Great Moments in Weed History

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 free to those in desperate need. And when the cops tried to stop this mission of mercy, "Brownie Mary" had a simple message for the authorities: Go F*ck Yourself.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 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 occupation ended, they brought a taste for cannabis home that lead directly to the formation of Paris’s famed Club des Hashischins, where Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Charles Baudelaire drank coffee laced with weed and got weird with it.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. 

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 America's longest serving prisoner in the War on Marijuana dedicated himself to pushing for legalization, with a surprising twist.

Every year on April 20th (4/20), cannabis lovers celebrate their favorite plant with festivals, protests, marches, and smoke-outs great and small. So what are the grassroots origins of this high holiday? And how did it spread around the world?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 1967, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon set out to research marijuana sufficiently to convince his best friend—famed astronomer Carl Sagan—to stop smoking weed all the time. But after making a fateful trip to the library, Grinspoon returned convinced the case against Mary Jane was all lies and propaganda. So Lester and Carl began enthusiastically exploring the cannabis "Cosmos" together, igniting the medical cannabis movement and sparking many stoned epiphanies along the way.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. 

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 greatest triumph over the cops!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. 

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 proportions.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. 

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 developed new dreams,” Angelou wrote of her cannabis muse. “From a natural stiffness I melted into a grinning tolerance. For the first time, life amused me.”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. 

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. In the first ever episode of the podcast,, Bean tells Abdullah about the time the Red Headed Stranger smoked a "fat Austin torpedo" on the roof of the White House.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.