Pothead: My Life as a Marijuana Addict in the Age of Legal Weed

by Neal Pollack

Overview

A poignantly funny account of renowned writer and humorist Neal Pollack's years as a marijuana addict.

Beginning innocently enough in his 20s, Neal Pollack discovers that pot makes everything—food, music, sex—better. Getting married, having a kid, and enjoying professional success do nothing to dampen Pollack's enthusiasm for getting high. As cannabis grows stronger and more widely available, the expansion and acceptance of marijuana Big Business shadows Pollack's dependence.

By 2014, Neal is a correspondent for a national marijuana newspaper, mostly because it means free pot. Diving into the wild, wicked world of weed with both lungs, Pollack proceeds to smoke, vape, and eat his way to oblivion, leading to public meltdowns and other embarrassing behavior. After his mother dies in 2017, he spirals out of control, finally hitting bottom during a reckless two-day gambling and drug-filled binge, culminating in a public crack-up at the World Series in Dodger Stadium. Three weeks later, he quits.

After joining a twelve-step program, Neal outs himself as a marijuana addict in a 2018 New York Times op-ed piece, leading to his decision to document his experience as a cautionary tale for the millions of recreational users in the hazy age of legalized weed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949481303
Publisher:	Central Recovery Press, LLC
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Neal Pollack, “The Greatest Living American Writer,” is the author of 10 previously published books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling memoirs Alternadad and Stretch, the cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, the novels Never Mind The Pollacks, Jewball, Repeat, and Keep Mars Weird, and Downward-Facing Death and Open Your Heart, a pair of “yoga mysteries.” Pollack is currently the editor-in-chief of Book and Film Globe. His 25-year freelance writing credits include a column in Vanity Fair, as well as GQ, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Journal, Slate, Salon, Nerve, The Federalist, The Drive, Yahoo!, Esquire, The Jewish Daily Forward, Decider, and many other publications large and small. A three-time Jeopardy! Champion, a former correspondent for The Cannabist, and a certified yoga instructor, Pollack lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife (the painter Regina Allen), their son Elijah, and a Boston Terrier named Briar.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Stoned

Free America 3

What a Dope 11

A Member of the Rock Star Poet Literary Elite 17

A Cool Stoner Dad 27

The Long Night of My Trivia Soul 35

The Weird Turn Pro 63

Ganja Yoga 69

The Baklava of Death 81

Post-Trebek Stress Disorder 89

Mother Died Today 99

The Hand You're Dealt 121

No More Death 133

There's No Crying in Baseball 139

Part 2 Sober

Out of the Fog 163

Powerless 169

The Problem with Poker 173

Sober Tent 185

The Dream Dog Appears 189

Daddy Issues 199

The Heart of the Matter 207

No Weddings and a Funeral 223

Acknowledgments 232

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Pothead captures a giddy, buzzy, unprecedented moment in our culture—a new, outwardly joyful wave of reefer madness that takes its toll. Neal has always been a hilarious writer, but also surprisingly reflective and bravely self-insightful. His latest book is as funny as always, but also, bracingly, movingly sober.—John Hodgman, comedian and author of Vacationland and Medallion Status

You don’t have to be a pothead to appreciate the humor and pathos in Pothead, Neal Pollack’s zippy, deep-thinking Gen-X recovery memoir.—Caroline Kepnes, author of You

In the recovery movement, they might call the first half of Neal Pollack’s Pothead a war story, for its impressively rich catalogue of indignities and pratfalls. But as in all the best war stories, Pollack’s account is rendered with such spirit and wit, with such a bottomless arsenal of hilarities that it is impossible to look away. We long throughout this harrowing account for the moment when Neal Pollack’s feet will strike the earth, and when he does, his considerable talent billows out with a bright new reflective aspect. This is an especially lucid and welcome account, therefore, of a long journey through compulsion into clarity, insight, and acceptance.—Rick Moody, award-winning author of The Black Veil and The Ice Storm

Neal Pollack’s Pothead is a harrowing corrective to the popular myth that marijuana use is always safe and consequence-free. Told with ruthless honesty and Pollack’s signature irreverence, it delineates how a seemingly harmless habit can devolve into a life-ruining addiction, and what it takes to come back. This is a valuable, timely addition to our cultural conversation about marijuana, and a gift to anyone who loves fearless memoir laced with dark wit.—Kristi Coulter, author of Nothing Good Can Come from This

Pollock’s writing is heartbreaking, funny, tender, and honest. And it offers great hope for the growing numbers who are finding themselves addicted to marijuana in this legal age of weed. I read this book in one sitting. It’s that good and it’s that helpful. All at the same time.—Dana Bowman, author of Bottled and How to Be Perfect Like Me

Editorial Reviews

You don’t have to be a pothead to appreciate the humor and pathos in Pothead, Neal Pollack’s zippy, deep-thinking Gen-X recovery memoir. —Caroline Kepnes, author of You

Pothead captures a giddy, buzzy, unprecedented moment in our culture—a new, outwardly joyful wave of reefer madness that takes its toll. Neal has always been a hilarious writer, but also surprisingly reflective and bravely self-insightful. His latest book is as funny as always, but also, bracingly, movingly sober. —John Hodgman, comedian and author of Vacationland and Medallion Status

In the recovery movement, they might call the first half of Neal Pollack’s Pothead a war story, for its impressively rich catalogue of indignities and pratfalls. But as in all the best war stories, Pollack’s account is rendered with such spirit and wit, with such a bottomless arsenal of hilarities that it is impossible to look away. We long throughout this harrowing account for the moment when Neal Pollack’s feet will strike the earth, and when he does, his considerable talent billows out with a bright new reflective aspect. This is an especially lucid and welcome account, therefore, of a long journey through compulsion into clarity, insight, and acceptance. —Rick Moody, award-winning author of The Black Veil and The Ice Storm

Neal Pollack’s Pothead is a harrowing corrective to the popular myth that marijuana use is always safe and consequence-free. Told with ruthless honesty and Pollack’s signature irreverence, it delineates how a seemingly harmless habit can devolve into a life-ruining addiction, and what it takes to come back. This is a valuable, timely addition to our cultural conversation about marijuana, and a gift to anyone who loves fearless memoir laced with dark wit. —Kristi Coulter, author of Nothing Good Can Come from This

Pollock’s writing is heartbreaking, funny, tender, and honest. And it offers great hope for the growing numbers who are finding themselves addicted to marijuana in this legal age of weed. I read this book in one sitting. It’s that good and it’s that helpful. All at the same time. —Dana Bowman, author of Bottled and How to Be Perfect Like Me

From the Publisher

2020-03-24
The Austin-based novelist and journalist chronicles his battle with marijuana.

In his two previous books of nonfiction, Pollack has explored his attempts to reinvent himself. Alternadad (2007) recounted his efforts to become a cool father while Stretch (2010) focused on the practical and existential benefits of yoga. While the author has always made a few sly comments about his drug consumption, his latest book shows how, for the 15 years after Rolling Stone named him the “Hot Writer of the Millenium” in 2000, he engaged in a “nonstop marijuana binge.” Pollack begins in gonzo fashion with a chronicle of his road trip from Austin to Pueblo, Colorado, where he and his pal explored the newly (state) legal forms of cannabis, driving around “high as mockingbirds.” For those who follow the author’s work, there are a few pleasing flashbacks, including his run on Jeopardy!and his stint as a marijuana journalist. However, what seemed like mischievous misadventures at the time are uncomfortably rendered here. Among Pollack’s many transgressions: exploding into a profanity-laced tirade during a pub trivia night, falling into a “low-rent gambling” habit, and “plac[ing] my marriage in mortal danger” with his erratic behavior. The plummet to the bottom occurred after his mother’s sudden death, after which the author took himself on a “self-styled improvised baseball holiday,” spending money he didn’t have on a ticket to the 2017 World Series. And smoking a joint laced with crack in the depths of grief did little to improve his demeanor. The consequences described in the book’s final half comprise a fairly conventional addiction-narrative arc, with Pollack coming to terms with his addiction and the need for sobriety. Ultimately, it’s the same old song: Artist gets really high, screws up a lot, and finally grows up a little bit.

An intermittently funny yet largely unremarkable memoir of recovery.

Kirkus Reviews