{"product_id":"thai-stick-surfers-scammers-and-the-untold-story-of-the-marijuana-trade-paperback","title":"Thai Stick: Surfers, Scammers, and the Untold Story of the Marijuana Trade - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePeter Maguire\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLocated on the left bank of the Chao Phya River, Thailand's capital, Krungthep, known as Bangkok to Westerners and \"the City of Angels\" to Thais, has been home to smugglers and adventurers since the late eighteenth century. During the 1970s, it became a modern Casablanca to a new generation of treasure seekers, from surfers looking to finance their endless summers to wide-eyed hippie true believers and lethal marauders left over from the Vietnam War. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMoving a shipment of Thai sticks from northeast Thailand farms to American consumers meant navigating one of the most complex smuggling channels in the history of the drug trade. Many forget that until the mid-1970s, the vast majority of marijuana consumed in the United States was imported, and there was little to no domestic production. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePeter Maguire and Mike Ritter are the first historians to document this underground industry, the only record of its existence rooted in the fading memories of its elusive participants. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with smugglers and law enforcement agents, the authors recount the buy, delivery, voyage home, and product offload. They capture the eccentric personalities of the men and women who transformed the Thai marijuana trade from a GI cottage industry into a professionalized business moving the world's most lucrative commodities, unraveling a rare history from the smugglers' perspective.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeter Maguire is the author of \u003ci\u003eLaw and War\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFacing Death in Cambodia\u003c\/i\u003e. He is a historian and former war-crimes investigator whose writings have been published in the \u003ci\u003eInternational Herald Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e. He has taught law and war theory at Columbia University and Bard College. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMike Ritter dropped out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1967 and set off on the Hippie Trail to Afghanistan and India, where he began smuggling hash and marijuana in 1968 and continued for eighteen years. He recently graduated from the University of Hawaii with an undergraduate degree in astronomy and physics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid Farber is as a professor in the Department of History at Temple University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is the author or coeditor of several books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTaken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America's First Encounter with Radical Islam\u003c\/i\u003e.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 272\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 09, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44441640435814,"sku":"9780231161350","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/ZmJBaDlzbXJmNTZvc3psWjV4WnFHUT09.webp?v=1770580468","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/thai-stick-surfers-scammers-and-the-untold-story-of-the-marijuana-trade-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}