Great Moments in Weed History

When police in black helicopters started descending on Humboldt County, CA to bring 'death from above' to illicit cannabis grows, the locals banded together and fought back. As a co-founder of both the Citizens Observation Group and community-supported KMUD radio, Agnes Patak spent decades monitoring the cops and broadcasting real-time warnings about their raiding parties. She tells us how CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) made life a living hell for Mom & Pop growers, and why she's so proud to see her community continue to honor the plant, the environment, and our collective struggle for peace and justice. EPISODE SPONSOR: PODTONESThis episode of Great Moments in Weed History is brought to you by Podtones—the first 100% pure cannabis rosin vaporizer. EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 70+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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.

Take a break from the world's troubles and get blazed with comedian Jon Gabrus upon the premiere of his new TruTV show 101 Places to Party Before You Die. Along with co-host Adam Pally, Gabrus travels the country to live it up, including getting lit early and often—as one would expect from the host of the stellar High & Mighty podcast.We talk about how becoming a stoner changed his approach to comedy, and his favorite weed scene from a movie. Then we make plans to assemble a cannabis heist crew to take on an overclocked Volcano vaporizer.EPISODE SPONSOR: PODTONESThis episode of Great Moments in Weed History is brought to you by Podtones—the first 100% pure cannabis rosin vaporizer. EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 70+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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. 

To honor the high hashish holiday, we're celebrating the surfing, smuggling, LSD evangelists known as the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.That commune's international cannabis concentrate smuggling ring got them dubbed "the hippie mafia" and involved some of the most fascinating characters in the 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 big-time drug smugglers.For more on the BOEL, check out these books (The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, and Orange Sunshine) and documentaries (Orange Sunshine and The Sunshine Makers).EPISODE SPONSOR: LIFTED MADECannabis is meant to be shared, and our newest sponsor Lifted Made has found one of the most accessible ways to do it... with hemp-derived novel cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC, Delta-9, Delta-10, THC-O, HHC, CBN, CBG and more. EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 70+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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 this special episode, we answer your burning questions about cannabis—from "How do I get my Mom high?" to "What will the world of weed look like in ten years?"Very special thanks to our backers on Patreon, who supplied the questions, and whose generous support makes this podcast possible. Please enjoy this slightly off-the-wall take on Abdullah and Bean as your personal "weed life coaches," and then join us again next Weednesday for another classic GMIWH history story.EPISODE SPONSOR: LIFTED MADECannabis is meant to be shared, and our newest sponsor Lifted Made has found one of the most accessible ways to do it... with hemp-derived novel cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC, Delta-9, Delta-10, THC-O, HHC, CBN, CBG and more. EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 70+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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 1996, Sweet Leaf Collective began bicycle-delivering donated cannabis to terminally-ill AIDS patients. By "running tight game," Sweetleaf's founder flew under the radar for decades while simultaneously expanding the operation to provide millions of dollars in free weed annually. Abdullah and Bean share a sesh with "Sweet Leaf Joe" to hear his inspirational story firsthand, including tales of the countless people and communities he's been able to support along the way.EPISODE SPONSOR: LIFTED MADECannabis is meant to be shared, and our newest sponsor Lifted Made has found one of the most accessible ways to do it... with hemp-derived novel cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC, Delta-9, Delta-10, THC-O, HHC, CBN, CBG and more. EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 70+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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. 

Sour Diesel first surfaced at a downtown hippie rock club, and ascended into being the premier smoke among New York City's celebrity set and lit-erati. Talk about making it big in the Baked Apple!Sourcing, buying, selling and eventually growing this game-changing strain was an obsession for a young weed scenester named AJ (a.k.a "Asshole Joe"), whose fortunes rose and fell as part of Gotham's rough-and-tumble underground cannabis scene. For decades, AJ kept his hustle a secret from even his closest friends, but now he's ready to tell all.EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 60+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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-infused edibles date back more than a thousand years, but did you ever wonder how the humble "pot brownie" become a cultural icon? It's a wilder and more fascinating story than you probably imagine, one that starts in Egypt in 1799 and ends with the publication of the most controversial cookbook of all time (except for maybe How to Serve Man)And at the center of it all is an iconic lesbian power couple who claimed they got duped ("doped?") into educating most of the world on how to get high off dessert. So get ready for 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. Then 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.EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 60+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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. 

Whether living in legal states or under prohibition, weed smokers continue to face stigmas and prejudices of all kinds. So to kick off our official Pride Month programming, we're revisiting our 2021 interview with true friend-of-the-podcast Jessamyn Stanley—a self-described “fat black queer woman" who's been breaking down barriers in American yoga since she began posting about her personal practice on Instagram in 2012.Jessamyn's the author of Every Body Yoga, and Yoke: My Yoga of Self Acceptance, hosts the podcast Dear Jessamyn, and has created the yoga app The Underbelly.She also co-founded the activist organization We Go High North Carolina to push for an end to cannabis arrests and a social justice based approach to legalization.And she's a Great Moments in Weed History listener, who says her own cannabis activism was in part inspired by our episodes about Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary, two indomitable activists who fought for medical cannabis during the height of the AIDs crisis.Check out our podcast feed for those episodes!EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 60+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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 was it like to be the in-house weed cookie dealer at Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC during the legendary improv theater's glory days? Our guest John Flynn tells all in his new memoir Baked!—and we give him credit for providing creative inspiration to a cultural institution that launched the careers of many of today's top comedic talents.Founded in 2004 by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin, the theater and school helped launch the careers of Paul Scheer, ,Kate McKinnon, Jon Gabrus, Aubrey Plaza, Rob Corddry, Rob Riggle, , Ed Helms, Aubrey Plaza, Zach Woods, Nicole Byer, Bobby Moynihan, Andrew Daly, Jason Mantzoukas, Nick Kroll, Donald Glover, Ben Schwartz, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), Chris Gerhard and many, many others.From baking his first batch of THC-infused treats to help fund his musical tribute to the movie Showgirls, to a run-in with FedEx that became the moment his weed cookie empire crumbled, John shares the highs (and occasional lows) of a very sweet ride.SPONSORED BY EMJAY DELIVERYIf you'd like to try California's best cannabis yourself, without leaving home, head over to Emjay Delivery and remember to use promo code GREATMOMENTS (all one word) for 10% off your first order, 15% off your second order, and 20% off your third order. Abdullah and Bean both highly recommend this excellent service with incredible cannabis and unbeatable prices.EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 60+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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. 

The Emerald Cup began in 2003 as an underground locals-only harvest celebration among outdoor organic cannabis growers in Northern California’s famed Emerald Triangle. They kept the first-ever contest a secret from the sheriff by pretending it was a birthday party.Today, the Emerald Cup is the world's most prestigious cannabis competition, drawing 30,000+ pot-lovers to a "state fair for weed" complete with its own awards show. And this year Abdullah and Bean both participated in the judging process! So roll one up and settle in for an incredible ride.Along the way you'll learn how to judge cannabis for yourself (without becoming judgmental),, discover some of the best flower, concentrates, edibles, topicals, tinctures and weed drinks on the market, and get inspired to host your own weed cup at home!Episode also includes a special appearance from Woody Harrelson, some serious terp-talk thanks to SC Labs, and a big shout out to Emerald Cup impresarios Tim and Taylor Blake.SPONSORED BY EMJAY DELIVERYIf you'd like to try California's best cannabis yourself, without leaving home, head over to Emjay Delivery and remember to use promo code GREATMOMENTS (all one word) for 10% off your first order, 15% off your second order, and 20% off your third order. Abdullah and Bean both highly recommend this excellent service with incredible cannabis and unbeatable prices.EPISODE ARCHIVEVisit our Great Moments in Weed History podcast feed for 60+ episodes of our classic format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.PATREONPlease 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.