Being a Stoner in Beijing Is Expensive, Dangerous, and Complicated

A few years ago, my neighbor Luke went to a bonfire party on a mountain just outside of Beijing. Three busloads of revelers came from the capital, he said, amply provisioned with alcohol and cannabis; a few had mushrooms or acid. But the fun didn’t last. “There was a mole,” he guessed. On the way back, police stopped the buses at a tollbooth.