As our annual celebration of 4/20 rapidly approaches, please roll up and get ready for the incredible true story of how a small Northern California weed crew created an analog meme that grew into an international high holiday of cannabis liberation.

But first, we check in with acclaimed journalist David Downs and Lance Lambert from Grove Bags about "weed week" in San Francisco, particularly the "Get to the Bag" art show, which chronicles the fascinating history and subversive artistry of the mylar bags that became industry-standard cannabis packaging for licensed brands and illicit operators alike starting about fifteen years ago.

And speaking of 4/20, if you're in Portland on 4/19 please grab tickets to my live show The History of Weed, happening at Kickstand Comedy theater.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Faced with the rare neurodegenerative condition Friedreich's ataxia, John Cernosek decided to become a patient-advocate and write a book about his healing journey with cannabis. He's currently headed to Las Vegas as an invited guest of the National Ataxia Foundation, where he will present an excerpt from his book at their annual conference. This is a huge step for a conference that has never before addressed the issue.

John will also be speaking with the hundreds of patients, caregivers, doctors and researchers who attend the conference and generally spreading awareness via his grassroots advocacy group Cannataxia. 

I first met John because he's a GMIWH supporter on Patreon, and signed up to do a secret sesh with me over Zoom. As he heads to the desert to spread the good word about medical cannabis, I'm proud to share our original interview from 2023.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Whether rolling up a six-paper-joint or hiding their hashish by making it into a driveway, the Trailer Park Boys have been growing, smoking, and celebrating the herb on their hit TV series for more than 25 years. So when GMIWH sat down with Robb Wells (who plays Ricky), there were more incredible weed stories to share than Randy eats cheeseburgers.

So roll up and settle in for the behind-the-scenes origin story of one of the funniest and most heartfelt shows of all time. And as a bonus, your host shares a few TPB stories too, from the time Bean played "Greasy Stoner #1" in an episode, to getting the boys on the cover of High Times, to going to a wrap party held right in the heart of Sunnyvale Trailer Park—one of the most mythical realms in all of Stonerdome.

Episode edited by Matthias Junker

Grow Your Own: If you want to keep the vibes high, you can acquire some Ricky's Hash Plant seeds from their suppliers at Brothers Grimm Seeds.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has won a Grammy and played on multi-platinum selling records, all fueled by the creative boost he gets from cannabis. In fact, he loves the plant so much he started his own brand, 22 Red, and serves as his own quality control expert.

We talk about his first puff, the weed dealer who changed his life, the adventure and occasional pot-holes of trying to score good herb while touring the world, discovering sativas in Amsterdam, and why he became an outspoken advocate for legalization way back before that was cool.

Check out Shavo's new solo band: Seven Hours After Violet

Episode edited by Matthias Junker

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

In 1964, in a NYC hotel room, Bob Dylan met the Beatles for the very first time and turned them on to cannabis. Sounds like the stuff of legend and lore, but it really happened, and a rock journalist of the era was on hand to document in detail how the whole sesh went down.

For starters, the Beatles made Ringo serve as "royal taster," to see if puffing a joint made him go insane before the others committed to trying it.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

This episode features an outlaw, a fugitive, an inmate, a journalist, a weed dealer, an LSD distributor, a defendant and an accomplished filmmaker. And they’re all the same person.

I first started reading Seth Ferranti’s writing back in the late 90s, when he was the official prison correspondent for VICE magazine, while serving a 21 year sentence, after getting busted for possession of 100,000 doses of acid and then jumping bail and living as a fugitive for two years while on the US Marshals’ 15 ‘Most Wanted’ list.

And that's just the start of Seth's story....

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Ramon Reyes started out selling herb on the streets of NYC as a teenager and subsequently climbed through the ranks of the underground, the gray market and the legal industry to now run a licensed dispensary in the same heavily Dominican neighborhood where he grew up.

Along with partner Vlad Bautista, Ramon originally co-founded Happy Munkey as a speakeasy style consumption lounge after a trip to Amsterdam convinced him that the truest expression of weed culture is being able to share the plant with friends and strangers. Now the name Happy Munkey hangs above two of New York City's newest dispensaries, where you can find Ramon right back out on the street, only this time it's to literally open the door and serve as ambassador into the world of legal sales.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

In 1999, this week's guest starred in one of the most financially successful films of all time, but the circumstances around the making and marketing of Blair Witch Project meant that her incredible accomplishment actually came with a lot of very steep downsides. 

A story that’s briefly chronicled in her memoir: Growgirl: The Blossoming of an Unlikely Outlaw… by Heather Donahue (now known as Rei Hance).

On paper, it certainly sounds like a dream come true. You star in a micro budget movie shot for just $60,000 that becomes a $250 million box office smash. But when her star turn struck gold, Rei was both the face of the franchise and fully hidden from sight.

It’s a wild story, even by show business standards, but Rei and I talked almost exclusively about weed. Because after she left Hollywood behind, she ended up spending a few years in a place she very lovingly called Nuggettown, a Northern California medical cannabis farm back in the beautiful gray market days of the early 2000s. 

Revisiting those days more than twenty years later filled me with a beautiful flush of nostalgia cut with a bit existential longing. It was a wonderful conversation and I’m excited to share it with you as our first great moment in of 2025.

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Celebrate stony seasonal traditions old and new with our GMIWH Holidaze special. In addition to our annual retelling of the story of Santa's origin as a Siberian psychedelic mushroom shaman, we also enjoy Santa's Secret—a song from the 1940 about St. Nick and his 100 foot long reefer, and revive the seasonal tradition of Jay Thomas telling David Letterman all about the time he got too stoned and then had to drive the Lone Ranger home.

Thank you to everyone who listened to the podcast this year and especially those who support the show on Patreon. Please share this episode with a friend and subscribe to the podcast for more Great Moments in Weed History in 2025!

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Back when cannabis was barely legal, an eco-minded off-the-grid ganja farm strived to create a sustainable vision of decentralized, utopian agrarian life that put people and the planet above profits. Return to a moment in the past full of hope and promise that just might point the way to a greener future for everyone who loves the plant and the culture. 

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 a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible 

EPISODE ARCHIVE

Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.