Great Moments in Weed History

Celebrate 4/20 at home this year with Abdullah and Bean, in a special two-part episode where the hosts of Great Moments in Weed History share their own personal greatest weed moments with each other—and with all of you weed history heads out there. In part 1, they swap stories about grass-oriented adventures they've shared jointly together while working at VICE and High Times, including legalization day in Denver, the world's biggest ever Cannabis Cup, a trip to Hunter S. Thompson's house, getting to know Nonna Marijuana, and the origin story of the cannabis cuisine show Bong Apetit. Part two will drop on actual April 20th so look out for it! And remember, great moments in weed history happen to everyone, and they happen every day, so while we're all stuck at home this 4/20, we can still get together with our friends online, get lit, and share our best weed stories. And someday that will be a weed story too. To hear the long, strange story of how 4/20 became a high holiday, check out our episode about the Waldos from Season 1. Abdullah and Bean wish to thank everyone who has reached out to say that the podcast has been bringing them some joy, relief and laughs right now, it means the world to us. We also wish to dedicate this episode to all of our weed crews, past and present. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

When 22 tons of weed washed up on Brazil's beaches one magical summer, the locals interpreted it as a gift from Yemoja, a sea goddess deity with African roots that was adopted into Brazilian Catholicism. In celebration they threw some of the most incredible cannabis-fueled parties in history, where they sampled and shared the countless cans of incredibly potent "Thai stick" that improbably came in on those unforgettable "green tides." One minute cannabis was expensive, shwaggy, and hard to find in Brazil. The next it was suddenly free, dank, and everywhere. So naturally, it will be forever remembered as The Summer of the Cans! Special thanks to Tocha Alves, a Brazilian director who made an incredible documentary film called The Summer of the Cans and supplied us with a version with English subtitles so we could tell this story. Very special thanks to weed legend Danny Danko, host of the OG cannabis podcast Free Weed, for suggesting this story! And a HUGE THANKS to Savage Henry Comedy Club for hosting us as part of their incredible annual comedy festival in the heart of Humboldt County, California, and to Alec Cole for his help with the recording. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Smuggling hashish out of Afghanistan in the 1970s presented the Brotherhood of Eternal Love with a unique supply side problem, which they solved in a way that forever changed the game for cannabis concentrates and culture. Best known today for their international LSD operation, this legendary group of surfers, smugglers, and psychedelic evangelists also worked together with the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground to break their spiritual leader Timothy Leary out of prison. In this episode, Abdullah and Bean focus in on the Brotherhood's incredible marijuana smuggling ring, which got them dubbed "the hippie mafia" and involved some of the most fascinating characters in the long and fascinating history of cannabis true crime. Including the largely unknown story of Ronald Hadley Stark, who has been pegged by various people at various times as an undercover CIA asset sent to subvert the counterculture, a rogue KGB operative sent to foment a new American revolution, a ruthless career criminal disguised as a peace-and-love flower child, and a cunning snitch who transformed the Brotherhood of Eternal Love from idealistic hippies into international drug smugglers. For more on the BOEL, check out these books (The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, 1984 and Orange Sunshine, 2010) and documentaries (Orange Sunshine, 2016 and The Sunshine Makers, 2017). PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Hashish bon bons play a starring role in one of Louisa May Alcott's "scandalous" short stories, but you'd never know that by reading her many biographies. Partially because she wrote Perilous Play (1868) under a pen name, but mostly because her experiences with high-powered edibles have been all but erased from history. With the recent Greta Gerwig adaptation of Little Women sparking a revival of interest in the author, Abdullah and Bean spend the episode recounting Alcott's incredible life story, and uncovering her stoney exploits, including settling in for story time as they read weed-infused excerpts from her jaunty little tale about a group of young society women who pass a most interesting afternoon and evening together by getting absolutely wrecked on hash candy. Special thanks to researcher and activist Ellen Komp, author of Tokin' Women: A 4,000 Year Herstory, which chronicles this story and many others. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

His newspaper ads read 1-800-WANT-POT, promising New Yorkers quality cannabis at a fair price, delivered in under an hour, by bicycle, at a time when legal cannabis was still a distant dream. Known as the Pope of Pot, Mickey Cesar had first learned how to navigate the illicit weed business in the 1970s while living in Amsterdam, before coming home to start America's first underground delivery service. What followed was a tale of overcoming arrests, getting shot, and a snitch calling Howard Stern, all to bring the cannabis sacrament to his growing flock. This episode features special guest Ben Sinclair, star and co-creator of High Maintenance on HBO. On High Maintenance, Ben plays a NYC weed delivery guy who makes his rounds on bicycle, so naturally Abdullah and Bean were thrilled to share with Ben the story of his real life predecessor. We recorded live in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Bell House in NYC as part of the 2020 Brooklyn Podcast Festival. Special thanks to journalist Mike Sager who wrote a June 1991 Rolling Stone article about Mickey called "The High Times and Strange Time of the Pope of Pot" Special thanks to Danny Danko for MCing the live show. And to Kevin Schumacher for taking photos. And to everyone who came out to share a very special evening. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In the middle of the night on December 9, 1976, a pair of Vietnam vets turned international weed smugglers stood on a makeshift runway in Baja, Mexico, watching as a work crew loaded up their twin-engine airplane with 6,000 pounds of primo sinsemilla bud. The unregistered flight’s illicit cargo was a locally-grown high-grade red-hair strain known as Mota Magic. Unfortunately, the ill-fated smuggling run ended in disaster when the planeload of weed crashed into a remote frozen lake tucked away in Yosemite's rugged backcountry. But from that tragedy arose the greatest "gold rush" in weed history, as some of the world's top rock climbers, the DEA, the forest rangers, and itinerant hippies all raced to pull as many bales of Mota Magic from the frozen lake as possible. This episode was recorded live in Humboldt County, California as part of the Savage Henry Comedy Festival. Special thanks to everyone at Savage Henry, an incredible independent humor magazine and comedy club operating in the heart of America's most famous cannabis cultivation region. Also thanks to a "Great Moments in Weed History" listener known as BGTM for hipping us to this incredible story. Please send suggestions for future episodes to [email protected] -- don't worry, Abdullah won't see them. And please do us a huge solid and tell all your cool friends about the podcast at your next smoke session! PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

High Times founder Tom Forcade's story concludes in part 2, which features a special guest — Rex Weiner — who was there for the magazine's wild early days, and shared many illicit adventures with the weed smuggler/political activist behind it all. We discuss how the book Agents of Chaos by Norman Spinrad influenced Tom Forcade towards an embrace of chaos as the true third rail in American politics. Rex recalls High Times' glory years including cover stories on Bob Marley, Hunter Thompson, Debby Harry, The Sex Pistols, Cheech and Chong, and other cannabis celebrities. And we hear about the time Tom and Rex stowed away on a luxury cruise to watch a rocket launch! High Times magazine changed the world, and if you love weed, you should know this incredible unsung story. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Weed smuggler/political revolutionary Tom Forcade once described his life goal as going “all the way, whatever that may bring." In 1974, at just 29 years old, he used profits from flying planeloads of Colombian bud into the country to found High Times magazine. At the time, Forcade already had a long history of subversive acts under his belt, including throwing a pie in the face of Otto Larsen, head of the U.S. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography during a congressional hearing, getting indicted for a supposed plot to firebomb the 1972 Republican National Convention, forming the Zippies as a more confrontational alternative to Abbie Hoffman's Yippies, and helping to lead the then ascendent underground press movement in the United States. But while everyone today knows High Times, few remember the brilliant, radical, mercurial swashbuckler who started it all. So buckle up for one of the wildest, weediest rides in the history of this weed history podcast. Also in this episode: As a ten year High Times veteran, Bean shares his thoughts on that experience, and speculates on what Tom Forcade might think of today’s cannabis industry—including the investors who’ve taken control of his creation. Check out the book Smoking Typewriters to learn more about the underground press movement of the 1960s and 70s, which was frequently targeted for marijuana arrests as part of a general campaign of government repression. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 1970, the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ran for Sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado as the anointed candidate of the newly formed Freak Power political party. He promised an immediate end to marijuana arrests and abusive policing. He also promised to rip up the streets of Aspen and sod them. And that his first act as sheriff would be to “install on the courthouse lawn a platform and a set of stocks in order to punish dishonest dope dealers in a proper public fashion.” Thompson even shaved his head bald, so he could refer to incumbent Sheriff Carroll D. Whitmire as “my longhaired opponent” during their much anticipated debate. Hear an excerpt from that debate in this episode, plus archival audio from the Freak Power Party’s campaign headquarters on Election Day. Read the book Freak Power for more on Hunter S. Thompson’s run for sheriff, including his incredible artwork and campaign materials. Watch the documentary Gonzo to celebrate the life and work of one of the 20th Century’s towering figures in journalism, politics and literature. Watch Great Moments in Weed History co-host David Bienenstock (aka “Bean”) visit Hunter S. Thompson’s house for an incredible weed-infused dinner in this viral VICE video. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Reefer, muggles, gage — whatever jazz-age slang you prefer, marijuana most definitely played an outsized role in the development of this most unique and influential American art form. From the formation of the first ever jam sessions to the racial integration of the leading jazz bands, cannabis culture and consciousness of the era pushed musicians and audiences alike towards a higher appreciation of authentic, improvised, expansive self expression. As jazz evolved into the world’s most popular musical genre, weed-friendly musicians began to tour, leaving a trail of newly initiated reefer smokers (and freshly planted reefer seeds) in their wakes. A wide range of jazz greats also made approving references to “Mary Warner” in songs like Reefer Man (Cab Calloway), If You’re a Viper (Fats Waller), Texas Tea Party (Benny Goodman), Muggles (Louis Armstrong), Gimme a Reefer (Bessie Smith), When I Get Low, I Get High (Ella Fitzgerald), and I'm Feeling High and Happy (Gene Krupa). We explore this incredible underground history via the unique friendship of two of the scene’s most legendary Vipers (or weed enthusiasts) — Louis Armstrong, the most famous jazz musician of all time, who inhaled two cigar-sized joints on the daily, and clarinetist Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, a middle class Jew from Chicago who became very, very well loved in jazz circles for having a steady supply of the finest herb available. Read more about this incredible era in weed history with Mezz Mezzrow’s book Really The Blues (1946). PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Alice B. Toklas was born in 1877 in San Francisco, but she relocated to Paris after the earthquake of 1906 destroyed 80% of her hometown. And on the very day she arrived in the City of Lights, Alice met and fell in love with Gertrude Stein—also an American expatriate, and a collector of important work by not yet renown masters like Cezanne, Gaugiun, Renoir, Matisse and Picasso. These very painters would bring friends and rivals to the apartment shared by Gertrude and Alice at all hours to show off their latest masterpieces, and so, one of the art world’s most celebrated salons was born, which would draw in the leading lights of Paris in the 1920s, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Charlie Chaplin, and Salvador Dali. So what’s this all got to do with the invention of the modern weed brownie? That’s an incredible intercontinental and cross-cultural tale of culinary adventure that involves Moroccan hashish makers, an avant-garde artist, a literary scandal, an elaborate weed prank and a high-larious Peter Sellers movie. Check out the original Alice B. Toklas Cookbook! Watch the movie I Love You Alice B. Toklas. Learn more about this incredible couple with the book Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice. Check out clips from Laverne and Shirley, Taxi, Frazier, That 70s Show, Desperate Housewives, Mr. Show and other very special TV episodes that celebrate the weed brownie. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 2013, renegade weed activists in Philadelphia vowed to host a monthly public smoke-out in front of the Liberty Bell. Despite clashing with heavily armed federal forces, their efforts brought cannabis decriminalization to the birthplace of American democracy. Check out N.A. Poe's YouTube channel, and you can follow him on Twitter @NikkiAllenPoe. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

On New Year's Eve 2016, Zach “Jesus Hands” Fernandez risked his life to change two letters on the world's most iconic sign. For the very first time, he tells Abdullah and Bean exactly how he did it, and why it was worth the risk. They also get pretty blazed and have a lot of laughs. Jesus Hands says that when the deed was done, he celebrated by smoking a joint of Jack Herer and listening to the song "The World' Smiling Now" by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The episode also tells the story of Danny Finegood, the first person to change the Hollywood sign to say Hollyweed in 1976. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 1973, twenty-year-old Valerie Leveroni Corral was riding in a Volkswagen bug through the Nevada desert when a small airplane swooped down low enough that its torque caused the vehicle to careen end-over-end. Valerie was flung against the roof and doors, causing brain damage, epilepsy and debilitating migraines. She was then prescribed a staggering range of pharmaceuticals to deal with the aftermath, but they proved largely ineffective in stopping her convulsions and grand mal seizures. And the side-effects left her a zombie. Then her husband Mike read about a government-funded research paper that showed unique compounds found in cannabis can reverse the growth of cancerous tumors and help control laboratory-induced seizures. What happened next is a story of resistance and resilience that involved an iconic weed garden, an armed police raid, a barricade of cannabis patients in wheelchairs and walkers, and a standoff on the steps of City Hall pitting the Wo/men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) against the DEA. Also in this episode, Abdullah fondly remembers hosting episodes of the VICE culinary cannabis show Bong Appetit featuring the legendary Nonna Marijuana—a.k.a. Valerie’s mother! Learn more about WAMM with the book Dying to Get High and the documentary film La Vie En Vert. Catch the incredible Nonna Marijuana holiday special of Bong Appetit with Abdullah as host. Learn more about Prop 215 co-author Dennis Peron in our Great Moments in Weed History episode from Season 1. WAMM wishes to offer special thanks to a grower known as "Dr. John" (not the late musician) for helping to supply them with cannabis after their earliest arrests and garden confiscations. WAMM also wishes to stress the key role played by the LGBTQ+ community and AIDS/HIV activists in helping to organize and operate the collective. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Everybody knows Cheech and Chong as the world’s ultimate stoner icons, buthow did they rise from obscure road comics to writing, directing and starring in one of themost influential movies of all time? In 1967 in Vancouver, Canada, a draft resister from East LA named Richard Marin met a musician named Thomas Chong - whose family owned a local burlesque house. Fusing their comedic super powers in a crucible fueled by love for weed and improv, Cheech and Chong grew from performing in between burlesque acts, to Grammy-nominated comedians, leaving one world left to conquer: Hollywood. Up in Smoke may not be the first ever stoner comedy, but it’s the one thatchanged popular entertainment forever. And if you’re asking yourself “How Did This GetMade?,” rest assured that it happened in the most Cheech and Chong way possible. And Abdullah and Bean try to piece together the many ways that Up in Smoke predicted the future, despite having a plot that barely makes sense. LISTENING NOTE: Roll up a comically oversized joint for this episode! PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

What would happen if one of the biggest heroes and one of the biggest villains in professional wrestling got arrested for smoking a joint together? Just ask babyface "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and legendary heel The Iron Sheik. In 1987, that very fate befell two of the WWF's biggest stars. The aftermath of those shocking arrests not only changed the trajectory of both their lives forever, it also forever transformed pro wrestling in ways the sport is still grappling with. Also in this episode, we learn how the Iron Sheik fled his homeland of Iran in fear that the Shah—who came to power thanks to a CIA-back coup—was about to assassinate him. And we chart how a first-generation viral video attacking Seinfeld star Michael Richards for racist comments gave the Iron Sheik a third act as an online heel and a Howard Stern show favorite. For more on The Iron Sheik’s amazing life, check out the documentary The Sheik and Jim Duggan's autobiography Hacksaw. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Ever wonder what President Barack Obama was like as a pot-smoking teenager in Hawaii? We did, so we dug deep into Barry's time with his high school weed crew, the Choom Gang. “In Hawaii, chooming means indulging in pakalolo,” fellow Choom Gang member Tom Topolinski explains to Frontline. And yes, pakalolo is yet another slang term for cannabis, as heard in Hawaiian musician Don Ho’s classic song, “Who Is the Lolo Who Stole My Pakalolo?” You might remember seeing this young version of Obama portrayed by Jordan Peele in a classic Key and Peele sketch. The former president famously admitted that he used cannabis as a youth and that he surely inhaled as “that was the point.” Though he opposed cannabis legalization as a senator, his public stance evolved over the course of his tenure, and his direction to federal authorities to lay off state-level efforts to legalize cannabis makes him the most progressive president on the cannabis issue to date. Some say it’s just good policy, but we say it calls for a special shout-out to the Choom Gang. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 1964, Bob Dylan met The Beatles for the first time, and after a bit of awkward small talk, offered to share some of his marijuana. Based on a misheard lyric, Dylan assumed the Fab Four already blazed, but it turned out this would be their first time "turning on." And so begins our Season 1 finale, in which we explore one of the most iconic smoke sessions of all time. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Dennis Peron (1945-2018) first discovered the healing power of cannabis while serving in Vietnam. After smuggling two pounds of high-grade herb home from the front, he became a charismatic and defiant leader of San Francisco's medical cannabis and gay rights movements. A fiery street-fighting optimist, he suffered multiple stints in prison and even took a bullet in a police raid—all without ever giving up or backing down. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Amsterdam has long been a safe haven for cannabis freedom, but few today remember the subversive, anarchistic, defiantly pro weed Dutch Provo movement (short for provocateurs), which used a mix of radical street theater and outrageous political pranks to expose the authorities as out of touch and incompetent, while bringing coffeeshops, seed banks, and legal cannabis to the Netherlands. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Mary Jane Rathbun was already selling weed brownies in San Francisco when the AIDS crisis hit. So the self described "little old lady" started volunteering at hospitals and crisis centers, where she made her "magically delicious" treats available for free to those in desperate need. And when the cops tried to stop this mission of mercy, "Brownie Mary" had a simple message for the authorities: Go F*ck Yourself. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt in a failed attempt to install colonial rule. French soldiers did succeed in enthusiastically adopting the local custom of consuming hashish, a practice with a long, storied history in the Islamic world. When the occupation ended, they brought a taste for cannabis home that lead directly to the formation of Paris’s famed Club des Hashischins, where Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Charles Baudelaire drank coffee laced with weed and got weird with it. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

After 29 years in lock-up on a first-time cannabis smuggling charge, Robert "Black Tuna" Platshorn published his memoirs of bringing in planeloads of Santa Marta Gold from Colombia and getting snared in one of the DEA's earliest operations. Then America's longest serving prisoner in the War on Marijuana dedicated himself to pushing for legalization, with a surprising twist.

Every year on April 20th (4/20), cannabis lovers celebrate their favorite plant with festivals, protests, marches, and smoke-outs great and small. So what are the grassroots origins of this high holiday? And how did it spread around the world? PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

In 1967, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon set out to research marijuana sufficiently to convince his best friend—famed astronomer Carl Sagan—to stop smoking weed all the time. But after making a fateful trip to the library, Grinspoon returned convinced the case against Mary Jane was all lies and propaganda. So Lester and Carl began enthusiastically exploring the cannabis "Cosmos" together, igniting the medical cannabis movement and sparking many stoned epiphanies along the way. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

A legendary figure in the music world, Fela Kuti is best known for inventing Afro Beat, battling the Nigerian government, declaring his own sovereign nation, and loudly proclaiming his love of cannabis. Join Abdullah and Bean for the story of his greatest triumph over the cops! PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Jesus didn’t smoke weed. But is it possible cannabis was the key ingredient in the Holy Anointing Oil used by Christ and his disciples to perform healing miracles? Join Abdullah and Bean for a deep dive into an herbal mystical mystery of Biblical proportions. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

Famed poet, memoirist and civil rights icon Maya Angelou had a profoundly life altering experience the first time she smoked some “grifa”—in 1946, with two lesbian prostitutes she met while working as a waitress. “I learned new postures and developed new dreams,” Angelou wrote of her cannabis muse. “From a natural stiffness I melted into a grinning tolerance. For the first time, life amused me.” PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.

From his first toke in West Texas in 1954, to the joint he's most definitely puffing on right now, Willie Nelson has been America's ultimate weed icon for over sixty years. In the first ever episode of the podcast,, Bean tells Abdullah about the time the Red Headed Stranger smoked a "fat Austin torpedo" on the roof of the White House. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video shows and seshes, plus access to cool rewards like a signed book or signature lighter. And it truly helps us make the best show possible.