Big Weed: An Entrepreneur’s High-Stakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business

In this lively look at the evolution of legal marijuana, Hageseth, founder of the company Green Man Cannabis, describes going from a complete newcomer in 2009 to a respected industry figure and multiple Cannabis Cup winner. Though Hageseth is clearly an aficionado, happy to talk about marijuana’s benefits, he approaches the topic as a businessman and entrepreneur, or, as he puts it, “ganjapreneur.” He speaks of finding financial backers, the fundamental disconnect between state legality and federal illegality (try finding a bank willing to accept drug money), law enforcement caught up in rapidly changing statutes and attitudes, and other problems legal growers face. “The legalization of marijuana is like the ending of Prohibition,” he states, before comparing the current market to another past era: the Wild West. Hageseth, whose goal is to create the first weedery, or marijuana winery, is making an entertaining but bumpy journey: unreliable business partners, uncooperative banks, financial setbacks. His style is frank and positive: “I have never known as much happiness as I have growing and selling this gorgeous plant.” Whatever the reader’s views on the subject, this is an ideal insider’s look at an industry in a time of momentous change. Agent: Yfat Reiss Gendell, Foundry Literary+Media. (Apr.)