High Literature: Cannabis Cookbooks, Novels and Memoirs by Colorado Authors

The internet is fun and all, but reading a book is still the best way to learn something — especially in the cannabis world, where hearsay and scantily sourced information run rampant. Whether you want to know more about growing cannabis, cooking edibles or humanity's relationship with the plant, a good ol'-fashioned book is waiting for you to siphon its trustworthy information.

Colorado writers have contributed mightily to the literary works focusing on cannabis since recreational legalization took place over a decade ago, documenting the rise and fall of hemp, questioning Americans' love of weed brownies and revisiting how ancient cultures use marijuana. From comic books to nonfiction, here are ten books by Colorado authors to seek out if you want to get lit:

Pots and Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis
Did you know that pot brownies became popular by mistake? Or that one of the world's earliest edibles recipes was used by a band of assassins? Boulder author and journalist Robyn Griggs Lawrence understands the ins and outs of the history behind cannabis edibles, and she makes a mean infused dinner, too. Her first book, The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, teaches readers how to make everything from sesame-crusted tuna to various cannabis curries, while her second, Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis, dives into humanity's long relationship with eating cannabis. In it, Lawrence describes the cannabis eating habits of Chinese and Persian cultures and shares modern and ancient edibles recipes.

Runner's High
Can cannabis actually help an athlete's performance? Author (and former Westword contributor) Josiah Hesse doesn't think athletes who test positive for cannabis should be barred from their sport, but he does believe it's time to re-evaluate the way we feel about pot's relationship to exercise and training. An avid runner who likes to eat edibles with small amounts of THC before lacing up, Hesse discovered the benefits that cannabis can have to both running and recuperating several years ago. Hesse's book on cannabis and athletes, Runner's High: How a Movement of Cannabis-Fueled Athletes Is Changing the Science of Sports, breaks down the plant's evolution into an athlete's training arsenal, shows where it fits in our ever-changing perception of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), and talks to athletes across the spectrum, from runners to bodybuilders, about how they use cannabis to their benefit.

Mile High Misfits
Denver native Matt Collins graduated from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design forty years ago but paused his artistic dreams to join the construction industry. When Colorado legalized recreational cannabis in 2012, however, Collins was inspired to create the Mile High Misfits art series. You can still find Mile High Misfits portraits, permanent Etch A Sketches, activity books and card games featuring his characters, straight from a stoner's imagination, in bookstores and online.

Brewing With Cannabis
Beer and cannabis: a  combination only rivaled by that scene in Predator where Carl Weathers and Arnold share a ten-second steroid handshake. Share that handshake with your Carhartt-wearing cousin this year by giving him Brewing With Cannabis, a book from Blue Moon Brewing Company creator Keith Villa on home-brewing THC beers. Villa left Coors-Molson in 2018 to start his own line of craft beers that are infused with THC and CBD but devoid of alcohol — but home brewers can leave all that good stuff in there as long as the beer isn't sold. Villa shared his THC peanut butter porter recipe with us a while back, but the whole book promises to deliver much more.

Hemp Can Change the World Cookbook
Rich in protein, fiber and good fats, hemp is quickly becoming a regular part of plant-based dishes and diets, and has even gained the annoying "superfood" moniker. But how are we supposed to eat it? Longtime chef Shadi Ramey found herself wondering the same thing. A private cannabis chef at the time, Ramey found incorporating hemp into a healthy diet was entirely different from doing the same with THC. After immersing herself in hemp cooking and even growing the plant for herself, the Boulder-based chef developed a full set of recipes featuring hemp seeds, hearts, oil and protein, among other hemp-based ingredients. Her cookbook, Hemp Can Change the World, is printed entirely on hemp paper, with recipes like hemp heart tabbouleh, hemp-mushroom chili and hemp-crusted mushroom tacos.
Wolves of Hemp Street
Colorado's hemp and CBD sectors haven't rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of this was bad luck, but some of the trouble came from within, according to former hemp farmhand Floyd Wooderson. A worker in Colorado's hemp and CBD trades during their rise and downfall, Wooderson documented his experiences with the "dark side" of CBD in his new book, Wolves of Hemp Street. Although not jaded enough to walk away from using CBD and careful to note his respect for many people still working around hemp, Wooderson says he was forced to deal with a lot of "shady people out there without any integrity" in Colorado's hemp and CBD spaces.

"I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and say that 75 percent of the people in it now are in it for the right reasons and truly believe in the product. A couple years back during the boom, it may have been closer to fifty-fifty," he says. For the sake of literary drama, luckily, Wooderson worked during the boom.

Cannabis in the Ancient Greek and Roman World
Friends, potheads, countryfolk, lend me your ears: You don't have to be a man to be fascinated by the Romans. Many of their creations live on today, from bound books to the calendar, yet their connections to cannabis were largely shrouded in history with little note until Alan Sumler came along. Sumler, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver, dove through texts and historical references from Greek, Latin and Roman societies to learn about their cannabis use. Hemp, ancient medical marijuana and recreational pot use are all covered in his book, Cannabis in the Ancient Greek and Roman World.

Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West
As a semi-driver for a decade, Finn Murphy has seen a lot. Looking for a new experience, the longtime small-businessman and author of The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road thought that he'd found a gold mine in legal hemp. However, all he got was a "tragicomedy" that was part of "another boom that went bust in Colorado," he says. Well, that and another book. Murphy's latest offering, Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West, details his hopes, dreams and failures in Colorado's hemp trade. According to the now-former farmer, his tale is not unusual: Thousands of farmers were sold on the idea of hemp saving local agriculture in the late 2010s, only to see the bottom drop out in 2019 and 2020.

Teacher Who Grew Marijuana: A Colorado Cannabis Story
After teaching in the Denver Public Schools system for eighteen years, B.J. Stoyer wanted to explore a new frontier. So after taking a couple of years off work, Stoyer joined the legal cannabis industry. She worked as a trimmer and dispensary employee during most of her seven years among the weeds, taking notes about her spicy work experiences almost from the start. Upon retiring from commercial cannabis earlier this year, Stoyer turned those notes into The Teacher Who Grew Marijuana: A Colorado Cannabis Story, a fictional book based on her time in dispensaries and growing operations.

"As an industry worker, I was able to have candid conversations with customers and co-workers without anyone feeling paranoid or uncomfortable," Stoyer recently told Westword. "In the book, [protagonist] Paige learned to communicate with the plants, which came quite naturally. She also educated people about cannabis and felt as if she belonged to a cannabis family."

Growing Weed in the Garden
Caring more about respecting Mother Nature than the law comes with a certain streak of rebelliousness, a streak that Denver-based writer Johanna Silver, the former garden editor of Sunset magazine, normalizes in her new book, Growing Weed in the Garden. Silver's guide, an introduction to cannabis growing and the plant in general, aims to direct new pot growers toward the sunlight instead of the basement as she interviews home growers across the country about their trials and tribulations with hail, local laws and gardening strategies.