ROMANCING MARY JANE

Marijuana myths go up in smoke, man

I'd like to meet Michael Poole. Not because he supports the legalization of
marijuana or because he smokes it, or grows it, or even because he puts
forward, in Romancing Mary Jane: A Year in the Life of a Failed Marijuana
Grower, ideas about marijuana that are new to me.

No, I want to meet him because through this book he tells me the story of a
man who spends time looking at nature, laughs at himself, acknowledges his
own fallibility and enjoys being who he is.

Although the writing in this book is light-hearted, it carries a serious
message. It is not that everybody should be smoking marijuana. Neither is
this a `how-to-book' on growing marijuana. Rather, Poole argues that a whole
society has been persuaded that marijuana is bad, though many times the
facts don't support this attitude. (Check out the mythology section at the
back of the book.)

Poole suggests, further, that an unwinnable war over this issue is
exhausting people and resources on both sides.

Poole's visits with other growers are entertaining and enlightening. He is
careful not to reveal exact locations, but there are no meetings with
scar-faced men with bulges under their arm pits or with men wearing fancy
suits sitting in rented limousines at the corner of `walk and don't walk.'

Nevertheless, there is tension - the tension of getting caught. These
people are real, their lives are real, and the reader becomes a visitor in
their lives.

The author's descriptions of nature, and of tending his `gardens' are often
so clear that the reader reacts in surprise.

I'm not convinced that I should smoke marijuana. But I am convinced that
some of my opinions about it need reconsidering. The book has accomplished
its mission. Whether you think marijuana should be legal or not, this is a
bold, engaging and thought-provoking work.