Seeing through the Smoke

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What to expect

Depending on which doctor you speak with or which websites you read, cannabis could be an appealing, low-risk medicine—even an aid to wellness—or an insidiously addictive drug rotting the brains of our youth. This dissonance confuses young people, distressed patients, and paralyzes politicians, all while inviting dubious sources of information and resulting in uninformed choices, enhanced polarization, and a fragmented national policy.

Seeing through the Smoke is an unflinching examination at the grossly misunderstood drug that uses data-driven medical science and a critical historical perspective to reveal the truth behind cannabis.

In this balanced and measured investigation, cannabis specialist and instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School Dr. Peter Grinspoon untangles the reality behind cannabis, revealing how we ended up with radically divergent understandings of the drug and pointing a way toward a middle ground that we can all share.

Moving through an illuminating tour of the social history and the medical science behind cannabis, Grinspoon unpacks the layers of disinformation left by a sordid history of government propaganda, racial suppression, and indifference from the medical community to answer questions like:

Is cannabis addictive?

What are its best-established medical uses?

Can cannabis help cure cancer?

How does cannabis affect memory?

How dangerous is cannabis for teens?

Is cannabis a safer treatment for ADHD and PTSD?

What exactly is CBD and how is it different from marijuana?

What are the most concerning side effects?

By focusing on the most critical purported harms—driving, pregnancy, addictiveness, memory—and by focusing on the most commonly cited medical benefits—relieving chronic pain, sleep, anxiety, PTSD, autism, and cancer—Seeing through the Smoke will help patients, parents, doctors, health experts, regulators, and politicians move beyond biased perceptions and arrive at a shared reality towards cannabis.

Critics Review

  • “An unflinching and utterly personal journey through the often-confusing cannabis landscape…Seeing through the Smoke has something for everyone—from the novice to the expert and everyone in between with an interest in cannabis.”

    Staci Gruber, MD, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

  • “An unflinching and utterly personal journey through the often-confusing cannabis landscape. Readers will delight in the historical as well as the scientific focus brought to life by Grinspoon, whose roots and professional experience provide a unique and fascinating perspective. Seeing through the Smoke has something for everyone—from the novice to the expert and everyone in between with an interest in cannabis.”

    Staci Gruber, M.D., director of Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

  • “When I was a child, I saw my great uncle, a physician, helping my cousin clean and prepare his medicine—pot—so he could tolerate his chemotherapy treatments. Seeing through the Smoke clearly lays out the case for cannabis as a medicine while thoughtfully and calmly outlining its risks. Not only should everyone read this book, but they should share it with their loved ones too.”

    Julie Holland, MD, author of Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, from Soul to Psychedelics

  • “Seeing through the Smoke provides refreshing insights into the biases that have challenged cannabis research to date. Honest, personal, poignant, comprehensive, and totally current, this book emphatically reminds us that the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence of effectiveness for this extremely therapeutic botanical.”

    Donald I. Abrams, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, University of California San Francisco

  • “In this lively, witty, and deeply personal book, Grinspoon takes readers on a fascinating tour of everything you ever wanted to know about the benefits of cannabis—especially what it can do to ameliorate suffering and enhance human potential—while always remaining grounded in the scientific evidence. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

    Jay Wexler, professor of law specializing in marijuana law, Boston University

  • “Seeing through the Smoke clearly lays out the case for cannabis as a medicine while thoughtfully and calmly outlining its risks.”

    Julie Holland, MD, author of Good Chemistry

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