Great Moments in Weed History
Great Moments in Weed History delves deep into humanity's 10,000+ year relationship with cannabis (a.k.a. "marijuana") to find the humor, heart, and historical importance of this very special plant. In each episode, co-hosts Abdullah Saeed and David Bienenstock blaze joints, crack jokes, and explore the people, places, and events that make up the complex and fascinating past of weed and weed culture, from Barack Obama's time in the "Choom Gang," to an exclusive first-hand account of how the Hollywood sign briefly became the Hollyweed sign. Great Moments in Weed History is a Spoke Media original.
1
Crash Buds! (Live in Humboldt County)
59 min
2
Treetop Flyer: Tom Forcade Pt. 2
46 min
3
High Times Founder Tom Forcade Pt. 1
48 min
4
Hunter Thompson Ran For Sheriff
48 min
5
Louis Armstrong’s Weed Dealer Transformed Jazz
48 min
6
A Lesbian Power Couple Invented Weed Brownies
48 min
7
Smoke Down at the Liberty Bell
49 min
8
Hooray for Hollyweed!
43 min
9
WAMM Takes Down the DEA
48 min
10
Cheech and Chong Go Up in Smoke
49 min
11
The Iron Sheik Gets High and Destroys Kayfabe
51 min
12
Barack Obama's Weed Years
49 min
13
Season 2 - Coming September 5, 2019
Abdullah and Bean are back for Season 2 of Great Moments in Weed History, starting September 5th!
1 min
14
Bob Dylan Gets The Beatles High For The First T...
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...
40 min
15
RIP Dennis Peron—the Gay, Hippie, Combat Vet Wh...
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...
56 min
16
How Amsterdam Became an International Weed Have...
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...
59 min
17
Brownie Mary Baked THC-Infused Treats for AIDS ...
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...
62 min
18
Hashish Arrives in Europe Via Napoleon's Egypti...
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...
50 min
19
A Weed Smuggler's Inspiring Tale of Life After ...
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...
46 min
20
4/20 Started w/ a Treasure Map to a Weed Garden...
Every year on April 20th (4/20), cannabis lovers celebrate their favorite plant with festivals, protests, marches, and smoke-outs great and small. But what are the grassroots origins of this high holiday? And how did it spread around the world?
55 min
21
Carl Sagan and His Best Bud Get Blazed and Save...
In 1967, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon set out to research marijuana sufficiently enough to convince his best friend—famed astronomer Carl Sagan—to stop smoking weed all the time. But after making a fateful trip to the...
56 min
22
Fela Kuti Takes an Expensive Sh*t (Season 1, Ep 4)
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...
61 min
23
Did Jesus Use Cannabis to Perform Healing Mirac...
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...
63 min
24
Maya Angelou Smokes Some "Grifa" (Season 1, Ep 2)
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...
56 min
25
Willie Nelson Gets High on the Roof of the Whit...
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. So in our premiere episode, Bean tells Abdullah about the time the Red Headed...
55 min