How Do We End the 'War on Drugs?'

As lead guitar for Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, Jorma Kaukonen performed at Woodstock, Altamont, the Monterey Pop Festival and on some of the most legendary concert bills of the psychedelic rock era, sharing the stage with everyone from the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin to B.B. King and Muddy Waters. Along the way, he not only lived cannabis history, he inhaled it. As you’re about to hear… For the past three decades, Jorma has been happily living a sober life, but when a lifetime of non-stop guitar playing finally caught up with him in the form of joint and muscle pain, he recently rediscovered the medicinal power of cannabis. And so he’s now the proud proprietor of Jorma’s Choice full-spectrum CBD oil muscle balm, touted as providing all natural relief for fingerpicking’ hands and sore muscles. PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. 

For 35 years, Families Against Mandatory Minimums has resisted America’s War on Drugs by sharing the stories of people subjected to unconscionable prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses.  In this episode, FAMM's general counsel Shanna Rifkin explains how the organization convinces lawmakers and communities to adopt harm reduction based approaches to drug policy, and what you can do to help the cause . PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Meet the brains behind "Pizza Movie," which hit Hulu a few months ago and became something of an instant cult classic.  Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher joined (or jointed) forces as BriTANicK while still in college and have been creating distinctively stoner-friendly comedy together ever since.  From sharing their earliest herbal experiences at NYU, to working on Pizza Movie together for nearly a decade, in our conversation we get into the many high and lows of their shared journey as improvisers, comedians, filmmakers and best buds. All of which culminated in a hilarious and groundbreaking movie starring Gaten Matarazzo (you know, the curly haired guy from Stranger Things), Daniel Radcliff (the kid in the round glasses in the Harry Potter films), and the always incredible Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live.  No spoilers, but Pizza Movie is basically an epic tale on par with the Odyssey about two college friends who accidentally ingest an experimental psychedelic and then set off on the adventure of a lifetime — trying to retrieve a pizza delivery sent to their dorm. PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. 

Acclaimed comedian Skyler Higley discusses the highs, lows and potential pot-holes of using cannabis as a creative tool,  While also recalling his own weedy journey as a stand-up, writer for The Onion and the New Yorker, and frequent collaborator with Conan O'Brien. Don't miss this episode if you want to know how to have more (and better) high-deas while getting lit. And the check out Skyler's new podcast, Help Me Be Black

Best known for distributing massive amounts of LSD , the Brotherhood of Eternal Love was an outlaw group of surfers, smugglers, and psychedelic evangelists who also exported so much hashish out of Afghanistan that they developed a game-changing new way to move the product at scale. Working with their in-house research-and-development team, the Brotherhood invented a highly innovative chemical solvent-based concentration system that gave rise to the modern dab.  So settle in for a wild ride, and happy 7/10 everyone! If you don't know, it's like 4/20 but for hash instead of weed. This episode first aired in 2020 and features former GMIWH co-host Abdullah Saeed. PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

In 2002, professional soccer player Ethan Zohn won Africa: Survivor, netting himself a $1 million dollar prize and overnight fame.  But it was his subsequent battle against cancer that made him a true survivor, and also opened his eyes to the therapeutic power of cannabis.  As you’ll hear in our interview, Ethan tried smoking herb just once as a college student, and liked it, but felt he had to put all forms of intoxication aside to focus on his athletic career. Years later, however, the plant would play a profound and central role in his healing journey, which in turn inspired him to become a vocal advocate for medical cannabis.  With the World Cup now in full swing, Ethan is taking that message across the country, visiting cities hosting matches and engaging with their weed scenes as part of a new video series called Kicking Back, that's coming soon to the High Times Youtube channel.

Like many lifelong weed activists, Brian "Box" Brown’s radicalization began with a youthful arrest. His form of resistance? Brian is an acclaimed comics artist, whose works include Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America, a comprehensive, book-length graphic novel tracing the history of cannabis prohibition all the way back to the 19th Century.  He currently publishes a weekly syndicated column called Legalization Nation that tracks the high and lows of the new legal industry. With a heavy focus on exposing how corporate cannabis is pushing around small farmers and legacy operators.  PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Simon Espinosa, a young comedy writer from Santiago, Chile, turned a stoned text message chain with his brother into by far the largest Spanish-language cannabis media platform on the planet.  En Vola (which literary translates to “in flight”) started in 2012 as a rudimentary website where stoners could post their most mind-bending and ingenious high-deas. Today, Simon and his collaborators have accumulated over 85 million views on YouTube alone. And Simon doesn’t just create comedic weed videos, he also works tirelessly to educate the community, push for legalization, and to bring together culture and activism by organizing events, at home in Chile and around the world.  PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Dr. Peter Grinspoon—author of the new book Aging Well with Cannabis: Feel Better, Sleep Better, and Live Better with Marijuana and CBD—explains that senior citizens are the fastest growing demo of cannabis consumers. But they often need help accessing information and safely ingesting the plant. Dr. Grinspoon is a primary care physician and educator at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and serves as a board member of the advocacy group Doctors For Cannabis Regulation, which works on legalizing cannabis with an eye toward social justice issues.  PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

This week saw weed history happen in real time when the federal government announced its officially rescheduling cannabis out of Schedule 1, the most restrictive category.  To be clear, so far much remains unclear about this process, which will happen in phases. Amid a lot of confusion, there’s cause for excitement, but also cause for concern.  So for a clearer picture of what the future holds, we reached out to Shaleen Title, a lawyer, activist, adjunct professor and director of the Parabola Center for Law and Policy, Shaleen’s also a former top cannabis regulator for the state of Massachusetts, where she served as a commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 to 2020. PATREON Please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.