A book of short stories by a variety of authors should have something in common, something to focus on, but in this book that is not the case, despite that the book is supposedly collected on the theme of Cannabis. It is a mish-mash of stories, disjointed, disconnected. I couldnt' finish the book.

The book is the fourth in a series of literary collection of drug themes, the previous ones are cocaine, heroin, and speed. ( )

A kind of hodge podge of stories and poems some of which more or less related to cannabis use. Generally apolitical with some sloppy science fiction additions. The Oates story is the one I liked best. There seemed to be some irony there. I kept thinking throughout how exactly does any of this really compare to any number of other stories or novels I've read throughout the years where these characters or those were partakers of the herb and the answer is that for the most part these stories fall short. Anyway better luck with the next collection. ( )

This is an uneven collection of stories, sharing only the central theme of marijuana. Maggie Estep's story "Zombie Hookers of Hudson" is a standout, as is Abraham Rodriquez's "Moon Dust". ( )

A decent collection of short stories that share the theme of marijuana. Some were far better than others, a few were downright strange, but overall was a decent read. ( )

I thought "The Marijuana Chronicles" was a so-so compendium of stories that sort of had something to do with marijuana. The best stories in the collection: Thad Ziolkowski's "Jacked", and Cheryl lu-lien tan's "Ganja Ghosts", and Rachel Shteir's "Julie Falco Goes West..." all caught some truths about marijuana users and growers.
But most of the stories feel like they weren't finished yet, and were I the editor, I would have sent the stories back for more work.
For example, Joyce Carol Oates's story "High" starts out wonderfully well, really capturing the despair of the protagonist following the death of her husband. But of all the ways the story could have gone - of all the ways the author could have unleashed her heroine - the story that finally gets told seems unlikely, and un-real."Go back and try it again, please".
Similarly, Abraham Rodriguez's story, and Maggie Estup's story had the bones of being fine works...but they both feel like they were just sort of ended, and were not burnished or finely finished."You can tell this better, go back and try it again until you get it right." And you can tell Edward M. Gomez's story has the feel of truth, but did the story succeed in taking us to that truth? Nope, "You almost have it Edward, go back and with just a little more work, you'll have it."

I think a better compendium would not have asked current writers to submit a new story for the book. Rather if the editor had combed the body of stories written about marijuana in the last fifty years, he could have put together a more comprehensive, better told, better argued and better imagined anthology.