An Outlaw Weed Smuggler Started The World's Most Prestigious Pot Contest

For over fifty years, Michelle and Michael Aldrich have tirelessly advocated for the cannabis plant. A joint life's journey that started when they first met at the first-ever conference hosted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. How’s that for a weed meet cute?  In this episode, we hear directly from this high-namic duo about how and why they've played a leading role in the cannabis liberation movement since 1972, and what they've got planned next. SEE BEAN PERFORM IN SEATTLE ON OCT 5 Get your tickets now to see a sneak preview of "The History of Weed" hosted by Bean as part of the Dope Show at the Halcyon Brewery. 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

What have you always wanted to know about the herb but were afraid to ask? Bean scoured the Reddit /trees forum and asked Great Moments in Weed History supporters on Patreon to find out, and then sat down for a sesh, put on his "Uncle Stoner" hat, and dished out some info and advice based on his 20+ years of reporting on our favorite plant. Does weed sometimes make you anxious, or weepy or want to get naked? How can you score some pot safely when traveling? What if you need weed for medicine but your doctor says no way? And how can you best use cannabis to boost your creativity? 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Jerry Garcia and Mountain Girl sat rolling joints and cleaning the stems and seeds from a brick of weed when a fateful knock came at the door of 710 Ashbury Street. Having your communal crash pad raided by the police isn’t typically the start of a great moment, but for the Grateful Dead, the October 1967 undercover police sting operation that targeted their home and headquarters turned into a pivotal inflection point in the band’s trajectory. One that would change cannabis history and spread weed consciousness around the world.  That's because rather than pleading out or turning informant, they held a press conference right in the same room where they’d been busted, calling out the local police and the national War on Drugs as a racist, hypocritical, counter productive, unconstitutional failure. This episode also examines the huge role the band and their many Deadhead followers played in spreading high quality marijuana and seeds across the country, including classic strains like Sour Diesel and Chemdog. Very special thanks to the legend Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, Spinal Tap) for guesting on this episode, as he actually wrote the 1967 pro-legalization statement the Dead presented at their press conference. Read more first person accounts of this incident in Rock Skully's book Living with the Dead and in Rosie McGee's memoir Dancing with the Dead. Hear the Grateful Dead's October 22, 1967 Marijuana Defense Benefit concert in its entirety at archive.org. Check out Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally's book A Long Strange Trip. 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

College students have always experimented with weed, but there's never been anything like Cal Poly Humboldt's new Cannabis Studies Program. Housed at a state university located in the most famous cannabis cultivation region in the United States, the program is the pipe-dream-turned-brain-child of Dr. Dominic Corva, a professor in the Department of Sociology and a longtime cannabis law reform advocate. For this episode, Bean turned the interview portion of the podcast over to Jada Morrison, a second year student in the program who also served with distinction as the first ever Great Moments in Weed History intern. Jada conceived and produced this episode as part of her final project, for which she earned school credit. Great work Jada! 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Rick Cusick has worn many hats since first getting lit in the 1970s—editor, author, activist, advocate and agitator. He also raised a child solo while serving as the head of High Times magazine and lived to write the tale in his new book "Reefer Dadness." As Rick unfurls his weedy life story to his old friend Bean, this episode features special appearances from two of the biggest names in music—Willie and Bob—and two of the biggest names in weed—Keith and Lester. Listener Note: Definitely a two joint episode. 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Since 1990, Housing Works has been actively supporting NYC's unhoused population and people with HIV/AIDS through advocacy, mutual support and entrepreneurship. Two years ago, the once radical organization was awarded the city's first recreational cannabis license, and quickly opened a beautiful, inclusive, welcoming dispensary in lower Manhattan that serves the community while giving back to those in need. On this weed's episode, we get the inside story on all that from Sasha Nutgent, Housing Works’ Director of Retail Cannabis. While Bean, our host, recalls his own "great moment" of buying legal weed just blocks from where he was arrested for smoking a joint. ALSO: HAPPY 7/10 TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE Check out our 7/10 Holiday Episodes from Years Past: Celebrate Hash's High Holiday w/ Roger from Puffco Psychedelic Surfers Invented Dabs Celebrating Hash High Holiday w/ an IRL Sesh 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Tim Blake has proliferated the cannabis plant since the early 1970s.  About twenty years ago, he left the outlaw life behind to put himself on the frontlines of the fight for legalization. Along the way, he founded the Emerald Cup, the world’s most prestigious cannabis competition. This August the Emerald Cup will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a two day event in Oakland. In advance of that auspicious occasion, Tim took us on a wild ride through his life in weed. Listener note: This is a "two joint episode," if you're trying to toke along at home. 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 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

This story is pretty wild, extremely weedy, and most people have never heard of it before—including our guest, the esteemed weed journalist Mary Jane Gibson. So we're not about to give away any spoilers in the show notes. Just light one, get lit, and listen up! 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 100+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

After discovering the healing power of weed while serving in Vietnam, Dennis Peron smuggled two pounds of high-grade herb home. From there he became a charismatic and defiant leader of San Francisco's medical weed 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. The movement he helped lead and inspire liberated the world. If you don't know his story, then you don't know weed history. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 100+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. 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

From starring in the first-ever movie about hip-hop and graffiti, to hosting Yo! MTV Raps, Fab 5 Freddy has been a weed aficionado at the forefront of underground culture for more than four decades. He's also the filmmaker behind the groundbreaking Netflix documentary "Grass is Greener," and the founder of the cause-based B. Noble cannabis brand. Tracing the history of weed from the jazz era to the modern day, F5F recalls a journey that took him from throwing in on nickel bags to working directly with one of the world's largest legal cannabis brands. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 100+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. 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