Critics say legal marijuana peddlers in New York City are trying to increase profits by getting customers high with hypnotic books.
Housing Works Cannabis, Inc. We’ve rolled out something new “Weeds and Reading” In this month’s online promotion, customers who purchase certain pot products will also receive a book selected by the Manhattan-based dispensary.
February’s giveaway: “Black Girl, Call Home” by Newark, N.J.-born poet and cannabis advocate Jasmine Manns is a series of poems about her journey to becoming a queer black woman.
The book includes left-handed quotes such as, “How can you tell a woman that raising a black son isn’t some inside joke orchestrated by God and white men?”
To get a copy, stoners must purchase at least one of four products, including pineapple gummies for $30 and weed-infused honey for $50 a bottle.
Other books to be released in the coming months include Josiah Hesse’s Runner’s High. The book claims that, oddly enough, petrified athletes are better off than plain athletes.
“Despite common misconceptions, we find that cannabis users are typically more physically fit than abstainers and exercise more frequently than those who abstain from cannabis,” he says in the book’s intro. writing.
Maude Maron, a New York City parent’s rights activist and local school board member, wondered why Housing Works didn’t offer a more mainstream selection of books.
“Their book selections are part of a pseudo-religious leftism that is not based on fact, in which people on the left have lost the ability to critique and think critically,” he said. “They’re marketing to a lot of people who already agree with them.”
Unlike the book, cannabis is not basic, Maron said, poking fun at the promotional mix.
“Healthy living means putting down the hood and picking up a book,” she said.
City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) was shocked to learn about the free books program.
“Sane, sober people don’t buy enlightenment, so the lunatics have found a new marketing strategy to sell their indoctrination,” she said. “For the first time, radicals are using logic, because to get their point across you have to fly as high as a kite.”
Housing Works, a nonprofit organization that claims its primary purpose is to fight AIDS and homelessness, has previously been criticized for pushing “harm reduction” services, such as providing clean syringes to addicts, on clients. Ta.
Customers at Housing Works’ Greenwich Village store, home to the state’s first licensed cannabis dispensary, had mixed reactions to the program.
“If you smoke a lot, you need to exercise your mind,” said Asa Ohalete, 21, a student at New York University. “If you don’t read books, you’ll go crazy.”
Others were less convinced that reading and “weeding” were fundamental.
“A nice picture book can get you hooked, but what other types of books do you read when you’re high?” Definitely not,” said America Young, 33, a technology recruiter.
Sasha Nutgent, director of retail at Housing Works Cannabis, said the Weed & Read program will “contribute to eliminating stigma against the non-toxic cannabis plant through storytelling, journalistic investigation or advocacy. It was developed to “focus on authors who are.”
“Each book selected for the Weed & Read program aligns with Housing Works values, which have been solid since 1990.” she said.
