Host Lisa Loving interviews Martin Lee, author of "Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational and Scientific", a panoramic, character-driven narrative that explains why marijuana affects so many aspects of American life, "Smoke Signals" chronicles the development of a grassroots movement that began in the 1960s and grew into a widespread populist revolt against prohibition. The great leap forward came in 1996, when California voters shocked the political and medical establishments by passing Proposition 215, which authorized doctors to approve marijuana use by patients. Similar laws have since been enacted in 16 other states and the District of Columbia.
MARTIN A. LEE is the director of Project CBD, an information service that reports on cannabis science and therapeutics. He is also the associate editor of O’Shaughnessy’s, the journal of cannabis in clinical practice, and a contributing writer for BeyondTHC.com. Lee’s first book, Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD – The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond, was published by Grove Press in 1986 and by MacMillan UK in 2001. Lee is co-founder of the media research group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting), former editor and publisher of FAIR’s magazine Extra!, and co-author with Norman Solomon of Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias In News Media (Lyle Stuart, 1990). Lee received the Pope Foundation Award for Investigative Journalism for his work on The Beast Reawakens, a book about resurgent racism and neofascism published in hardcover by Little, Brown (1997) in the U.S. and Great Britain and as a revised and updated paperback by Routledge (2000). Lee has been a guest on CBS 48 Hours, CNN’s International Hour, BBC-TV and radio, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR’s Fresh Air, and C-Span. His articles have been published in many media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, The Nation, Newsday, Miami Herald, Village Voice, Christian Science Monitor, Interview, Mother Jones, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Jose Mercury News, Spin, LA Weekly, Utne Reader, National Catholic Reporter, In These Times, the Progressive, and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Intelligence Report.” Lee has also written for the Associated Press and InterPress Service, and his articles have been syndicated by the New York Times and Alternet.
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