Just Say Yes: A Marijuana Memoir

Posted: 04/17/2015 2:00 pm EDT Updated: 2 minutes ago

Finally a memoir that begs the question, "What could your neighbors be smoking, and more importantly, will they share?"

Author Catherine Hiller grew up in New York's Greenwich Village, and smoked her first joint in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. When she took that first hit, she'd been in training, smoking cigarettes to get the motions right. But she says nothing could prepare her for the euphoria, and she's been unapologetically hooked ever since.

"It was just wonderful," Hiller reminisces on this week's HuffPost Weird News podcast. "It allowed me access to certain thoughts and ideas that I hadn't had before."

In her new book, "Just Say Yes: A Marijuana Memoir," Hiller chronicles her adventures in counterculture, and challenges preconceived notions about what a pot smoker is like.

Opinions about marijuana in the U.S. are changing -- it's now legal for recreational use in four states, and D.C. -- but a lot of Americans still might think that smoking weed almost every day for 50 years like Hiller would leave you an irresponsible burnout. Maybe for some people, that's sadly true. But not for her.

Hiller's gotten a lot done in 68 years, probably more than some people who've never touched pot. She's an activist, a film maker, an author, and holds a doctorate from Brown University. She helped document Woodstock with a film crew, and now she goes to Burning Man. Through all that, she's also raised three boys. And yes, she's smoked with them.

While she's hesitant to label herself a marijuana activist, she admits that writing openly about her love affair with weed has already led to some interesting conversations with her neighbors.

"When the first piece -- 'How I Buy Weed' -- came out, I had [my neighbors] come running over like, 'Why have you ever offered me any?' or 'Oh, we get stoned all the time!'" Hiller said.

Marijuana is legal for recreational use in four states and Washington D.C., but Hiller hopes that will grow to include more states.

So what happens when you smoke weed almost every day for 50 years?

 You just may turn out to be a respectably, successful mom and a very entertaining writer.