Too High to Fail

The nation's economy is in trouble, but one cash crop has the potential to turn it around: cannabis. ABC News reports that underground cannabis industry produces $35.8 billion in annual revenues. But, thanks to Nixon and the War on Drugs, marijuana is still synonymous with heroin on the federal level even though it has won mainstream acceptance. Too High to Fail is an objectively (if humorously) reported account of how one plant can change the shape of our country, culturally, politically, and economically. It covers everything from a brief history of hemp to an insider's perspective on a growing season in Mendocino County, where cannabis drives 80 percent of the economy. Doug Fine follows one plant from seed to patient in the first American county to fully legalize and regulate cannabis farming. He profiles a critical issue to lawmakers, media pundits, an ordinary Americans. It is a wild ride that includes college tuitions paid with cash, cannabis-friendly sheriffs, and access to the world of the emerging legitimate, taxpaying "ganjaprenneur.""Well-researched.... eye-opening and persuasive."
— Bill Maher, The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Too High to Fail:
"Fine examines how the American people have borne the massive economic and social expenditures of the failed Drug War, which is 'as unconscionably wrong for America as segregation and DDT.' A captivating, solidly documented work rendered with wit and humor."
— Kirkus (Starred Review)

"In his entertaining new book...[Fine] successfully illuminates an unusual world where cannabis growers sing “Happy Birthday” to [friendly law enforcement] while crossing their fingers against the threat of federal raids.This informative book will give even hardened drug warriors pause."
— Publishers Weekly


Praise for Farewell, My Subaru:
“Fine is a…storyteller in the mold of…Douglas Adams. If you’re a fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-style humor — and also looking to find out how to raise your own livestock to feed your ice-cream fetish — Farewell, My Subaru may prove a vital tool.”
— Washington Post

“[Fine] is Bryson funny.”
— Santa Cruz Sentinel

“This is Green Acres for the smart set—a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it.”
— AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

“A chuckle or a wry grin is waiting on every page, if not each paragraph. It’s the kind of humor that builds gradually, that sneaks up on you with such stealth that you hardly even realize what a good time you’re having until it’s all over. By the end of Farewell, My Subaru you can think of nothing that would seem like more fun than hanging out at Fine’s ranch, vainly striving to keep his goats from eating the rose bushes. Think James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small — updated as appropriate for the iPod generation.”
— Salon

"Well-researched.... eye-opening and persuasive." — Bill Maher, The New York Times Book Review Doug Fine is the author of two previous books, Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man and Farewell, My Subaru (a Boston Globe bestseller). He has reported for The Washington Post, Wired, Salon, High Times, Outside, NPR, and U.S. News & World Report. He currently lives in New Mexico, where he relocated his family to research this book.