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The Great Books of Hashish Book.3

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One of the most important historical books of all time.

Softcover  ISBN 1-896506-00-3

Hardcover ISBN 1-896506-01-1

ABOVE SOFT COVER EDITION WAS RELEASED AT THE CANNABUSINESS EXPO IN GERMANY, SEPT. 2000.

OUR THANKS TO CANNABUSINESS EXPO's SUPPORT IN THE RELEASE OF THIS BOOK AND FOR HAVING LAURENCE CHERNIAK AS THE FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER AT THOSE FESTIVITIES.

The following testimonials appear either on the back cover of Book 3 or elsewhere on the pages with the prefaces or introductions to these books.

1.  "A superb trilogy of books, especially from the pictorial viewpoint and it should go far in an educational effort towards understanding the use of Cannabis as a psychotropic plant. As interest in the use of Cannabis products as psychoactive agents increases, books like this one serve in providing a picture of the worldwide significance of the plant as a mind altering aspect of human culture that goes back for a millennia in certain areas of the globe. I look forward to subsequent volumes".

Laurence Cherniak is a very exceptional person and a most unusual writer. Although I am most certainly not sympathetic to the idea that there are many advantages attendant upon the use of such agents as cannabis and opium. I respect and encourage his right to point out to the public the beliefs of many contempories; and it is in this context that I have read his manuscripts and viewed his photographs with enjoyment and enlightenment.

Cherniak is much more than an expert photographer with an uncanny eye for the unbelievably unusual, the culturally broadening, and the historically valuable picture. He has a telling and understanding rapproachement with people of foreign cultures which, incidently, has enabled him to come close to and be comfortable with people in our own drug subcultures. Such a rare combination is destined to produce results of incalculable value to all interested in the use of psychoactive substances, notwithstanding the point of view from which they may approach the subject.

It is a joy indeed to appreciate Cherniak's photographic art which he has applied and utilized so completely to advantage during his far-flung travels across the globe. His illustrative contributions to our more than deficient understanding of the use of drugs by humankind are well worthy of our heartiest accolades. Perhaps only a person so sympathetic to the intangibilities of the recreational use of psychoactive drugs could prepare such a volume of magnificent pictorial records.

While Cherniak's major contribution, which I believe no reader will ever doubt, is clearly his photographic skill and astuteness, his prose style is enjoyable and unstilted; it is simple, clear, convesational, intimate, comfortable and humane, even in those sections where he delves into the difficult task of attempting to explain the complex "philosphies" of several subcultures devoted to drug usage in modern America, philosphies which are difficult for most people of those subcultures to understand.

The use of pyschoactive drugs is ages old. Once confined for the most part to primitive societies and limited to magico-religious contexts, it has spread to our modern urbanized cultures and has taken a definite hold. There are basic reasons underlying this new adaption of the utilization of such powerful mind-altering agents, and I am convinced that it does not represent an ephemeral wave but is here to stay in a greater or lesser intensification; whether for good or for worse is not here a question worth discussing. If this be so, then it behooves us to learn as much about these drugs, their uses and their beneficial or evil effects from as many different points of view as possible.

Laurence Cherniak offers us one such viewpoint, a viewpoint based on years of study on a world-wide basis with drug use. As a scientist trained and accustomed to looking at the employment of drugs from a wholly materialistic and unilateral angle, I enthusiastically welcome anything so genuine, human, and understanding as Cherniak's thoroughly original contribution.

Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, Ph. D,. Jeffrey Professor of Biology, Director Botanical Museum, HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

2. The works of Laurence Cherniak are a most important contribution to our library of evolution.

Throughout history, pagan philosophers have known that nature has provided our species with sacred plant resins which stimulates receptor sites in the brain activating powerful life forces with the individual. These holy plants have always been cultivated in secrecy, anathematized anti-life forces, praised by pagan sages, celebrated by artists, and everywhere and always shared by lovers.

Cherniak combines scholarly research, anthropological sensitivity, photographic genius, and human insight to remind us that these holy plants come from the earth, are cultivated by people close to the land, and used by those who wish to remain in union with life. These are beatuful affirmative books."

Dr. Timothy Leary a true friend and wondeful loving heart to the author.

3.  "I first saw Laurence's books in the early '70's. They were the finest quality books, color photos and explanations that I have ever seen on cannabis and hashish."

No one, even comes close to Cherniak's comprehensive photos and editorials. All these years have passed and Laurence can still be proud of having the finest photographs of cannabis and hashish that I have ever seen. I grew up on his books."

Jack Herer,  Author, The Emporer Wears No Clothes.

4.  "The first time I saw these photos by Laurence Cherniak, I felt like a test pilot suddenly thrust into a new dimesion, riding a magic carpet to the fabled lands of hashish. The pictures are so real I could almost smell the hashish being made, thousands of miles away. As these images flashed vividly across my mind I knew at once this was the best essay in drug photography I'd ever seen, a master work. And that was just the first hit!".

Cherniak's remarkable record of manufacturing techniques in the great hashish centers of the world is particularly valuable now that "modern civilization" is encroaching on these areas. Of even greater importance, one may hope, these books will call attention to the ecological catastrophies that may wipe out these human communities entirely.

Laurence Cherniak is highly capable of unveiling the mysteries of hashish with talent and imagination as long as hashishins remember the oath of Sheikh Haidar to "keep their trust and guard their secret."

Michael R. Aldrich,  Curator, Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library, San Francisco, Calif.

5.  "Laurence Cherniak's books are very far above all the other books that I have seen in the last 25 years regarding marijuana and hashish. Laurence always gives me the sense of living splendidly while travelling around in a great big world. Reading his books transports you on a journey throughout the continents, showing not only the richest substances; but also the people."

Ben Dronkers,  Founder of SensiSeeds/The Marijuana, Hashish, Hemp Museum, Holland.