Peter Hecht is a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee. His reporting on the marijuana phenomenon was honored in the Best of the West journalism awards and earned an Excellence in Journalism prize from the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"With journalistic bravura, Sacramento Bee reporter Hecht captures California's odyssey to legalize marijuana with immediacy, personality, and objectivity... Hecht's cautionary and deftly written account is an animated examination of how too much, too soon, almost doomed a movement." Publishers Weekly "In the right hands, nonfiction can be more compelling than fiction... [Hecht] presents a definitive, dramatic chronology of pot and the people who research it, grow it, sell it, use it and regulate it." -- Allen Pierleoni Sacramento Bee "Peter Hecht, a journalist at The Sacramento Bee, charts the evolution of California's medical marijuana law, the first in the nation." -- Jerome Groopman New York Review of Books "A comprehensive and compelling report on the weed wars still raging across the country." Kirkus Reviews

• 1. The Way It Was Supposed to Be 2. Oaksterdam 3. Kush Rush 4. Reefer Research 5. The Pot Docs 6. L.A. Excess 7. Wafting Widely 8. Courting Compassion 9. Martyrdom for the Missionaries 10. Campaign for Cannabis 11. A Mile High and Beyond 12. Cultivating Trouble 13. Return of the Feds 14. Back to the Garden Acknowledgments Notes Index

Peter Hecht is a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee. His reporting on the marijuana phenomenon was honored in the Best of the West journalism awards and earned an Excellence in Journalism prize from the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"With journalistic bravura, Sacramento Bee reporter Hecht captures California's odyssey to legalize marijuana with immediacy, personality, and objectivity... Hecht's cautionary and deftly written account is an animated examination of how too much, too soon, almost doomed a movement." Publishers Weekly "In the right hands, nonfiction can be more compelling than fiction... [Hecht] presents a definitive, dramatic chronology of pot and the people who research it, grow it, sell it, use it and regulate it." -- Allen Pierleoni Sacramento Bee "Peter Hecht, a journalist at The Sacramento Bee, charts the evolution of California's medical marijuana law, the first in the nation." -- Jerome Groopman New York Review of Books "A comprehensive and compelling report on the weed wars still raging across the country." Kirkus Reviews

• 1. The Way It Was Supposed to Be 2. Oaksterdam 3. Kush Rush 4. Reefer Research 5. The Pot Docs 6. L.A. Excess 7. Wafting Widely 8. Courting Compassion 9. Martyrdom for the Missionaries 10. Campaign for Cannabis 11. A Mile High and Beyond 12. Cultivating Trouble 13. Return of the Feds 14. Back to the Garden Acknowledgments Notes Index