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 F...
May 13, 2026•1 hr 2 min
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 Cent...
Apr 29, 2026•53 min
Comedic 'heavy hitter' Jon Gabrus joins the year's weediest episode. Plus Bean shares details from 4x20 Quick Hits , a new Hulu original series he worked on that's dropping on April 20th, with episodes about High Times founder Tom Forcade, the history of functional art glass, the making of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and, last but not least, the Legend of Ganjasaurus Rex! MEGASESH Tickets and livestream passes for Gabrus's 5th Annual Mega-sesh are available from Dynasty Typewriter PATREO...
Apr 15, 2026•50 min
Writer, actor and director Ben Sinclair is best known as co-creator and star of the HBO series High Maintenance . A recent New York Times headline asked: “What happens when TV’s favorite weed dealer tries to quit?” The article centered around Low Maintenance , Ben’s new Substack column, where he “delves into his complicated relationship with marijuana." I've known Ben a little bit, for a long time, and wanted to take this opportunity to hear more about his current journey with(out) weed, and als...
Apr 08, 2026•51 min
Angela Dawson is a fourth generation farmer, albeit the first of her name to farm cannabis. She’s also a leading weed activist in the state of Minnesota, who's currently preparing for the 4/20 soft-launch of "The Garden on 26th," a new licensed retail dispensary in South Minneapolis that will sit just steps from where Alex Pretti was publicly executed by ICE agents in January. Angela and I discuss the many ways the War on Drugs laid the groundwork for our government's current disastrous, cruel a...
Mar 25, 2026•1 hr 9 min
Gettin’ lit on 4/20 used to mean something special. And it will again. So on this episode, to spark that return to glory, we’re going to trace the origin story of our annual high holiday all the way back to its roots, as the singular creation of a small group of stoners on an epic quest way back in 1971. That’s right, it’s time recount the epic story of the Waldos—but with a twist. This year we’re not just going to celebrate this unique history, we’re also gonna make a pledge to not let 4/20 bec...
Mar 11, 2026•57 min
In 2019, Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur Tushar Atre met a tragic end after paddling out into the rough waters of the underground cannabis scene in surfer haven Santa Cruz, California, At once a love story, a crime drama, and a who-dun-it, this epic tale is chronicled in the riveting new book A Killing in Cannabis . My guest for this episode is the book's author, Scott Eden....
Feb 25, 2026•45 min
A prominent anti-weed editorial in this week's NY Times is just the latest attempt to resurrect the kind of government propaganda and media hysteria that helped make the plant illegal in the first place. So we talked with Kyle Boyar , a scientist with a background in neurology, microbiology, and analytical chemistry and an expertise in cannabis about the junk science used to discredit cannabis, the harsh reality and hyped hysteria around Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome, the potential ill effect...
Feb 11, 2026•1 hr 5 min
Rainbow Valentine is the creator behind Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter, a first-person podcast series that explores her life growing up as the offspring of two psych*delic pioneers—as she calls them—who together operated a cross-country w--d distribution ring while living a life fully immersed in hippies, seekers, and counterculture luminaries. After digging into our GMIWH interview, be sure to check out Rainbow’s own podcasts, not just Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter about her ...
Jan 28, 2026•1 hr 7 min
Roll up for a special edition of the pod where Bean answers your w--d advice questions with a little help from green-minded journalist Mary Jane Gibson and the Reddit r/trees community. Think of it as everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite plant but were afraid to ask. Check out Mary Jane (yes, that's her real name) via her incredible "My Sandwich, My Choice" Substack and her videos on Instagram and Tiktok . PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on ...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 25 min
Harold Derber pioneered the modern narcotics trade with his groundbreaking invention: the mothership. By operating a fleet of clandestine motherships floating in international waters, Derber eventually became the most prolific supplier of illicit weed in American history. In this interview with David Tuch, author of The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade , we tell the tale of a larger than life outlaw, a story full of action, adventure, i...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Get ready to experience a beloved annual tradition as we celebrate the many surprising ways that Santa Claus is based on old trippy traditions around psychedelic mushrooms. So please, buckle up your sleigh bells, roll up and get ready to take a wild reindeer ride with Santa, Bean and Abdullah Saeed, former co-host of Great Moments in Weed History. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon . Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of t...
Dec 17, 2025•59 min
In January, Martin Olive was shot seven times outside the Vapor Room dispensary, which he co-founded in San Francisco in 2004. Located in the legendary Haight Street neighborhood, the Vapor Room was known for its extensive compassion program offering free cannabis to patients in need, and for the vibrant community of mutual support that took root in its on-site consumption lounge. Over the past year, Martin has made a truly miraculous recovery. We discuss his shooting at the end of the interview...
Dec 04, 2025•1 hr 22 min
The most heinous legal and human rights abuses of our current political moment all have their roots in the War on Drugs, from corruption and racism, to propaganda and mass incarceration. Our guest this week, Dr. David Farber, is a distinguished professor and the author of War on Drugs: A History . Together, we explore how the drug war served as a pilot program for American authoritarianism. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon . Supporters get...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 15 min
In 1987, real life outlaw growers in Humboldt County, CA made a low budget monster movie called Ganjasaurus Rex, a cult classic that we explore in this episode with special guest Jon Gabrus ( Staying Alive , 101 Places to Party Before You Die ). Attention anyone currently in Humboldt County , where the film was made and the story was set, Bean from GMIWH will be hosting a Ganjasaurus Rex screening + Harvest Celebration at the Mateel Center in Redway, CA on Saturday, November 8th . PATREON Please...
Nov 05, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Fed up with finance d-bags enshitifying everything? Well, I can't stop them from trying to take over weed too, but I did just tell one of the worst offenders to hit the bricks, only with much more colorful language. Adam Bierman—co-founder and former CEO of a massive cannabis dispensary chain called Medmen—was originally pitched to me by his publicist, upon publication of his new book Weed Empire: How I Battled Gangsters, Investment Banks, and the Department of Justice to Build the Cannabis Indu...
Oct 22, 2025•1 hr 4 min
An underground chemist, acid-soaked sound engineers, a bestselling author, and a psychedelic band all set out together in the 1970s in pursuit of audio perfection. Together, they created and destroyed a legendary sound system known as the Wall of Sound, which was as tall as a school bus is long and more than a hundred feet wide. Author Brian Anderson explores this wild journey in his new book Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection . And oh yeah, they...
Oct 08, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Caleb Chen is a weed enthusiast, researcher, reviewer and academic, who runs " The Highest Critic," and is well on his way to earning a doctorate in the subject. He's also a Ganjier and a reviewer with Budist . Caleb joins the podcast for an engaging discussion of what's cutting-edge in cannabis, or "hype weed" as the young people like to say when it comes to our favorite plant. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon . Supporters get exclusive access to...
Sep 24, 2025•1 hr 25 min
From ancient traditions to the evolution of modern cannabis culture in Morocco, India, Egypt, Nepal, and other traditional hashish regions, get ready for a fascinating time getting high on history with Dr. Maziyar Ghiabr, Director for the Centre of Persian And Iranian Studies at the University of Exeter’s Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies. Maziyar is also the author of a fascinating new book called We Smoke Flowers: On Being High in Postrevolutionary Iran that traces the custom's roots to...
Sep 11, 2025•56 min
Amber E. Senter’s impressive legal cannabis career began with years of underground weed growing, hashmaking and edibles slanging. Amber is the founder and CEO of MAKR House, a cannabis house of brands, and she has served as the Chief Operations Officer of a prominent cannabis dispensary. In addition to her various business ventures, Amber is also co-founder and Executive Director of Supernova Women , an organization formed in 2015 to empower Black and Brown small business owners in the cannabis ...
Aug 27, 2025•1 hr 6 min
When a bunch of vulture capital d-bags ran High Times into bankruptcy, the magazine's illustrious fifty year history appeared to be burnt out. But then, in June, Raw Papers founder Josh Kesselman announced that he’d bought the brand for $3.5 million. In this episode, Josh explains how and why he bought High Times, and his high hopes for a return to glory. Josh also shares his own weedy life journey, an inspiring tale of a young stoner who became obsessed with rolling papers, opened a bootstrappe...
Aug 14, 2025•48 min
Richard Lee's life changed forever in 1990 when he slipped on a catwalk while setting up the lights for an Aerosmith concert, suffering a spinal injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. A Texas native raised by conservative Republican parents, he would subsequently dedicate his life to educating his family, the government, and ultimately the entire country about medical cannabis. Along the way, he transformed an eight-block stretch of Oakland, California into a weed autonomous zone lo...
Jul 30, 2025•58 min
Charlotte Parker started Head magazine while working an entry level publishing job at Penthouse, in order to cover the world of weed in depth at a time long before legalization. Looking back at a few covers from those 1970s glory days shows she was well ahead of the curve, with stories like “How to Make Hash Oil in Your Kitchen,” and “Grow the Most Potent Pot Plants Indoors.” Plus, Head featured interviews with the likes of Patti Smith and reviews of the best weed and hash then available. Hear C...
Jul 16, 2025•27 min
After being incarcerated as a teenager for weed, Kevin Jodrey joined the military and trained as a deep sea diver, only to end up conscripted into performing anti-drug interdiction raids out in the middle of the ocean. From there he slid back into the weed underground, spending the next few decades moving serious weight in from Mexico and joining Northern California’s second wave of off-the-grid growers. Before at last coming out of the cannabis closet and creating yet another new life for himse...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 21 min
From judging the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, to touring Northern California during harvest season, to seshing with the steady stream of growers, dealers, breeders, smugglers, rogues, outlaws, musicians, celebrities, and activists who stopped by the High Times offices in New York City during our illustrious tenure at the mag, Danny Danko and I have shared many incredible adventures in the field.. So lets exhale the bullshit…. inhale some good shit… and jump into the hot box time machine for a head...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 4 min
What does it mean to talk about Pride when it comes to cannabis? First and foremost it means celebrating the central role that the LGBTQ+ community has played in the global struggle for weed liberation. Pride also has a special meaning for all of us weed enthusiasts who’ve been stigmatized, criminalized or ostracized for our love of this plant. Prior to this conversation, I’d never met Laganja Estranja—who made a star turn in 2014 while competing on RuPaul's Drag Race—but I feel like we immediat...
Jun 04, 2025•44 min
Adam Dunn first arrived in Amsterdam as a teenager, and quickly found himself at the center of the city's famed international cannabis scene. In time, Adam would launch his own innovative ventures, including T.H.Seeds, which developed world-famous and award-winning strains including Bubblegum, S.A.G.E., Heavy Duty Fruity, and Chocolate Chunk. He also started Hempworks, Europe’s first dedicated hemp store, with its influential in-house clothing label. Twenty years after first encountering Adam at...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Much how wine, cheese, and other agricultural products are authenticated as coming from their traditional geographic zone of origin, a new program about to launch is California will help old school growers in traditional cultivation communities protect their regional legacies in the world of weed. To explain this exciting new development, we shared a sesh with Genine Coleman, founder and Executive Director of Origins Council , a California nonprofit advocacy, education and research organization ...
May 07, 2025•52 min
In 1971, John Lennon performed publicly, for the first time in five years, at a rally decrying the injustice of Michigan police targeting a radical political activist for an elaborate undercover sting operation, resulting in a sentence of ten years in prison for passing two joints. The concert brought massive media attention, and John Sinclair soon after walked out of prison a free man, landing John Lennon on Richard Nixon's official enemies list. For the next three years, the President's "plumb...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 4 min
As our annual celebration of 4/20 rapidly approaches, please roll up and get ready for the incredible true story of how a small Northern California weed crew created an analog meme that grew into an international high holiday of cannabis liberation. But first, we check in with acclaimed journalist David Downs and Lance Lambert from Grove Bags about "weed week" in San Francisco, particularly the "Get to the Bag" art show, which chronicles the fascinating history and subversive artistry of the myl...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 28 min
