On Something

Does cannabis make creative people ... well, more creative? Turns out there's no short answer to this question. Members of the bands Tank and the Bangas and Chicano Batman share how weed plays into their process, while a neuroscientist breaks down the mysteries of the creative brain. Join us for a music-filled Season 2 finale of On Something!

Harold Sims is a Denver-based chef who was able to ride the weed wave right into his first cooking show: Netflix's Cooked With Cannabis. He used that opportunity to shine a light on African food. On this episode, Harold shares his story and doubles as our guide to the world of infused foods.

It's no secret that cannabis legalization in America is a decision left to states. But it turns out that our patchwork of different laws might create new opportunities for the illicit market to thrive. Investigative journalist Chris Walker took a deep dive into a massive smuggling ring that passed itself off as a legitimate cannabis business in Colorado. Chris talks with Ann to unpack the larger impacts of this story, which he tells on his own podcast, “The Syndicate.”

Blues artist Fantastic Negrito was raised in Oakland, California, to believe that the cops will kill you. Kassandra Frederique, head of the Drug Policy Alliance, can remember countless names of people killed by police while she was growing up in New York City. From opposite coasts, two stories about the tangled web of racism, policing and the war on drugs.

Gale recently had her first child. Early on in her pregnancy, she admitted to a doctor that she was still using marijuana. The next -- and only -- time it came up was in the delivery room. It set into motion a chain of events that highlight the ways legal cannabis can still clash with policies meant to protect children.

This is the third and final installment of our miniseries, "Medicine vs. Marijuana," about the ways legal weed can intersect with healthcare in America.

There's a crisis in this country of opioid addiction and overdose death, and it's tied intimately with how we respond to pain. When Angela Bryan was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was keenly aware that opiates were expected to be a big part of her recovery. But she was afraid she might become dependent upon them, and turned her mind to possible alternatives. Like marijuana. Angela lives in Colorado, which is a legal state, after all.

In the second installment of our miniseries "Medicine vs. Marijuana," Angela decides to conduct a scientific experiment on herself.

Once upon a time on this very podcast, we told you a story about how California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. The first! Those were our words! But it turns out an unlikely deep South state was technically the first. Here’s why you've never heard that Louisiana was the first state to legalize medical marijuana (technically.)

This is the first installment of a miniseries we're calling "Medicine vs. Marijuana," about the odd ways legal cannabis can intersect with our healthcare system.

Country music legend Willie Nelson is known for a lot of things, including his unabashed love for marijuana and his advocacy for legalization. Ann Marie sat down with Willie to talk about his decades of activism, and his hopes for the future.

We’re back for Season 2 and we’ll be releasing new episodes through October! Subscribe so you don’t miss them.

We’re back! It’s 2020 and cannabis is somehow legal in more states than it’s not. With a view from Colorado -- an early state to legalize in 2012 -- On Something tells stories about the people caught up in America’s state-by-state approach to drug policy. Stories that detail the unexpected ways that legal cannabis intersects with our healthcare system, our immigration laws or our modern LGBTQ rights movement. Stories that are thought-provoking, controversial and human, with a host who can make it all make sense.
 
 Season 2 begins July 14. Subscribe so you won’t miss an episode!

It’s hard to get good medical advice when it comes to cannabis, even in states where it’s been legal for a long time. That’s why Katherine Golden, an RN of more than 20 years, founded Leaf411. The hotline, staffed by six other working nurses like herself, launched last fall -- before the pandemic. Now, one of Katherine's nurses sees herself as a different kind of "essential worker."