WATERSTONED
Book giant’s ‘grow your own’ cannabis guides
GUIDES on how to grow and use marijuana – and avoid a visit from police while doing so – are on sale at Britain’s biggest high street book chain, Waterstones.
The books offer tips on making cannabis pipes out of household materials, and recipes for dishes and drinks laced with the illegal drug. Some even teach readers how to set up a lucrative businesses selling cannabis – a risky venture that can be punished by up to 14 years in jail. The maximum penalty for possession is five years in prison.
Last night drug experts voiced concern over the presentation of cannabis as a ‘safe’ drug, warning that the books could normalise a substance that has been linked to psychosis and other disorders.
It comes after The Mail on Sunday last week exposed a West Midlands club openly promoting cannabis use.
The books on sale from Waterstones include The Cannabis Grow Bible, by Greg Green, which gives tips for how to avoid being caught – such as getting an extractor fan if you live in a flat so that others in the building will not smell the drug. It also teaches users how to make pipes out of marker pens.
There is advice on what to do if people feel ‘on the verge of a total freak-out’ after over-indulging, and readers are told that if a pet accidentally ingests the drug it will probably be ‘just fine’, although a vet should still be contacted.
The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook, by Elise McDonough, provides recipes for users who prefer eating the drug. Readers are told it is ‘impossible to fatally over-Rethink dose on cannabis, even if you’ve just eaten an entire cake frosted with cannabis buttercream’.
It includes a Valentine’s Day recipe for ganja-dipped chocolate strawberries with the words: ‘Cannabis brings couples closer together.’
Among other recipes are pot pesto, rasta pasta, cannabis caramels, and for the more sophisticated, pot and pancetta-stuffed beef tenderloin.
The Marijuana Food Handbook, by Bill Drake, suggests how cannabis can be incorporated into sex lives, with concoctions to lick off each other’s bodies. The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Marijuana, by Lloyd Johnson, boasts tips for getting ‘the most out of your money’ – and a warning to keep such activities from friends to prevent them informing the authorities.
Another book, Grow Marijuana Now, by Alicia Williamson, describes cannabis as ‘a lucrative cash crop’. It adds that with the help of the book, ‘you’ll grow a great business in no time – literally!’
The titles are all freely available to order from the Waterstones website, with selected titles sold in stores.
Last night, charities voiced concern that the stores were selling guides promoting the consumption and supply of illegal drugs. Brian Dow, of Mental Illness, said: ‘It’s worrying when people see cannabis as a safe drug when it is linked to psychosis and could be very harmful to your health.
‘Books and guides to cannabis help perpetuate the notion it is nothing to get worked up about.’
Waterstones said it had no plans to remove the books from sale. A spokesman said: ‘Our website lists all the books notified to Nielsen, the standard industry database, by publishers and distributors in the UK. We do not censor this listing.’
West Midlands Police are still investigating an event in Birmingham that actively promoted cannabis use. Pictures revealed brazen revellers gorging on a chocolate and mango cannabis fountain.