Great Moments in Weed History

Cannabis has profound therapeutic properties, providing healing relief from ailments ranging from chronic pain and insomnia to cancer, seizure disorders, MS, ALS and digestive disorders. But how can you get the most out of this safe, versatile plant medicine? And why is your doctor so in the dark about weed?  As a young hippie physician with hair well past his shoulders, Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather w...

The weed legalization movement has always embraced street theater, a tactic Adam Eidinger certainly put to good use the time he led a giveaway of 10,000 joints during a presidential inauguration. He also lead the charge to end cannabis prohibition in Washington DC and then followed up with an initiative that legalized psychedelic plants, including mushrooms, ayahuasca, and mescaline. EPISODE ARCHI...

The War on Weed first started crumbling because of courageous cannabis patients like John, a super chill, funny and cool person to share some herb with who helps spread the word about the plant's miraculous medicinal properties among those who—like himself—have Friedreich’s ataxia. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Friedreich’s ataxia is a genetic, progressive, neurodegene...

Our annual celebration of cannabis concentrates explores the global phenomenon of contemporary hash with one of the leading innovators in the scene.  Puffco founder and CEO Roger Volodarsky is truly and fully a hash-head and his commitment to spreading hashish culture is both longstanding and profound. The innovations that Puffco has introduced over the last ten years have elevated the modern hash...

Journalism is the first draft of history—so who better to explain the rapidly evolving cannabis scene of 2023 than a couple of dedicated reporters on the weed beat? Tauhid Chappell is an Executive Board Member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. He’s worked at the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Free Press. Jelani Gibson reports for New Jersey Cannabis Insider,...

Starting in 1976, the National Institute on Drug Abuse supplied Robert Randall with enough government-grown cannabis to treat his severe glaucoma. While lighting a perfectly legal joint on CNN, Randall once explained to Larry King that keeping the condition in check required puffing 10 joints per day. To hear the incredible story of how he ended up as America's first federally legal cannabis patie...

"Weed taught me how to be American," chef Roy Choi says of his favorite leafy green. Weed also inspired his most iconic creation–the Kogi taco–easily one of the stoniest culinary sensations of all time. A life-long, loud-and-proud cannabis enthusiast, Roy Choi had to pretty much invent the modern gourmet food truck just to get his Kogi tacos out to the people. Fifteen years later, he's now among t...

The archeological evidence proving weed played a central role in ancient spiritual practices—including the Judeo-Christian tradition—is irrefutable. But just as the plant's medicinal properties have long been denied by the medical establishment, the world's "mainstream" religious scholars consistently erase this inconvenient fact. But not Chris Bennet, a self-described “religious reformer” who has...

With a homegrown cannabis culture dating back to antiquity, and a well-established reputation for growing the world's finest weed, Thailand has long ranked as a dream destination for herbally-infused travelers. But it's only in the last year that the local authorities have decriminalized cannabis and embraced green tourism, ushering in a new era of freedom and experimentation.  To find out how thi...

It's a call to farms! If everyone with the legal ability to home grow their own weed gets started right now, by this fall we'll be flooded with so much high-quality, low-cost herb that we can essentially de-commodify cannabis and all smoke for free. Okay, maybe not in the first year, but another weed world is definitely possible, and our guest—Danny Danko, author of Cannabis: A Beginner's Guide to...

Get lit and settle in for our annual re-telling of the incredible true story of 4/20. We trace the origins of this high holiday to a single weed crew in the 1970s called the Waldos, and then track precisely how April 20th came to be officially unofficially a global celebration of the world's most wonderful plant.  EPISODE SPONSORED BY PAX It's time to puff, puff, PAX with the world's most advanced...

Time to roll a joint, split a blunt, pack a bong, endabulate a dab—or do all of that everywhere all at once. Because it's the freaking Weed-A-Thon, my friends! 'Tis the weediest episode of the year, as we puff tough while revisiting top shelf clips from all of the best episodes and interviews in the long run of Great Moments in Weed History. All to raise money for a very good cause, namely keeping...

In a fertile band stretching from North Africa to Southeast Asia, cannabis cultivation and hashish production dates back countless centuries.  From the ancient history of the plant throughout the Middle East to the evolution of cannabis culture in Morocco, India, Egypt, Nepal, and other traditional hashish regions, get ready to have a fascinating time getting high on history with this weed's guest...

Cannabis and hemp are the same plant put to different uses. One varietal gets you lit, one helps you through chemo, while others make incredibly strong rope or highly nutritious food. Our guest, author Doug Fine has written several books on how incorporating hemp into our society as a source of food, fuel, fiber, building materials and other industrial uses could create an entirely new, decentrali...

Since 1977, legendary MC Busy Bee has been rocking crowds and smoking loud as one of the true originators of hip hop music, style and culture.  He was there for the earliest rap battles and the arrival of blunt smoking, starred in the movie Wild Style and sold loose joints of Acapulco Gold–all a decade before Snoop and Dre released The Chronic. In this interview, we discuss how he's stayed true to...

Getting high featured prominently in the work of many underground comix artists of the 1970s, from R. Crumb's "Mr. Natural" and "Stoned Again" to Kim Deitch's "Sunshine Girl" and Gilbert Shelton's indomitable Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. In his new book Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revol...

From terpenes to THC, the biochemistry of the cannabis plant is endlessly fascinating. So get yourself rolled up and ready to delve into "the weeds" with someone who's seen and smoked as much cannabis as anyone on Earth. As co-founder of SC Labs—one of the first cannabis analytical laboratories—Alec Dixon helped pioneer the use of scientific assessment to increase our understanding of cannabis, wh...

In 1970, Bill Drake wrote the first modern guide to growing cannabis. Despite an FBI campaign to suppress this groundbreaking book, The Cultivator's Handbook of Marijuana would change the game forever by teaching millions of people how to overgrow the government. Based on his journeys around the world—including Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Mexico—Bill's writings on cultivation and co...

It's been a wild year in the world of weed, and we're ready to get lit and reflect on the highs and lows. Starting with an in-depth look at the most shocking and impactful cannabis news story of 2022. Plus: This episode includes Abdullah and Bean's annual re-telling of the classic yuletide tale: "Santa Claus is a Siberian Mushroom Shaman." Help Make This Podcast Possible! Please support Great Mome...

A confirmed cannabis connoisseur since the 1960s, Alex Lifeson reveals how smoking weed fuels his creative process, helps him heal the aches and pains of five decades out on the road with a hall-of-fame rock band, and got him hooked up with the infamous Trailer Park Boys. We also trace the history of Rush's loving musical ode to weed history ("A Passage to Bankok"), and his encounters with everyth...

Cannabis fuels the creative journey of comedian, musician, and improviser Reggie Watts, as he explains in this highly insightful interview that starts with a how-to guide for using THC to help access an "optimal observer state" and ends with some spontaneous "beat weed-ing." Check out Reggie as bandleader on The Late, Late Show with James Corden (and before that on Comedy Bang Bang), or start with...

In November 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington State legalized cannabis for all adults, lighting a grassfire of weedy liberation that's been blazing through the country and around the world ever since. Including in the five US states voting on legalization in this month's election. Leading cannabis activist and entrepreneur Wanda James joins us to recall her experiences working on that histor...

Randy Lanier began driving race cars in 1978. His weed dealing career began even earlier. Along the way, he competed at Le Mans, won the 1984 IMSA Camel GT title, and drove in the Indy 500. All funded by his prodigious cannabis smuggling.  We’re talking 165,000 pound loads of primo bud coming in on massive tugboats, including the legendary Punta Roja strain grown in Colombia.  Upon publication of...

The earliest ceremonial smoking devices date back 2,400 years, to ancient Scythian tribal chiefs who blazed hashish out of solid gold bongs. While the history of the modern “functional art glass” movement started in the 1970s, with Bob Snodgrass, the Deadhead hippie whose innovative heady glass pipes and bongs gave rise to today's $100,000 dab rigs. In an episode recorded live at the Helium Comedy...

Cannabis is a spiritual and creative inspiration—according to multi-Grammy winner Damian Marley—but also just a beloved part of day-to-day life. Weed is also a family tradition, one famously begun by his father, the late reggae icon Bob Marley. In this intimate conversation, Damian talks about the history of cannabis in Jamaica, his hopes (and fears) for legalization there, and why the Rasta commu...