Review: Reefer Madness

Title:  Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Author:  Eric Schlosser

Published:  April 1, 2004

# of Pages:  352

ISBN:  0618446702

My Rating:  3/5

America”s black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risqué video, or pay our kids’ nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation turns his exacting eye on the underbelly of the American marketplace and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays — pot, porn, and illegal immigrants — Eric Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He also draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns — and profits — from the underground. Schlosser blends big-picture analysis, intrepid reporting, and fascinating character studies to paint “an enthralling yet appalling portrait of things too often ignored” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Reefer Madness is a powerful investigation that illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow. 

I picked up Reefer Madness as an audiobook on a whim at the library.  I thoroughly enjoyed Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and was interested to see what else he has to offer.  Reefer Madness was interesting and well-researched, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations (I just hate that, don’t you?). 

First, the good.  The book was EXTREMELY well-researched.  I mean, I learned just about everything there is to know about the American black market as it relates to marijuana, the porn industry, and illegal immigrant labor.  I have to say that this isn’t necessarily a topic that I would have read about were I not already a fan of Schlosser, and I also have to say that Schlosser’s meticulous research and attention to detail drew me in and made me want to be interested in these topics.  So for anyone already interested in this stuff, I’d say that this is a must-read.  Also, Schlosser is very compelling.  His arguments for why he believes marijuana should be decriminalized in the United States, for why labor laws should be better even when dealing with illegal immigrants, etc., are extremely convincing.  He really knows what he’s talking about, and he’s super passionate about this stuff, and it really shows.

Here’s what I didn’t like – first of all, the book was s.l.o.w. in parts.  Seriously.  For a book about the black market, which you’d think would be more on the exciting side, portions of the book just dragged.  And the other criticism that I have is that I’m still having a hard time totally understanding how these three topics are related.  I mean, I get how they are all bought and sold on the black market, but I don’t feel like Schlosser effectively used transitions and other devices to tie everything together.  It was more like three separate sections with only a rough analysis of how they are related at the end.

Overall, Reefer Madness was a pretty interesting book, but I have trouble recommending it 100%.  I’d recommend it for super non-fiction fans and for those with an interest in the American black market (or one of the three topics individually).