Weed history teaches us to overcome the forces of oppression with the help of our favorite plant ally. In this episode we talk with Dr. Mariana Hoyo, a bright young physician who started out fearing weed because of a bunch of bullshit propaganda, and now has a practice focused on endocannabinology and even teaches classes on the endocannabinoid sys…

Election season anxiety? Take a break from the horserace and travel back to 1970, when the Gonzo author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ran for Sheriff in Colorado on a "free weed" platform as part of the newly formed Freak Power party. Plus, experience a great moment in Bean's personal weed history when he describes a visit to the High Minded Hu…

This episode includes a recently discovered audio tape exposing the War on Marijuana as a total fraud, a state-by-state guide to voting for weed in the 2024 election, an up close look at how Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz legalized cannabis as the governor of Minnesota, and the story of a tireless grassroots activist living off $2 …

The fate of our favorite plant hangs in the balance as America decides whether to elect a woman committed to legalizing cannabis federally and de-scheduling it out of the Controlled Substances Act, or a guy who openly admires a murderous dictator's approach to the Drug War,,, and by the way didn't lift a finger to stop the 1 million weed arrests th…

For over fifty years, Michelle and Michael Aldrich have tirelessly advocated for the cannabis plant. A joint life's journey that started when they first met at the first-ever conference hosted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. How’s that for a weed meet cute? In this episode, we hear directly from this high-namic duo ab…

What have you always wanted to know about the herb but were afraid to ask? Bean scoured the Reddit /trees forum and asked Great Moments in Weed History supporters on Patreon to find out, and then sat down for a sesh, put on his "Uncle Stoner" hat, and dished out some info and advice based on his 20+ years of reporting on our favorite plant. Does we…

Jerry Garcia and Mountain Girl sat rolling joints and cleaning the stems and seeds from a brick of weed when a fateful knock came at the door of 710 Ashbury Street. Having your communal crash pad raided by the police isn’t typically the start of a great moment, but for the Grateful Dead, the October 1967 undercover police sting operation that targe…

College students have always experimented with weed, but there's never been anything like Cal Poly Humboldt's new Cannabis Studies Program. Housed at a state university located in the most famous cannabis cultivation region in the United States, the program is the pipe-dream-turned-brain-child of Dr. Dominic Corva, a professor in the Department of …

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 app…

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 t…

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…

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 exclusiv…

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 rai…

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. T…

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 t…

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 th…

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 chan…

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 phe…

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 o…

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 …

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 collec…

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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 100+ episodes of Great Moments…

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 a…

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 l…

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-in…