David Bienenstock on Cannabis, Comedy & Community
Photo by Daniel Berman for The Northwest Leaf
“I grew up in New Jersey and lived in New York City for many years after. Growing up and then living in a place with harsh penalties for cannabis, while consuming cannabis regularly (to say the least) made me face the terrible injustice of our drug laws from an early age. I saw friends, and colleagues, and myself get arrested for something that I also knew brought great value into people's lives.”
I always tried to explain to people that cannabis can save your life medicinally, and it can ruin your life if you get caught up in the criminal justice system. Add to that the discriminatory nature of the War on Marijuana—the targeting of the poor and minorities in particular—and I see it as a really effective way to fight back against injustice.
One of my first introductions to cannabis advocacy was through Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), the nation’s oldest continuously operating medical cannabis collective. Valerie Corral founded WAMM after using cannabis to treat epileptic seizures stemming from a traumatic car accident. I consider her my living cannabis hero. We did an entire episode of Great Moments in Weed History on her organization. Everyone who loves this plant should know her story.
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. Listen here.
“I always tried to explain to people that cannabis can save your life medicinally, and it can ruin your life if you get caught up in the criminal justice system.”
I first met Abdullah Saeed, my co-host on Great Moments in Weed History (GMIWH), via email, through a friend. Our friendship began with a mutual appreciation of each other's writing, but our creative partnership began when we worked together on "Bong Appetite," a VICE series about food and weed.
“Our first instinct was to make something together that we could do ourselves without raising a lot of money or selling the idea to someone else, so we decided to start Great Moments in Weed History.”
Around the same time, we both left our jobs at big brands (VICE and HIGH TIMES) largely in frustration with how they treated employees and the cannabis community, including the content they made. Our first instinct was to make something together that we could do ourselves without raising a lot of money or selling the idea to someone else, so we decided to start GMIWH.
We tried out a few different concepts for a podcast before launching, and GMIWH immediately clicked. We both love sharing stories about cannabis, history and interesting people, and we realized nobody else is doing it.
“What I’m most proud of, honestly, has taken place over the past few weeks - people emailing us to tell us that listening to the show (during the COVID-19 pandemic) has been bringing them some joy, relief, laughs and a sense of community right now.”
We started recording GMIWH in 2018. The most challenging thing about our work is trying to put out content that we care about and make a living without selling out. What I’m most proud of, honestly, has taken place over the past few weeks - people emailing us to tell us that listening to the show (during the COVID-19 pandemic) has been bringing them some joy, relief, laughs and a sense of community right now.
About David Bienenstock
David Bienenstock is the author of How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High and co-creator of the podcast Great Moments in Weed History. Previously, he served as Head of Content at Hight Times and worked at VICE Media, where he co-produced the series, Bong Appetit.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Have you ever ignored a piece of advice that you wish you could go back and take? If so, what was it and what did you learn from it?
The best advice I ever got from my Grandfather was "When the bad stuff happens, don't be there." Can't say I followed it 100% but that's hard.