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PODCAST · business

WeedWeek

by WeedWeek.net

The most interesting thing about weed is what happens before you smoke it. WeedWeek is a podcast about, yes, weed — the business of it, the culture around it, health, science, criminal justice, and everything in between. Journalists Alex Halperin and Donnell Alexander will update you each week on the latest in the world of cannabis and bring you conversations with people who are shaping the industry.

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Episodes

  1. 109. Chelsea Cebara's Weed Sexuality Defies Gravity

    A special episode with the co-founder of acclaimed cannabis lubricant brand Velvet Swing. Chelsea Cebara wasn’t a cannabis consumer when she arrived in Seattle as a Florida transplant. Trained in the scientific method, Cebara came to the creation of her product through unorthodox avenues. Cebara...

  2. Freezer Stash 1: Sister Kate's Cannabis Devotion

    Our first Freezer Stash release is an interview with Sister Kate, who declared herself a nun in 2014 and has dedicated herself to compassionate activism. Sister Kate and the Sisters of the Valley make the grow hemp in a spiritual environment, specifically a farm outside of Merced, California. The...

  3. Freezer Stash #3: WeedMaps' Nic Juarez on Cannabis Culture Evolution

    For our final installment of this series, we bring you our once-exclusive 2019 discussion with the culture editor at Weedmaps. Nic joins Alex and Donny in talk about: Our rapidly changing cannabis culture Creating content for Weedmaps, and the bravery of writing about weed. The refreshingly...

  4. 108. Tammy Pettigrew Is Microdosing Toward Parenting Excellence

    WeedWeek Council member Tammy Pettigrew is best known as Instagram educator @thecannabiscutie — one of the fresh voices out of Orange County weed. Alex and Donnell chat with Pettigrew about weed's place post-quarantine, and how microdosing edibles has been a recent key to pleasant parenting. An...

  5. 107. The Book on Jack Herer

    Dan Herer’s father crashed the hemp movement into existence with his self-published 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes. A new ebook edition is out, and the pioneer’s son explains why hemp’s sacred text is more relevant than ever. A post-divorce convert to cannabis, Jack Herer clashed with the...

  6. Freezer Stash 2: Chip Moore IS Mr. Dabba Hashery

    In the early months of California legalization, Donny traveled to Oakland for a conversation with 4&20 Blackbirds CEO Chip Moore, also known as a mainstay of the He Ain't Heavy Alliance. The two discuss: Oakland's proud weed history and the role of activism like the Munchie Movement in it. The...

  7. 52. Buck Angel: From Porn Star to “Tranpa”

    This week Alex and Donnell sit down with LGBTQ activist and cannabis entrepreneur Buck Angel to talk about the queer community's role in cannabis legalization, Buck's experience being the first trans man in LA to have hormone replacement therapy, and how he made his way from porn star to public...

  8. 106. Nikki & Swami Farm the Living Soil

    Swami Select founders Nikki Lastreto and Swami Chaitania met in San Francisco during the Summer of Love, coupled in 1980, and started their Mendocino County farm in 2003. The couple share their transition from globe-trotting seekers to practitioners of regenerative farming. Swami Select Why...

  9. 105. Swapcast Consummation with The Wondering Jews

    One day past 4/20, we reciprocate our podcast swap with Portland’s Wondering Jews. This time, Alex and Donny quiz Roy and Josh on how they came to effortlessly blend Talmudic study and cannabis love. Plus: The Man Who Legalized Cannabis.Alex and Donny Join the WJ’s “What Jew Talkin’...

  10. Swapcast Special: WeedWeek Joins the Wondering Jews

    This week's installment of What Jew Wondering About features guests Alex and Donny talking cannabis seders and WeedWeek's origins with hosts Josh and Roy. The Wondering Jews podcast "keeps its keep their social distance while maintaining emotional closeness."Wondering...

  11. 104. The LSD Story Dock Told Donny

    In recognition of Bicycle Day — the April 19 LSD holiday — we explore the origins of major league pitcher Dock Ellis’s acid-fueled no-hitter. Donny is joined by other Ellis experts to discuss the legacy of his achievement, which turns 50 on June 12.What Is Bicycle...

  12. 103. For CEO Alex Shah, Intelligence is Central

    From the onset of adulthood through 1995, guest Ashesh “Alex” Shah worked as a profiler for the CIA. Shah now runs Solo Sciences, a Boston company specializing in the authenticating weed products. He shares with Alex and Donnell the unclassified truth of his unlikely professional transition.…

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  13. 102. A Sound Bath & Beverage in Venice

    In February Donny traveled to Venice, California for a sound bath guided by the musical duo called Dynasty Electrik. This week, Alex Halperin unpacks what his co-host learned about this trendy form of sonic healing and what happens when it’s enhanced with the cannabis drink called bhang.Dynasty...

  14. 101. Karim Webb Brings Sauce to Social Equity

    Karim Webb is best known for opening California’s first Buffalo Wild Wings. In February, the restaurateur sat down with Alex and Donnell to explain 4thMVMT, his answer to what’s been ailing social equity.4thMVMThttps://www.4thmvmt.comKarim Webb on...

  15. 100. The WeedWeek Playlists

    Molly Peckler of Highly Devoted returns to the pod to help us celebrate our 100th episode. She joins Alex and Donnell to talk through cannabis love in the time of Covid-19 and some highlights from past episodes.WeedWeek Playlistshttps://soundcloud.com/weedweeknews/setsMolly Peckler on...

  16. 99. Politico Reporters on the State of Weed Politics

    Politico reporters Natalie Fertig and Mona Zhang call into the WeedWeek studio from the nation's capitol. The Capitol Hill journalists draw stark distinctions between the policies of Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and update us on CBD and veterans' access.Natalie...

  17. 98. Tiffani Sharp Lifts Women Upward in Cannabis

    Sacramento lawyer Tiffani Sharp began advocating for the dispossessed in the wake of 2001’s terror attacks, as a lawyer for immigrants. Today Sharp’s focus is helping women of color to find a place in the cannabis industry. In this episode the attorney advocates for calling weed marijuana and...

  18. 97. Who Hurt Kristen Yoder?

    In 2005, CannaBS Detector Kristen Yoder started her career in weed as a Venice budtender, when only a few dispensaries dotted the Southern California landscape. In 2020 she’s the curmudgeonly voice of those heartbroken by the ups and downs of legal weed. She shares with Alex and Donnell a string…

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  19. Bonus: Cooking Up a Buzz with Jeff the 420 Chef

    Before authoring a best-selling cannabis cookbook, Jeff the 420 Chef was a marketing executive in New York’s fashion industry. By stroke of fortune and dint of hard work, he developed and sold the successful cookbook The 420 Gourmet. This week the relocated chef drops by the studio to discuss his...

  20. Swapcast Special: WeedWeek on the Periodic Effects Podcast

    Pre-rolls burn, tables turn. In this episode of the Periodic Effects podcast, host Wayne Schwind fulfills his part of our first-ever swapcast event. (Wayne appeared on Episode 95 of the WeedWeek podcast.) For his show, Wayne asks Alex and Donny about WeedWeek's origins and future projects and our...

  21. 96. Amber Senter Knows a Superwoman When She Sees One

    Oakland’s Amber Senter is a co-founder of Supernova Women and owner of the Breeze Distro cannabis brand. The military veteran and Midwest native explains to Alex and Donnell the qualities that make her fit to judge top cannabis at the inaugural WeedWeek Weedys awards, drops rare social equity...

  22. 95. Periodic Effects: When Candies Go Pod

    Our guest Wayne Schwind runs both the Oregon cannabis brand Periodic Edibles and the acclaimed Periodic Effects podcast. In a swap, Alex and Donny will appear on Thursday’s edition of that podcast. Here Schwind explains how he went from Northern Michigan chemistry student to Portland edibles...

  23. 94. Canadian Mids, Quads & Swag with Jesse Staniforth

    WeedWeek Editor Jesse Staniforth joins Alex and Donny to discuss the legalization of manufactured products like edibles and vapes. In Canada, they’re calling it Legalization 2.0.Reflecting on his first U.S. purchases, Staniforth contrasts the differences between his home in Montreal — where…

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  24. 93. Equity Gains Momentum: Eaze and the Underrepresented

    In legal cannabis, atoning to Black and Latino communities for the excesses of the War on Drugs is a recurring and complicated issue. This fall, California-based delivery platform Eaze unveiled Momentum, a 10-week business accelerator for entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities. WeedWeek...

  25. 92. Matt Barnes & Al Harrington: NBA Weed Leaders

    The National Basketball Association is the professional sports league most identified with cannabis, so there’s little surprise that the NBA has generated two of sport’s most prominent activists-entrepreneurs, Al Harrington and Matt Barnes. Late last year Harrington opened the Detroit dispensary...

  26. 91. Weed & the Body at War, with Alice Moon

    Five years ago, cannabis entrepreneur Alice Moon was well known on the Los Angeles scene, from high-end bud events to her very smokey Instagram account. Then Moon — who didn’t consider herself a heavy THC consumer — began to vomit upon smoking. Initially in disbelief that cannabis could harm her,...

  27. 90. Gofire Or Go Home, with Joe Hodas

    90. GoFire or GoHomeJoe Hodas, CEO of Colorado company GoFire is this week’s guest. He joined Alex, Donny, and Canada Editor Jesse Staniforth in Las Vegas. On the episode, Hodas explains how the GoFire vaping ecosystem functions, offers his thoughts on Colorado’s regulatory limitations, and...

  28. 89: The Elusive Tribe of Roger Obando

    Episode 89: The Elusive Tribe of Roger ObandoFive years ago, Roger Obando broke into the legal weed business by co-founding Baker, customer relationship software for dispensaries. Baker eventually merged into cannabis conglomerate Tilt Holdings and now Obando has written a book, The Highest…

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  29. 88. The Substance Of April Pride's Style

    From early December’s Las Vegas sessions, we bring you April Pride, whose sense of design transcends media. Before launching the ‘How to Do the Pot’ podcast through her Of Like Minds brand, this Seattle-based creative entrepreneur was best known for applying new ideas about function and form to...

  30. 87. Candace Gingrich Steps Into the Sunlight

    Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's half-sibling Candace is cementing her identity outside of their famous brother and a career in human rights activism. An ambassador for Revolution's Florida brand, Gingrich brings the same sort of perceptiveness and empathy to cannabis education that she did…

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  31. 86. Weedmaps' Big Pivot, with Chris Beals

    This week Alex and Donny get on the phone with Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals. Known as Yelp for cannabis, Weedmaps is one of the most visible, powerful, and controversial organizations in the game. Beals discusses his company’s origin as an online community for MED users, its expansion into a...

  32. 85. You Can't Pay People in Weed

    What does labor organizing in the cannabis industry look like? This week, Alex and Donny talk to United Food and Commercial Workers campaign coordinator Jackie Cornejo about organizing dispensaries, growing up in a mixed-status immigrant household, and UCFW's Rite Aid-medical marijuana…

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  33. 84. WeedWeek's 2019 Holiday Gift Guide

    Alex and Donny describe some of their favorite cannabis products of the year for WeedWeek's inaugural 2019 holiday gift guide. But first, we discuss the latest legalization news and the MORE Act passing through the House Judiciary Committee. Check out the gift guide, with discount codes, at:...

  34. 83. Harry Mack Rhymes on Weed

    Freestyle rapper Harry Mack has impressed and inspired hip hop heavy hitters like Kendrick Lamar and Joey Bada$$, and has been called “the best freestyle rapper you never heard of.” This week, he talks to Alex and Donny about his boyhood Oregon rhymes, cannabis, and his creative process. We also...

  35. 82. A Year of Growing Legally

    A year ago, Bryant Mitchell of Los Angeles-based Blaqstar Farms came on the show to discuss the challenges of being a small cannabis business when he wasn’t fully “legit” yet. Now, he is, and sits down with Alex and Donny to talk about what has and has not changed since, both for Mitchell’s...

  36. 81. From NHL Enforcer to Cannabis Ambassador

    In today’s episode, Alex and Donny speak to Dale Purinton, a former defenseman (“enforcer”) for the New York Rangers, about the true toll that professional hockey, and the concussions standard to the game, takes on athletes’ physical and mental health, as well as how cannabis has helped. They…

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  37. 80. Seattle DOPE, Live with David Tran

    Alex and Donny chat with David Tran, the founder of Dope Magazine and Farechild Ventures at the New West Summit in San Francisco, but first, they talk about cannabis in Canada: increasing cannabis stocks, declining prices, and a company touting "odorless weed."Follow David Tran on Twitter:...

  38. 79. P.R. and the Vape Panic

    This week’s episode comes to you from the New West Summit, held in San Francisco two weeks ago. Alex and Donny spoke to cannabis entrepreneur and P.R. maven Cynthia Salarizadeh about “vape-pocalypse,” how the industry can better communicate its message, what cannabis brands should know about…

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  39. 78. Poetic Justice: Cannabis Jobs for Marginalized Communities with Success Centers

    This week, Alex and Donny talk to Liz Jackson-Simpson, the Chief Executive Officer of Success Centers, and her colleague Angela White, Success Centers’ Equity for Industry Program Manager. Success Centers is a San Francisco Bay Area-based nonprofit, originally founded over three decades ago by...

  40. 77. Glazed Mike Glazer: Maker of Memories

    This week, Alex and Donny talk to pot comedian Michael Glazer on how he's built a career around pot jokes, cooking, and even spirituality. The conversation gets deep -- but it'll still make you laugh.We also have a conversation about this week's big news story in weed and sports, NFL player Percy...

  41. 76. Table Service & Tokes at Lowell Cafe

    This week, Donnell and Alex talk to Andrea Drummer, the chef behind Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Cafe, during a live recording at Weed Week Recharge, about how she went from a anti-drug counselor to a creative chef in the cannabis industry.They also discuss the biggest story in cannabis today: the...

  42. 75. Adventures of a Dope Smuggler

    This week Alex and Donnell talk with Daniel Yaryan, publisher of Peer Amid Press, about Jerry Kamstra's 1974 memoir, Weed: Adventures of a Dope Smuggler. Just released as a 45th Anniversary Edition, the book tells the true story of Kamstra smuggling a massive amount of weed out of Mexico in the...

  43. 74. No Vet Alone and the PTSD Crisis

    Alex and Donnell talk with John Wordin, founder of No Vet Alone, an organization that supports veterans dealing with mental health issues. Wordin tells us how his history as a professional cycler led him to No Vet Alone and how cannabis plays a role in his organization. Wordin has partnered with...

  44. Bonus: A Legal Weed Desert Called Kern County

    This week Donnell and Alex discuss Donnell’s visit to Bakersfield and the most populous California county without legal cannabis. Then Donnell introduces Jeff Jarvis, former president of Kern County Citizens for Patients Rights, who takes us through the difficult journey toward—and away from—MED...

  45. 73. Cali 'Shroom Decriminalization with Activist Ryan Munevar

    Alex and Donnell talk with Ryan Munevar about decriminalizing mushrooms at a state-wide level. Munevar tells us about the origins of the California Psilocybin Decriminalization and Research Initiative 2020, how he approaches such a massive endeavor, why he prefers decriminalization over...

  46. 72. The Spice Dealer’s Reckoning

    This week Alex and Donnell bring you two interviews. We talk with Bloomberg journalist Jordan Rubin about a bizarre story he wrote about spice (or synthetic cannabinoids), two film makers facing life in prison, the Grateful Dead, a chemist who works for the DEA and a little-known Reagan-era drug...

  47. 71. The Great Banking Thaw

    This week Alex and Donnell sit down with Sahar Ayinehsazian, an attorney with the national cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg. We ask her why banks are hesitant to service the cannabis industry and we talk state and federal banking laws, the NCIA banking committee and what it looks like to lobby...

  48. 70. Elvis McGovern: “The MacGyver of Weed”

    Donny visited Elvis McGovern’s extraction manufacturing company and sat down with McGovern to talk about how he has "MacGyvered" his machines to work for the specific needs of cannabis oil production, the increasing demand of concentrates, changing extraction technology and his recommendations…

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  49. BONUS: Lizzie Post's Cannabis Etiquette

    For this bonus episode, Alex and Donnell chat with Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of America's etiquette queen Emily Post. Lizzie is co-president of The Emily Post Institute and author of Higher Etiquette, a book about cannabis etiquette. We ask Lizzie all of our burning questions, from...

  50. 69. Cannabis Kitchen Activism, with Loudvision

    This week we bring you a conversation with chef Marcus Colbert and his partner Alex that Donnell captured on the road. LoudVision, the duo's cannabis cuisine enterprise, is part of the East Bay's He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother collective, which includes the Munchie Movement and 4&20 Blackbirds....

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

The most interesting thing about weed is what happens before you smoke it. WeedWeek is a podcast about, yes, weed — the business of it, the culture around it, health, science, criminal justice, and everything in between. Journalists Alex Halperin and Donnell Alexander will update you each week on the latest in the world of cannabis and bring you conversations with people who are shaping the industry.

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WeedWeek.net

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does WeedWeek have?

WeedWeek currently has 119 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is WeedWeek about?

The most interesting thing about weed is what happens before you smoke it. WeedWeek is a podcast about, yes, weed — the business of it, the culture around it, health, science, criminal justice, and everything in between. Journalists Alex Halperin and Donnell Alexander will update you each week on...

How often does WeedWeek release new episodes?

WeedWeek publishes regularly with 119 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.

Where can I listen to WeedWeek?

You can listen to WeedWeek on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts WeedWeek?

WeedWeek is created and hosted by WeedWeek.net.
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