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by Matteo Gracis (Author), Free Mind Publications (Translator)
A plant that for thousands of years (so, since the dawn of time), has been a companion of humanity, but for the past century has become the object of police force attention around the world.
A boy encounters this plant and its products, and gets wrapped up in the illicit aura that both attracts and repels, and which does not always make one pause and reflect.
These two stories weave together because as the boy grows up, and with him his consciousness, at the same time he develops a curiosity about the reason for prohibition, about why this plant is banned from agriculture, manufacturing and pharmacopoeia, sectors in which hemp played an important role for centuries.
So our author, in parallel with the journey that led him first to found a website with the objective of discussing the liberation of the plant, and then to create "Dolce Vita", the most prominent Italian magazine on the culture of hemp and alternative lifestyle, tells us the tormented story of the most controversial vegetable in the history of our civilization, asking new questions and getting some significant answers.
Two truly incredible stories: the one of Matteo quitting university to become a successful entrepreneur in the world of communication, and
that of hemp which, with extreme struggle but just as much resilience, is re-emerging from the limbo of illegality in many parts of the world including Italy, at least in its lighter, more acceptable forms.
This book documents a "green revolution" that has a solid cultural background, well beyond recreational use, narrated in an outstanding manner by one of its chief protagonists.
