Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times
"Let me offer praise for Offbeat Marijuana. Finally, a book on the decriminalizing side of the marijuana debate that doesn't take itself too seriously--sort of a giggling high."
Booklist
Rubin's entertaining and provocative cultural history of pot recounts Robert Mitchum's famous 1948 reefer contretemps, significantly notes medical marijuana advocate Robert Randall (coauthor of Marijuana Rx ), and includes an earnest essay exploring industrial and other nonrecreational uses of the evil weed. A special place in the text, rather like one in Hades, is reserved for Harry J. Anslinger, "the government official most responsible for creating anti-marijuana hysteria in America." Heading the Federal Bureau of Narcotics 1930^-62, Anslinger spewed antimarijuana invective, some of which Rubin wryly repeats. With many illustrations, glib boxed features, and a snappy style, the book could be one of those casual-to-a-fault "for dummies" guidebooks. It contains a lot of information, delivered in the light and chatty manner of many antipot screeds. Notable for recalling how yellow journalism and demonization of certain social groups helped in the criminalization of marijuana and other drugs, it is definitely promarijuana, perhaps too much so for some to put in their intellectual freedom pipes and smoke. Mike Tribby
