Novelist Catherine Hiller is equally adept at non-fiction as she proved with Just Say Yes: A Marijuana Memoir in 2015. A decade later, she's updated the book for a 10th Anniversary Edition from Heliotrope Books.
Hiller's cannabis odyssey is told in reverse with her oldest memories and stories left until the end. It's a tale of personal use of a plant that's grown more popular over the years. At 77, she's practically a pioneer. Hiller grew up in New York's Greenwich Village, got married to a fellow hippie in 1969, attended the famous Woodstock Festival, had three kids with film editor Stanley Warnow (he worked on the Woodstock movie), and divorced and remmarried. She's written eight books over the years, most of the time happily stoned on marijuana (there was a three-year hiatus at one point).
Much of the book details the pros and cons of cannabis, leaning heavily on the pro side (ganjapreneur Steve DeAngelo penned the foreword), while also dealing with the negatives — memory lapses, the odor, dependence and its illegal status for most of her adult life. Hiller first got high with a boy when she was 16 and the fact that Stan smoked pot helped bring them together. Her current husband Mark is in AA .
"It's a tale of personal use of a plant that's grown more popular over the years."
Hiller's fiction-writing skills add layers of enjoyment to the read. She's no drug-policy wonk, viewing the world through a softer, more sensual lens. But her language — calling cannabis users "dopers" and regularly referring to her "habit" — can be off-putting. In the "Quitting" chapter, she writes:
"I'm no longer proud to be a pot-smoker but a little ashamed. And I could use a break. I've probably smoked everyday since Jerome [her third child] stopped nursing eight years ago, Stopping smoking is part of starting over, starting clean and surely my breath will be better... As the days go by I feel very pleased with life, elated about my new purity."
Hiller even enrolled in an AA class to see what it's like. But "after half a dozen," she recalls. "I had enough."
Her second marriage may have toned down her use, but never completely stopped it. While she reflects on a few close calls with the law, Hiller acknowledges her privilige. She also credits her clean record to extreme caution and being a woman.
On the lighter side, in the "How to Smoke Almost Anywhere" chapter, Hiller discusses how much she loves to "fly stoned." She advises using her six-step routine to conceal the cannabis high:
"I put eyedrops into my flaming eyes and take an ibuprofin. I wash my hands with soap and spray on perfume. I brush my teeth and swallow something, anything such as some juice or a cookie."
Some of the best chapters, about the end of a close friendship or an encounter with John Updike, only tangentially touch on pot.
Hiller's words — some new, the rest written 10 years ago — ring true for the most part. A life committed to cannabis is indeed something to behold.
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