Great Moments in Weed History

By David Bienenstock

What's Great Moments in Weed History about?

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.

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Great Moments in Weed History episodes:

05.01.2024
Where Do Weed Strains Come From?
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...
04.17.2024
Dropping Acid on Bicycle Day (4/20 Special Episode w/ Shane Mauss)
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...
04.03.2024
Carl Sagan and His Best Bud Get Blazed and Save the Universe
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...
03.20.2024
This Total Solar Eclipse Is Gonna Be Trippy AF
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...
03.06.2024
The Epic Tail of Ganjasaurus Rex (featuring Jon Gabrus)
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...
02.20.2024
I Answered Reddit's Weed Questions
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...
02.07.2024
Meet Magu—China's Ancient Hemp Goddess
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...
01.24.2024
The Outlaw Weed Mayor of Lake Tahoe
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...
01.10.2024
Meet Mila—Amsterdam's Hashish Queen
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...
12.28.2023
BAKE TO THE FUTURE: The Year in Weed + 2024 Predictions
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...
12.13.2023
Holidaze Special: Trippin' Balls with Santa Claus
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...
11.29.2023
How "Wooks" Pass the Torch of Weed Wisdom
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...
11.15.2023
The Pot Prince of Bel-Air
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,...
11.01.2023
Freaky Beatniks Smoked Tea and Started the Legalization Movement
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,...
10.18.2023
How Weed Growing Went Global (w/ Jorge Cervantes)
In 1983, an outlaw weed grower pseudonymously published Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, a truly game changing book that sparked a global movement. In the forty years since, "Jorge Cervantes" has traveled the world writing articles, shooting videos, meeting with growers, sampling harvests, and generously sharing...
10.04.2023
From Rope to Dope
Cannabis activist Ellen Komp has been on the frontlines of the fight to end weed arrests and provide safe access to this incredible medicinal plant for decades. Including as an editor of Jack Herer's groundbreaking book about hemp—The Emperor Wears...
09.20.2023
Help Save America's Weed-basket!
When a bunch of lawyers and shadowy political operators pushed a ballot initiative in Humboldt County, California that could destroy the legal weed industry in America's most legendary cannabis cultivation region, comedian Billy Wayne Davis—our guest this week—said "hell no." On...
09.06.2023
From 'Bong Boy' to Pot Humorist
Whether portraying Bong Boy as part of the Upright Citizens Brigade or taping his solo stand-up special at a weed lounge, comedian Matt Besser never shies away from embracing cannabis culture. In an appropriately stoned interview, Matt shares some personal great moments from his...
08.23.2023
What Your Doctor Don’t Know (or Won’t Tell You) About Medical Marijuana
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...
08.09.2023
Planting Cannabis on the DEA’s Front Lawn Led to Washington, DC Legalizing It
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...
07.26.2023
Speaking Truth to Flower
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...
07.07.2023
7/10 Special: Hash's High Holiday w/ Roger from Puffco
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...
06.28.2023
Corruption, Lawsuits and Moldy Bud—WTF’s Going On With Legal Weed?
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....
06.14.2023
America's 1st Legal Weed Patient Smoked 10 Joints a Day Supplied By the Feds
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...
05.31.2023
Chef Roy Choi's Korean Tacos Kickstarted Stoner Cuisine
"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...
05.17.2023
Cannabis in the Ancient World
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...
05.03.2023
Inside Thailand's Weed Revolution
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...
04.19.2023
Let's Overgrow the Government!
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...
04.12.2023
4/20 Started w/ a Treasure Map to a Weed Garden
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...
04.05.2023
2nd Annual Weed-A-Thon
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...
03.22.2023
Weed History in the Middle East
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,...
03.08.2023
Can Hemp Really Save the World?
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...
02.22.2023
The History of Hip Hop is Lit (feat. Busy Bee)
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...
02.08.2023
How Underground Comix Spread Outlaw Weed Culture
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...
01.25.2023
Touch Grass: Exploring Cannabis & Spirituality
Religious use of cannabis dates back thousands of years, including accounts of consuming hashish-infused bhang found in the oldest Hindu scriptural texts, and in even earlier shamanic traditions. To get in touch with the spiritual side of this revered (and maligned) plant, we talk...
01.11.2023
Let's Nerd Out About Weed
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...
12.28.2022
Meet the Brains Behind the OG Guide to Growing Weed
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...
12.14.2022
The Year in Weed 2022 + Trippin' Balls w/ Santa Claus
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...
11.30.2022
Rush Guitarist Alex Lifeson: "We Only Stop for the Best"
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...
11.16.2022
"Keep Pot Weird" with Reggie Watts
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...
11.02.2022
Celebrating Legal Weed's 10th Anniversary!
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...
10.19.2022
The Weed for Speed
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...
10.05.2022
The Godfather of Glass
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...
09.28.2022
Damian Marley: "Ganja is the Healing of the Nations"
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...
09.21.2022
Laganja Estranja Dragged Weed into Reality TV
Nobody ever repped cannabis louder or prouder on TV than Laganja Estranja did on RuPaul’s Drag Race. An overnight weed icon, she's since become an advocate and activist dedicated to spreading knowledge about the plant's medicinal benefits. Our conversation with Laganja hits on...
09.14.2022
When Weed Got Loud and Proud in Public
The US Constitution affirms the public's right to peacefully assemble and protest the government. That includes throwing a freak-powered cannabis festival Seattle Hempfest co-founder Vivian McPeak recalls the event's radical roots as a "protestival" occupation of a public park, and the...
09.07.2022
The Summer Cans of Weed Washed Ashore in Brazil
When 22 tons of weed washed up on Brazil's beaches one magical summer, that was bad news for the boat full of smugglers who'd vacuum sealed all of that contraband cannabis into tin cans, but it was also the start...
08.31.2022
Great Weed Moments in TV History (w/ Ashley Ray)
Turn on, tune in, and check out this special "joint" episode celebrating a selection of great TV weed moments as selected by writer, comedian and fellow stoner podcaster Ashley Ray of TV I Say! From the earliest positive depiction of cannabis...
08.24.2022
Stoners! We Gotta Boycott Krispy Kreme
Traditionally, two bitterly oppositional groups love sweet, sweet donuts—cops and stoners. So when news leaked that one of America's most beloved national donut chains is lobbying to prevent cannabis legalization, our hosts sprung into inaction by calling for a boycott. We're also asking...
08.17.2022
Abdullah's Stoned Standup Started in Portland
We're headed to Portland, OR next month for a live taping of this podcast, so we decided to stop, smell the Rose City, and celebrate a personal great moment in weed history that took place right there in Pot-land. Specifically, the...

What's Great Moments in Weed History about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Great Moments in Weed History episodes:

Where Do Weed Strains Come From?

Dropping Acid on Bicycle Day (4/20 Special Episode w/ Shane Mauss)

Carl Sagan and His Best Bud Get Blazed and Save the Universe

This Total Solar Eclipse Is Gonna Be Trippy AF

The Epic Tail of Ganjasaurus Rex (featuring Jon Gabrus)

I Answered Reddit's Weed Questions

Meet Magu—China's Ancient Hemp Goddess

The Outlaw Weed Mayor of Lake Tahoe

Meet Mila—Amsterdam's Hashish Queen

BAKE TO THE FUTURE: The Year in Weed + 2024 Predictions

Holidaze Special: Trippin' Balls with Santa Claus

How "Wooks" Pass the Torch of Weed Wisdom

The Pot Prince of Bel-Air

Freaky Beatniks Smoked Tea and Started the Legalization Movement

How Weed Growing Went Global (w/ Jorge Cervantes)

From Rope to Dope

Help Save America's Weed-basket!

From 'Bong Boy' to Pot Humorist

What Your Doctor Don’t Know (or Won’t Tell You) About Medical Marijuana

Planting Cannabis on the DEA’s Front Lawn Led to Washington, DC Legalizing It

Speaking Truth to Flower

7/10 Special: Hash's High Holiday w/ Roger from Puffco

Corruption, Lawsuits and Moldy Bud—WTF’s Going On With Legal Weed?

America's 1st Legal Weed Patient Smoked 10 Joints a Day Supplied By the Feds

Chef Roy Choi's Korean Tacos Kickstarted Stoner Cuisine

Cannabis in the Ancient World

Inside Thailand's Weed Revolution

Let's Overgrow the Government!

4/20 Started w/ a Treasure Map to a Weed Garden

2nd Annual Weed-A-Thon

Weed History in the Middle East

Can Hemp Really Save the World?

The History of Hip Hop is Lit (feat. Busy Bee)

How Underground Comix Spread Outlaw Weed Culture

Touch Grass: Exploring Cannabis & Spirituality

Let's Nerd Out About Weed

Meet the Brains Behind the OG Guide to Growing Weed

The Year in Weed 2022 + Trippin' Balls w/ Santa Claus

Rush Guitarist Alex Lifeson: "We Only Stop for the Best"

"Keep Pot Weird" with Reggie Watts

Celebrating Legal Weed's 10th Anniversary!

The Weed for Speed

The Godfather of Glass

Damian Marley: "Ganja is the Healing of the Nations"

Laganja Estranja Dragged Weed into Reality TV

When Weed Got Loud and Proud in Public

The Summer Cans of Weed Washed Ashore in Brazil

Great Weed Moments in TV History (w/ Ashley Ray)

Stoners! We Gotta Boycott Krispy Kreme

Abdullah's Stoned Standup Started in Portland