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Thai stick : surfers, scammers, and the untold story of the marijuana trade / Peter Maguire and Mike Ritter.

by Maguire, Peter (Peter H.)

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Columbia University Press, 2014.

363.450959 M213t

Marijuana industry -- Thailand.

Drug traffic -- Thailand -- History.

Smugglers -- Thailand -- Biography.

9780231161343 (hc.)

0231161344 (hc.)

9780231161343 (hc.)

0231161344 (hc.)

xxxiii, 236 pages : illustrations, maps

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword -- Introduction -- Surfers, scammers, and the counterculture -- The Hippie trail -- Kuta beach -- Thai sticks -- Pattaya Beach ground zero -- The sea of grass -- The gold rush -- Pirates and perils -- Multitons and mother ships -- The Dea gains ground -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

"A Thai stick is a form of cannabis from Thailand that was popular during the late 1960s and 1970s. It consisted of premium buds of seedless marijuana which were skewered on stems. The Thai sticks exhibited considerably higher potency than the other cannabis products available in Western countries at the time. Thai cannabis growers had for hundreds of years selected seeds from their strongest plants, which coupled with Thailand's long growing season, high temperatures, and rich volcanic soil, conspired to produce an exceptionally potent product. Bangkok, known to the locals as Krungthep, is the capital city of Thailand and has been home to smugglers and adventurers since the late eighteenth century. During the 1970s, it became a modern Casablanca to a new generation of treasure seekers, from surfers looking to finance their endless summers to wide-eyed hippie true believers and lethal marauders left over from the Vietnam War. Moving a shipment of Thai sticks from northeast Thailand farms to American consumers meant navigating one of the most complex smuggling channels in the history of the drug trade. Many forget that until the mid-1970s, the vast majority of marijuana consumed in the United States was imported, and there was little to no domestic production. This book documents that international smuggling industry, using the fading memories of its elusive participants. Drawing on interviews with smugglers and law enforcement agents, the authors recount the buy, delivery, voyage home, and product offload. They capture the eccentric personalities of the men and women who transformed the Thai marijuana trade from a cottage industry into a professionalized business moving the world's most lucrative commodities, unraveling a rare history from the smugglers' perspective."--Provided by publisher.

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