Michael Pollan is an American author of bestselling books, such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Cooked. Pollan primarily writes about food, agricultural systems, and horticulture, and has previously explored people’s relationships with psychedelic drugs in his book How to Change Your Mind. With his decades of research into plants, fungi, food systems, and America’s relationship with each, Pollan is well situated to analyze plant drugs and why some are valued and legal while others are considered illicit.

Jim Hogshire is an American author who features prominently in Pollan’s article “Opium, Made Easy.” Pollan discusses Hogshire’s zine Pills-A-Go-Go, which Pollan calls a libertarian approach to drugs and their effects. He also explores Hogshire’s book Opium for the Masses, which gave practical advice to everyday gardeners on how to grow poppies and brew an opium tea from their seedheads. Hogshire is an important figure in Pollan’s article; he begins as a source of information and ends as a victim of the war of drugs who is prosecuted for possessing poppies and sharing his knowledge about their potential as a drug. Pollan particularly emphasizes how frightened he is at the prospect of being investigated by law enforcement in the same way Hogshire was.