Mark David Merlin earned his bachelor's degree in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his master's and doctoral degrees in geography from the University of Hawaii. He has taught courses in natural history, geography, and environmental problems at the University of Hawaii for several years. Dr. Merlin is the author of MAn and MArijuana and has produced botanical field guides for the coastal and forest plants of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to his work with a popular basic science class, Dr. Merlin teaches a senior-level course at the University of Hawaii that describes and analyzes the worldwide use of psychoactive drug plants.