A journalist adventures into the fascinating frontiers of cannabis, shedding light on everything you didn't know about weed (and didn't think to ask).
Since the 1930s, the United States has been waging a war on cannabis, using politics and propaganda to muddle our collective perception of this incredible plant. Yet in the past decade, our perspectives toward this complex herb have shifted, opening the door for a new understanding of weed.
Enter Joe Dolce, who journeys across the globe in a quest to understand the clouded past and bright future of weed. His travels take him on a tour of gardens and grow rooms, doctors' offices and dispensaries, and hospitals and homemade hash-making labs, as he explores the groundbreaking developments sparked by cultural acceptance. Along the way, he meets world-class researchers, entrepreneurs, historians, and cultural avatars who help him paint a clear-eyed portrait of the power of weed. In dispatches from Amsterdam, Israel, California, Colorado, and more, Dolce skillfully unfolds the odd history, emerging science, and massive economic potential behind this miraculous plant.
Brave New Weedoffers a fresh take on the new world of cannabis and all the promise that this much-maligned plant holds. Enlightening, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Brave New Weedwill surprise and educate advocates on both sides of the cannabis debate.
Praise for Brave New Weed
"A loving rethink of all things marijuana ... a trusted hitchhiker's guide to this new universe." - New York Times Book Review
"The ultimate 'just say yes!' book. I got a contact high from reading it." -John Waters
"Employing aspects of travel narrative, pop history, journalism, and personal diary, Dolce is a genial and engaging narrator with a knack for breaking down complex science and making it easily digestible for laypeople. Brave New Weed will prove popular with cannabis enthusiasts, and will surprise and entertain the general reader." - Publishers Weekly

Joe Dolce is the former editor in chief of Details and Star magazines, and has written for many of the world's leading publications, including the New York Times, Gourmet, and Travel + Leisure. He is the CEO and founder of Joe Dolce Communications, a presentation and media-training company based in New York City. He is not a stoner.

The former editor-in-chief of Details and Star adventures into the fascinating "brave new world" of cannabis, tracing its history and possible future as he investigates the social, medical, legal, and cultural ramifications of this surprisingly versatile plant.

Pot. Weed. Grass. Mary Jane. We all think we know what cannabis is and what we use it for. But do we? Our collective understanding of this surprising plant has been muddled by politics and morality; what we think we know isn't the real story.

A war on cannabis has been waged in the United States since the early years of the twentieth century, yet in the past decade, society has undergone a massive shift in perspective that has allowed us to reconsider our beliefs. In Brave New Weed, Joe Dolce travels the globe to "tear down the cannabis closet" and de-mystify this new frontier, seeking answers to the questions we didn't know we should ask.

Dolce heads to a host of places, including Amsterdam, Israel, California, and Colorado, where he skillfully unfolds the odd, shocking, and wildly funny history of this complex plant. From the outlandish stories of murder trials where defendants claimed "insanity due to marijuana consumption" to the groundbreaking success stories about the plant's impressive medicinal benefits, Dolce paints a fresh and much-needed portrait of cannabis, our changing attitudes toward it, and the brave new direction science and cultural acceptance are leading us.

Enlightening, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Brave New Weed is a compelling read that will surprise and educate proponents on both sides of the cannabis debate.