SCHLOSSER MAKES SENSE IN 'MADNESS'

Eric Schlosser takes a leap that is not immediately logical, following up
on last year's Fast Food Nation with the new Reefer Madness.

In his first book, the investigative reporter examined the fast-food
process "from meat to marketing," showing in stomach-churning detail how
those ubiquitous franchises have changed America's cultural landscape. The
book has been on The New York Times best seller list for more than a year.

Reefer Madness delves into the one sector of the American economy that
seems immune to recession: the black market. Nobody knows how big that
market is. Some educated guesses put it at 10 percent of the nation's gross
domestic product, or about $1 trillion.

"At some point in the mid-to late 1960s, the underground economy began to
grow," Schlosser writes. "Conservative economists point to high income tax
rates and excessive government regulation as the fundamental causes.
Liberals contend that declining wages, unemployment, union busting, and the
business deregulation of the Reagan years were much more responsible."

Schlosser, 43, is an unapologetic muckraker and a talented writer, inspired
as much by stylist John McPhee as gonzo Hunter S. Thompson. He is a
journalist with a mission, but not an agenda. And that is a crucial
distinction.

In Fast Food Nation, he didn't stop at pointing out the dangerous,
unchecked power of multinational corporations; he suggested some things
that ordinary people could do to make a difference. He does the same thing
in Reefer Madness, first establishing that everyone is affected by an
out-of-control black market, and then showing a few alternative paths.

Schlosser focuses on three aspects of the underground economy: marijuana,
pornography and illegal immigrant labor. The book's title, taken from the
1936 propaganda film that showed marijuana turning teen-agers into ax
murderers, doesn't do justice to the scope of the book. It does, however,
clearly define the element of "unreason" that links society's reactions to
pot, porn and criminally cheap labor.

"I'm not truly objective," Schlosser concedes without hesitation. "Even
computer software reflects the bias of the person who wrote it. .. But my
aim is to make people think."

He thinks that marijuana should be decriminalized, that hypocrisy should
not continue to dictate so many of the policy decisions governing
pornography, and that government should always ensure a basic minimum of
decency for workers,-illegal and otherwise.

The author relies on big numbers, small vignettes and perfect details to
tell his overall story.

In the section on drugs, Schlosser makes it clear what farmers, and law
enforcement, are up against in today's economy: "A bushel of corn sells for
roughly $2, a bushel of manicured marijuana for at least $70,000."

One of the themes that emerges in Schlosser's work is how interconnected we
all are: Even if you don't buy or sell drugs, rent dirty videos or partake
of strawberries picked by indentured servants, the black market affects you.

When illegal immigrants enter a job market, wages fall for other workers.
And the drug trade is responsible in one way or another for much of the
nation's violent crime.