Great Moments in Weed History
Great Moments in Weed History delves deep into humanity's 10,000+ year relationship with cannabis (a.k.a. marijuana) to explore the humor, heart, and historical importance of the planet's most revered and maligned plant. Hosted by David Bienenstock.
Episodes
July 24, 2024 • 65 mins
Rick Cusick has worn many hats since first getting lit in the 1970s—editor, author, activist, advocate and agitator. He also raised a child solo while serving as the head of High Times magazine and lived to write the tale in his new book "Reefer Dadness."
As Rick unfurls his weedy life story to his old friend Bean, this episode features special appearances from two of the biggest names in music—Willie and Bob—and two of the biggest...
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July 10, 2024 • 39 mins
Since 1990, Housing Works has been actively supporting NYC's unhoused population and people with HIV/AIDS through advocacy, mutual support and entrepreneurship. Two years ago, the once radical organization was awarded the city's first recreational cannabis license, and quickly opened a beautiful, inclusive, welcoming dispensary in lower Manhattan that serves the community while giving back to those in need.
On this weed's episode, ...
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June 26, 2024 • 63 mins
Tim Blake has proliferated the cannabis plant since the early 1970s.
About twenty years ago, he left the outlaw life behind to put himself on the frontlines of the fight for legalization. Along the way, he founded the Emerald Cup, the world’s most prestigious cannabis competition. This August the Emerald Cup will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a two day event in Oakland. In advance of that auspicious occasion, Tim took us on ...
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June 12, 2024 • 61 mins
This story is pretty wild, extremely weedy, and most people have never heard of it before—including our guest, the esteemed weed journalist Mary Jane Gibson. So we're not about to give away any spoilers in the show notes. Just light one, get lit, and listen up!
PATREON
Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of this podcast and private seshes, plus cool rewards like...
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May 29, 2024 • 61 mins
After discovering the healing power of weed while serving in Vietnam, Dennis Peron smuggled two pounds of high-grade herb home. From there he became a charismatic and defiant leader of San Francisco's medical weed and gay rights movements. A fiery street-fighting optimist, he suffered multiple stints in prison—and even took a bullet in a police raid—all without ever giving up or backing down.
The movement he helped lead and inspire...
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May 15, 2024 • 70 mins
From starring in the first-ever movie about hip-hop and graffiti, to hosting Yo! MTV Raps, Fab 5 Freddy has been a weed aficionado at the forefront of underground culture for more than four decades. He's also the filmmaker behind the groundbreaking Netflix documentary "Grass is Greener," and the founder of the cause-based B. Noble cannabis brand.
Tracing the history of weed from the jazz era to the modern day, F5F recalls a journey...
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May 1, 2024 • 56 mins
Breeder Steve started growing weed in Canada in the 1980s, and went on to create some of the most popular strains of the last thirty years. So he's the perfect person to explain the process of crossing two different types of cannabis to produce a distinct hybrid.
Much of Steve's work took place in the outlaw era of Canadian cannabis, as part of a thriving grey market of seed merchants selling through the mail. His Spice of Life see...
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April 17, 2024 • 46 mins
On April 19, 1943 Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hoffman took the world's first LSD trip, which included a rather harrowing bicycle ride home from his lab that day. For the next sixty years, Hoffman would be fascinated by his famous "problem child," a powerful molecule that changed the course of history.
Comedian Shane Mauss ("A Better Trip") tells us the story of Bicycle Day, which is now celebrated around the world.
EPISODE ARCHIVE
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April 3, 2024 • 68 mins
As we gaze upon the Cosmos, let's remember Carl Sagan, the famed astronomer who attributed his most powerful epiphanies to the creative influence of cannabis. And his best bud Dr. Lester Grinspoon, who set out to make the definitive scientific case against weed and ended up becoming one of the plant's greatest champions.
Their friendship truly changed the course of weed history, with some incredible stories along the way.
EPISODE A...
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March 20, 2024 • 52 mins
What's the most psychedelic experience you can have on Earth without ingesting so much as a microdose? A solar eclipse, no question—but you've got to be in the path of totality.
Our guest on this episode, astronomer Nour Skaf, from the Black Rock Observatory, explains what exactly happens during an eclipse, and why it's such a profoundly trippy phenomenon.
Nour will be presenting a talk at the upcoming Texas Eclipse Festival outs...
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March 6, 2024 • 69 mins
From the depths of the ocean, a mythical weed-loving monster arises to wreak havoc on the authorities who attempt to eradicate her favorite plant. Would you believe this no-budget 1980s monster movie is based on a true story?
With special guest Jon Gabrus, we explore how a locally-produced film called Ganjasaurus Rex actually tells the history of outlaw weed growers in Humboldt County via a kaiju about a Godzilla-like creature that...
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February 20, 2024 • 56 mins
The internet has burning questions about getting lit. So GMIWH took a week off from getting high on history to jump into the r/trees subreddit and drop some knowledge on those seeking advice. As you might imagine, the questions range from the serious, to the silly, to the strange. Think of this one as "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Weed (But Were Afraid to Ask)."
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February 7, 2024 • 57 mins
Let's head back to 2700 BC to meet an ancient Chinese hemp goddess who lived on a mountaintop full of cannabis plants where she brewed the elixir of life. And doesn’t that sound nice?
Our guides for this trip are Christina Wong and Wendy Zeng, two chefs, culinary cannabis creators, and the co-hosts of Mogu Magu, a culture, food, and cannabis collective exploring the Asian immigrant experience.
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January 24, 2024 • 59 mins
Cody Bass is a second generation outlaw who fought the law and lost, but never lost faith in cannabis. Today he’s a successful weed business owner, and the mayor of Lake Tahoe, California—the very jurisdiction where the authorities once literally tried to run him out of town.
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January 10, 2024 • 51 mins
Mila Jansen first scored hash down on the docks in 1964, smuggled into Amsterdam by sailors from exotic ports of call. She soon after opened an early forerunner of that city’s legendary cannabis coffeeshops, before spending many years living in India, Afghanistan, and other traditional hashish producing regions.
And then, upon returning home, she absolutely changed the game as one of Amsterdam’s top cannabis growers and the invent...
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December 28, 2023 • 55 mins
We turned a crystal ball into a bong. Then we invited Leafly Senior Editor David Downs to smoke the strain of the year out of it and make predications for the future of cannabis.
After reviewing the highs (and lows) of a tumultuous year, we see a bright, green future for the plant, the culture, and the industry in 2024 (and beyond). So please get lit and join us, as we go Bake to the Future.
STRAIN OF THE YEAR
Each year, based on ...
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December 13, 2023 • 62 mins
Explore St. Nick’s psychedelic shamanic roots in Siberia in the only Christmas Special where Santa gifts you magic mushrooms and even the reindeer get high AF!
So hang on to your sleigh bells, because it's time for Abdullah and Bean's annual re-telling of this classic story as we celebrate the holiday season with Amanita muscaria mushrooms, weed-infused cookies, extra oil to dab for Chanukah and plenty of fermented yak milk.
Specia...
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November 29, 2023 • 48 mins
In an age of corporate cannabis, who keeps authentic weed culture alive? In a time of abundant strains and concentrates, whose tastes define hashish connoisseurship.
Wooks, that's who!
Named for the Wookies in the Star Wars universe—Chewbacca being the most well known example —and found primarily hanging around outside concerts and festivals, wooks are noble, gentle creatures dedicated to living in the moment, getting lit and foll...
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November 15, 2023 • 64 mins
Todd McCormick’s weed journey began when his mom handed him a joint on the way home from chemotherapy. As a survivor of pediatric cancer, he later advocated for the plant’s legalization alongside legends of the cannabis movement like Jack Herer, Brownie Mary, Dennis Peron and Dr. Lester Grinspoon.
Getting busted for growing medical cannabis at a mansion in Bel-Air made him an international cannabis cause célèbre, but that's just on...
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November 1, 2023 • 58 mins
Emerging in the conformist 1950s, the Beat subculture pushed back against corporatism and consumerism in favor of a contemplatively nonconformist lifestyle focused on art, poetry, jazz and “kicks.”
The small circle of young writers at the core of this lit-erary movement—Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Neal Cassady—were all heavily influenced by the improvisation, illumination. and imagination they found in canna...
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