-changer on a topic. These books have such impact because they show us both cultural and scientific revelations on a particular subject that is hiding in plain sight. The Science of Weed is one of those books.
The Science of Weed is a tour-de-force treatment of virtually all aspects of cannabis culture, science, economics, and politics. Pearlson is masterful at weaving together these four aspects of the cannabis culture we live in today. He does this in eleven chapters with virtually no redundancy. Each chapter highlights scientific evidence and insightful anecdotes on elements of the cannabis ecosystem that are both compelling and contradictory. This is why “Cannabis is the noisiest plant on earth.”
In Chapter 1, Dr. Pearlson provides a fascinating and to-the-point primer on “Good Science” and “Bad Science” in the context of cannabis. Few, if any plants, have been both negatively stigmatized and positively lionized like cannabis. Pearlson points out how social media can be used in corrupt and nefarious ways to support agendas that either detract from, or support, the consumption of cannabis. Few people outside of science and academia understand the value of peer-reviewed scientific literature, especially when it comes to cannabis-related topics. Chapter 1 helps correct these shortcomings.
Chapter 2, “Holi,” tells the story of an annual cannabis celebration – the Holi event on the banks of the Ganges – that has been taking place in India for thousands of years. How about that for some long-term perspectives on cannabis use and culture?
In Chapter 3, Pearlson takes us on a trip through the world of cannabis ethnobotany, botany, and archaeology. He shows us how people came to use cannabis over long periods and how these dynamics let cannabis use people to become dispersed across most of the world.
In the next six chapters (Chapter 4: Neurosciences; Chapter 5: Psychology and Human Behavior; Chapter 6: Epidemiology; Chapter 7: Toxicology; Chapter 8: Chemistry; and Chapter 9: Medical and Clinical Trials), Dr. Pearlson takes us on a deep dive through the core scientific topics that underlie The Science of Weed.
To many readers, the titles of these six chapters can be intimidating, especially for someone without a background in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). What is impressive is that Dr. Pearlson covers these complex topics in a manner that most people who passed their classes in high school biology and chemistry can understand. This is no small feat. Such excellent writing is a testament to Dr. Pearlson’s ability to take a complex narrative and make it understandable without oversimplifying it.
The final Chapter, 11: A Scientific Approach to Cannabis Legalization, contains a watershed of information that needs to be read by everyone and anyone involved in the cannabis industry, cannabis policy, and cannabis politics. Everyone from members of municipal local zoning committees who are challenged with permitting state-legalized cannabis dispensaries in their towns to federal policymakers who can potentially get cannabis removed from Schedule 1 drug status (categorizing it with heroin and LSD, a policy which is beyond ridiculous) needs to read and reread in this chapter.
The key takeaway message about science-based legalization in Chapter 11 is that the US can learn a great deal about country-wide legalization from Canada, where recreational use of cannabis has been legal since 2018. While the vast majority of cannabis users in Canada and the US do not present negative impacts related to consumption, numerous challenges remain. Impaired driving, workplace use, and drug testing, along with marketing to minors, are some of the vexing cannabis issues our neighbors to the north are dealing with. Federal drug policy makers in the US can clearly learn a great deal from what has happened and is happening in the Canadian cannabis world.
A critical job of any book reviewer is not just to point out what the book contains but also what it does not. In The Science of Weed, I was surprised to see that there was no reference to the potential for cannabis to mitigate some of the behavioral aspects of Autism. I combed both the index and the references for linkages related to Autism but was unable to find anything on this topic. Autism and cannabis are topics I thought Dr. Pearlson might address in this book, especially given his background in human behavior. Perhaps in the future?
The Science of Weed provides a vast amount of scientific evidence and objective information about cannabis. If cannabis touches any part of your life, you need to get this book, and you need to read this book.
