Want to understand how big cannacorporations are taking over the marijuana market?  This new book, Cannabiz: The Explosive Rise of the Medical Marijuana Industry by John Geluardi delves into Oaksterdam and beyond.  On November 5th, this Friday, at 7 pm, Geluardi will be at Northtown Books in Arcata.

Rebecca Kaplan, an Oakland City Councilmember says that “Cannabiz fully captures the vibrant and ever-evolving political and economic landscape of the budding medical marijuana industry. Geluardi accurately paints the City of Oakland as a leader in legitimizing the industry and as the Silicon Valley of cannabis.” It is always wise to understand the big picture of any market and Cannabiz offers rural Humboldt growers an in-depth look at this and more.

Charting the rise of medical marijuana in California and 14 other states, award-winning journalist John Geluardi vividly recounts the movement’s early activism, its legal challenges and victories, and its emergence as a commercial and political force.

Tracing the history of marijuana in the United States, Cannabiz also reports on the industry’s key players, political allies and opponents, internal strife, and audacious aspirations—including a 2010 ballot initiative to legalize the adult use of marijuana in California. Along the way, Geluardi describes local efforts to regulate dispensaries, ranging from workable ordinances in some cities to bureaucratic paralysis in Los Angeles, where dispensaries came to outnumber McDonalds franchises. He also reports on efforts in our own Humboldt County to keep pot illegal—and prices high.

Adroitly profiling this unique industry, Cannabiz tells a distinctively American story—one whose colorful characters and fascinating details evoke Prohibition and the Gold Rush.

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Full disclosure:  John and I know each other.