On today’s 420 day podcast, we’ve got Alex Halperin, a special guest from the left coast who is both the news publisher behind WeedWeek and the author of a new book “The Cannabis Dictionary.” 
You can find Alex’s prior journalism in Slate, the Washington Post, and New Yorker, more recently he’s been writing full time about weed and brings an interesting perspective to the many questions about marijuana during the coronavirus crisis, and it's future. 
Many states are declaring marijuana businesses to be essential during the coronavirus pandemic which is a milestone moment for the nascent industry. 
We also discussed racial equality in the marijuana industry, political currents surrounding legalization and a whole lot more.
Partial Transcript
Disclosure: This post uses paid affiliate links.

WeedWeek's publisher just said Democrats need to take back the Senate if they want more legal weed

Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/dworkinreport/subscribe

The Dworkin Report is one of the most listened to independent podcasts in the world. New releases are ranked top 200 in news &amp; politics on iTunes in 30+ countries. The podcast has listeners in almost every country in the world. Some of Scott’s guests have included Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Alyssa Milano, Alec Baldwin, Bill Browder, Rob Reiner, Rep. Steve Cohen, Mary L. Trump, Bandy X. Lee, Cheri Jacobus, Lilly Ledbetter, Judd Legum, Tom Arnold, Rep. Gwen Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, David Priess, Michael Rapaport, and Malcolm Nance.

The podcast covers news, politics, books, culture, and more.

News

Politics

Scott speaks with Billie Jean Winner-Davis, whose daughter Reality spent years in federal prison for revealing Russia’s cyberattack on America’s elections in 2016. Reality’s mom shared some of her frustrations, several of her hopes, shots of her wisdom, and situations she personally experienced through years marked by the most unexpected events, and recently punctuated by her reunion with her daughter. 
Billie’s daughter still remains under carceral control with an ankle bracelet and very active probation even though there’s a zero percent chance she will reoffend after spending one of the longest sentences ever served for leaking a public record.
But she hasn’t given up hope on getting a presidential commutation or pardon of sentence even though the pardon attorney’s office is filled to the brim with other requests. And that’s why Billie Jean Winner-Davis made an impassioned plea to President Biden during our conversation.

Reality Winner’s mom calls on President Biden to grant her daughter clemency

Scott speaks with Brittany Winner, whose sister Reality Winner just got out of federal prison after disclosing a classified record from the NSA revealing Russia’s attack on the 2016 election. Besides all of the many reasons why we would interview Brittany, there is one she raised that people might not be aware of; as she explains, her whistleblower sister Reality’s body is free, but she is still muzzled from speaking to the media by the rest of her sentence and court controls. 
She explained why her sister made the decision to leak records to The Intercept and what she was doing at the time she made that decision which might actually surprise you. She even explains precisely what spurred Reality Winner to engage in an act of selfless heroism in service of our country.

Reality Winner’s sister talks about growing up with an American patriot

Scott speaks with Alison Grinter Allen, a lawyer to some of America’s most politically persecuted people, including Reality Winner, whose bombshell NSA leak about Russia's attack on the 2016 election changed the course of our nation's politics.
This is the first in a series of three interviews with Reality Winner's inner circle, the first such interviews her family has given since her release from federal prison earlier this year.
Grinter Allen didn’t start her career as a civil rights lawyer. Still, she’s representing a Texas woman unjustly jailed for illegal voting and fighting hard for her client, Reality Winner, to earn a commutation of the rest of her sentence. Despite Winner earning an early release for good behavior, the federal parole conditions are an oppressive presence stifling her free speech and daily life. At the end of this interview, she asked President Biden to step in and take action to relieve her client's remaining burden of ankle monitors and three more years of court control just for telling Americans what their government already knew about our elections.

Reality Winner’s lawyer lays out the case for her freedom

Scott Dworkin speaks with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn (part 2). Officer Dunn will be one of the first officers called to testify in front of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection against Congress.
We released part one of our interview with Officer Dunn last week, after the most-watched right-wing extremist Fox News opinion host mercilessly attacked him for having personal, political views so we advanced the release of this first part of a gripping two-part interview with Officer Dunn so the public can learn more about him as a person and as a cop.
In the first half of our discussion, Officer Dunn told us about his background as a football player, who is close to earning his master’s degree and wanted to give back to his community by working in the field he’d always dreamed of pursuing: being a cop. We left off just after he told us about the start of what he calls his worst day as a police officer which he described succinctly as “the worst day ever.”



"Worst day ever." How a Capitol Police officer fought off the January 6th insurrection

Scott Dworkin speaks with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn. Officer Dunn will be one of the first officers called to testify in front of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection against Congress.
Last night, the most-watched right-wing extremist Fox News opinion host mercilessly attacked him for having personal, political views so we advanced the release of this first part of a gripping two-part interview with Officer Dunn so the public can learn more about him as a person and as a cop. 
This podcast is also what America needs to learn about the people who invaded the Capitol to end our country's unbroken chain of peaceful transitions of power by seditiously stopping the final electoral college vote from the officer's firsthand account of the nakedly open racism he had to endure. Here's an excerpt:
"Politically, when you're out there doing that job, you don't think about anything except for doing your job effectively. I'll see congressmen who've made statements about January since then. I disagree with that at that moment. When I see them, I don't immediately think 'Oh, yo, you the one who's thinking?"
"No, I'm just like, 'Hey Congressman, good to see you.' And then like afterward, I'd be like, 'wait a minute.' But my initial instinct is to do my job and make sure that everybody's good. I can have my political beliefs, you know, outside of doing my job but it doesn't affect me doing [the job they need and all. Like I said, I take pride in it and doing my job."
"It's bigger than me, you know?"



WeedWeek's publisher just said Democrats need to take back the Senate if they want more legal weed

Download our free app to listen on your phone