Freaky Beatniks Smoked Tea and Started the Legalization Movement

Great Moments in Weed History

David Bienenstock

Tv & Film, Comedy, History

4.8 • 659 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emerging in the conformist 1950s, the Beat subculture pushed back against corporatism and consumerism in favor of a contemplatively nonconformist lifestyle focused on art, poetry, jazz and “kicks.” The small circle of young writers at the core of this lit-erary movement—Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Neal Cassady—were all heavily influenced by the improvisation, illumination. and imagination they found in cannabis. Among their most acclaimed and lasting works are Kerouac’s generation-defining novel On the Road and Ginsberg’s epic poem Howl. On this episode, Martin Torgoff—author of Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats and Drugs—explains just how central cannabis was as a creative tool for the Beats as they sought to bust through the conventions of both literature and society. And how along the way, they founded LeMar, America's first cannabis legalization organization. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 90+ episodes of our classic Great Moments in Weed History format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of this podcast and private seshes, plus cool rewards like a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. It's Bean. Welcome to an all-new, great moments in weed history. On this
0:07.6	weed's episode, we're going to break free from the stifling constraints of square society, man,
0:13.7	and like totally dig the universal, experiential cannabis vibe as disseminated by the groovy luminaries of the beat generation.
0:23.6	Emerging in the 1950s, a time of severe conformity in the United States,
0:28.6	the so-called beatnik subculture pushed back against corporatism and consumerism
0:33.6	in favor of a contemplatively nonconformist lifestyle focused on art, poetry, jazz, and
0:41.8	grass.
0:42.6	The small circle of young writers at the core of this movement, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg,
0:48.2	William Burroughs, and Neil Cassidy, they were all heavily influenced by the improvisation,
0:58.3	illumination, and imagination that they found in cannabis.
1:09.7	Among their most acclaimed and lasting works are, of course, Jack Kerouac's Generation Defining Novel on the Road and Alan Ginsberg's epic poem Howell.
1:12.3	You might also know the beatniks from all the times.
1:14.4	They're referenced on The Simpsons. The miniature version of the A-bomb, the government built it in the 50s to drop on beatnicks.
1:21.0	Radiant, cool, crazy nightmare, Zan, New Jersey, nowhere.
1:30.3	Put this in your pipe and smoking.
1:33.3	Well, I'm afraid young Ned is unusually aggressive, but I can't seem to find a cause for it.
1:40.3	Hey, hey, get down from that bookshelf, please. Most of those books haven't been discredited yet.
1:45.0	Would you please tell your son to stop?
1:47.0	We can't do it, man.
1:49.0	That's discipline.
1:50.0	That's like telling Gene Krupp not to go, boom, boom, bab, bab, that, boom,
1:54.0	bab, bab, that, boom, boom, boom, bab, that, boom.
	...

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