From the early days of asthma cigarettes, corn cures and cough mixtures, the Bassett Road machinegun murders to beatniks and hippies, Mr Asia and buddha sticks, this thoroughly researched tale documents a century of marijuana use and abuse in New Zealand.

New Zealand Green describes the widening adoption of marijuana from seamen and jazz musicians during the 1950s to surfies, bohemians and students, and middle-class society by the 1970s. It is a curve of acceptance that control policies inherited from the United States have failed to stem. Now 55 people on average are charged daily with marijuana offences in this rearguard of prohibition.

Thoroughly researched from police, customs and health departmental records, newspaper files and many other sources, New Zealand Green provides an important historical record of an issue that promises to be around for years to come.