Barack Obama's Weed Years

Great Moments in Weed History

David Bienenstock

Tv & Film, Comedy, History

4.8 • 659 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever wonder what President Barack Obama was like as a pot-smoking teenager in Hawaii? We did, so we dug deep into Barry's time with his high school weed crew, the Choom Gang. “In Hawaii, chooming means indulging in pakalolo,” fellow Choom Gang member Tom Topolinski explains to Frontline. And yes, pakalolo is yet another slang term for cannabis, as heard in Hawaiian musician Don Ho’s classic song, “Who Is the Lolo Who Stole My Pakalolo?” You might remember seeing this young version of Obama portrayed by Jordan Peele in a classic Key and Peele sketch. The former president famously admitted that he used cannabis as a youth and that he surely inhaled as “that was the point.” Though he opposed cannabis legalization as a senator, his public stance evolved over the course of his tenure, and his direction to federal authorities to lay off state-level efforts to legalize cannabis makes him the most progressive president on the cannabis issue to date. Some say it’s just good policy, but we say it calls for a special shout-out to the Choom Gang. PATREON Please 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.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This podcast is for adults 21 years of age or older.
0:04.7	We talk about cannabis history and advertise cannabis products.
0:08.6	If you're not 21, come back when you are.
0:14.0	Spoke Media.
0:16.8	Hey, how's it going, folks?
0:18.5	It's Abdullah and Bean.
0:20.0	And welcome back to another episode of
0:23.2	great moments in weed history on this podcast. Bean and I, who are both cannabis journalists and
0:30.0	makers, go over one of the more fascinating points in the long, long history of human beings and
0:37.2	cannabis. Isn't that right, Bean?
0:38.7	That is exactly what we do.
0:40.6	So I have no prior knowledge of the story that Bean's about to tell me. I'm just going to
0:45.5	chime in with my general knowledge about cannabis. We're going to smoke some weed, and we're
0:51.6	going to hear an amazing story. So Bean, what do you got for us today?
0:55.4	I got a story for you about one of the most legendary weed crews of all time, and I think
1:02.1	it's going in a direction that you're not going to expect. Wow. So we've had a story about a
1:07.2	weed crew before, of course, the Waldo's who invented 420, but this is a different
1:12.9	weed crew, huh? Similar time period. Interesting. Different weed crew, and it spawned one of the most
1:22.1	well-known people on the planet. Interesting. Well, my mind is running wild with anticipation.
1:29.2	If only there was something that would calm me down and stimulate me at the same time.
1:33.6	Yeah, well, that's why we got the weed smoking studio rider.
1:36.6	That's right.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from David Bienenstock, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of David Bienenstock and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.