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Hood River, Ore., library considers adding pot magazine

The Columbian
Published: September 7, 2014, 5:00pm

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Hood River County Library may soon add a slick publication to its collection, one known for glossy centerfolds so appealing that fans stop to gaze with longing.

No, not what you think.

It’s High Times, the granddaddy of weed reading, the Rolling Stone of the hand-rolling set.

The library staff each year reviews magazine subscriptions, adding titles depending on patron interests and more than ever, those interests include marijuana.

So Buzzy Nielsen, the library director, wondered: Why not put High Times on the shelf?

Sure, mainstream magazines at the library offer serious — some might say high-minded — coverage of marijuana-related politics and policy. But The Economist isn’t the place to read the latest on dabbing, find out how to maximize your grow site or gaze at a centerfold close-up of a marijuana flower.

“I think people would read it,” said Nielsen. “We have a pretty diverse patron base here. We certainly have plenty of people who use medical marijuana.”

As it happens, a medical marijuana dispensary recently opened near the library in this picturesque town famous for wind surfing. Hood River County, home to about 300 Oregon medical marijuana patients, sits across the Columbia River from Washington, where recreational marijuana is legal. The library allows residents of several Washington communities to check out material.

Turns out, few, if any, small town public libraries nationwide subscribe to High Times, Dan Skye, the magazine’s editorial director, told The Oregonian in an email.

The Humboldt County Public Library — in Northern California, the heart of the country’s prime marijuana region — used to keep donated copies at the reference desk but stopped about a year ago when library staff realized someone had torn out the insides of the issues, leaving behind only the covers.

The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, which serves Clark County, subscribed to High Times in July after a patron requested it, said Lynne Caldwell, the assistant director for collection and technology services. Copies of the magazine — so far the library has just the September and October issues — are available only at the Vancouver branch, the largest in the system.

The Multnomah County Library counts itself as a longtime subscriber to High Times, which sits in the periodical room, next to copies of Heirloom Gardener and the Herb Companion (kitchen, not stoner, variety). The Denver Public Library began subscribing last year, while the Seattle Public Library has kept a copy of High Times on the shelf for at least 16 years.

Libraries in Denver, Seattle and Portland — and even smaller libraries in Oregon — have long maintained collections of marijuana-related books and DVDs. Seattle added another 10 titles after Washington legalized the drug in 2012. The new books cover how to research marijuana strains, how to grow, harvest and cook with it, said Andra Addison, spokeswoman for the Seattle Public Library. (Among the newest additions to the library’s stacks: “Mr. Bud’s pot smoking games: 25 fun ways to get baked with your friends,” by Mr. Bud, which, according to library records, has been checked out three times.)

But often the material disappears.

Patrons of Seaside Library, for instance, are out of luck if they want to borrow stoner classics such as “How High” and anything starring Cheech and Chong. All have vanished.

Candice Watkins, president of the Oregon Library Association, predicts more libraries, especially those near the Washington border, may consider adding cannabis-centric books and magazines. High Times, she said, is an interesting choice.

“I think it would be a good resource in communities that area really dealing with legalization and having it more prominently in their community,” said Watkins, library director at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, where marijuana is a popular research paper topic among students.

Here’s one way to look at it: People drawn to the library by their interest in reading High Times may stick around to browse the stacks.

Think of it, said one librarian, as a “gateway resource.”

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