{"product_id":"opium-for-the-masses","title":"Opium for the Masses","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe underground classic on America's forgotten opium\u003cbr\u003ehistory--botany, law, and the politics of a notorious plant.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst published in the 1990s, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOpium for the Masses\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e by Jim Hogshire became one\u003cbr\u003eof the most talked-about counterculture books on the history, legality, and\u003cbr\u003efolklore surrounding the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Blending\u003cbr\u003einvestigative reporting, cultural history, and archival research, Hogshire\u003cbr\u003eexamines how a plant once common in American gardens and medicine cabinets\u003cbr\u003ebecame one of the most heavily regulated substances in modern life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on historical documents, agricultural records, and\u003cbr\u003eimmigrant traditions, the book traces opium's role in nineteenth- and early\u003cbr\u003etwentieth-century medicine, wartime supply, and home remedies. Hogshire\u003cbr\u003esituates the poppy within a broader discussion of drug policy, prohibition, and\u003cbr\u003ethe shifting legal and cultural frameworks that transformed a widely known\u003cbr\u003emedicinal plant into a symbol of illicit pharmacology. The book's publication\u003cbr\u003esparked national media attention, including coverage in \u003ci\u003eHarper's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003cbr\u003ehas remained a frequently cited work in discussions of drug history, policy, \u003cbr\u003eand underground publishing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eControversial since its release, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOpium for the Masses\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e is\u003cbr\u003ebest understood as a document of cultural history and dissent--an examination of\u003cbr\u003ehow knowledge about plants, medicine, and law circulates outside official\u003cbr\u003echannels. Decades later, it continues to attract readers interested in drug\u003cbr\u003epolicy, ethnobotany, underground literature, and the history of American\u003cbr\u003eself-medication. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA key title for readers of countercultural history, drug\u003cbr\u003epolicy, ethnobotany, and alternative publishing.","brand":"Feral House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53017172967744,"sku":"9781932595468","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/8912\/3648\/files\/imageloader_aa96aa6a-2b55-4e75-8676-ef750beed1ff.jpg?v=1786542645","url":"https:\/\/silverstreetbooks.com\/products\/opium-for-the-masses","provider":"silverstreetbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}