Ramon Reyes Went From Slanging Dime Bags to Leading an Industry

Great Moments in Weed History

David Bienenstock

Tv & Film, Comedy, History

4.8 • 659 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ramon Reyes started out selling herb on the streets of NYC as a teenager and subsequently climbed through the ranks of the underground, the gray market and the legal industry to now run a licensed dispensary in the same heavily Dominican neighborhood where he grew up. Along with partner Vlad Bautista, Ramon originally co-founded Happy Munkey as a speakeasy style consumption lounge after a trip to Amsterdam convinced him that the truest expression of weed culture is being able to share the plant with friends and strangers. Now the name Happy Munkey hangs above two of New York City's newest dispensaries, where you can find Ramon right back out on the street, only this time it's to literally open the door and serve as ambassador into the world of legal sales. 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 EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 130+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody.
0:03.0	Hi, everybody.
0:20.0	It's been, welcome to an allnew, great moments in weed history.
0:25.5	I'm very excited to share this episode with you because our story takes place in one of my favorite cities in the world.
0:32.8	In fact, for about 10 years, I was fortunate enough to call the Baked Apple Home.
0:39.3	My guest is going to be Ramon Reyes, co-founder of Happy Monkey, and his weed journey will take us from selling dime bags on the streets of Upper Manhattan as a teenager to opening a fully licensed store in that very same neighborhood just a few months ago,
0:57.3	with many, many great moments in weed history along the way.
1:02.8	Long-time listeners to this podcast have taken deep dives into New York City weed history before,
1:08.7	including the thriving reaper scene among jazz musicians in
1:12.3	Harlem in the 1930s, the grass-fueled freaky beatniks of the 1950s, the underground
1:19.2	cannabis smuggling and retail operations run by High Times founder Tom Fassad in the 1970s, the
1:26.7	intersection of cannabis and hip-hop in the 1970s, the intersection of cannabis and hip hop in the 1980s.
1:30.1	I actually spoke with the legend Fab Five Freddie for that one.
1:35.9	And we've got episodes about weed delivery visionary, the Pope of Pot, and the 1-800-want-pot
1:42.6	service he ran from the Lower East Side in the 1990s, and of course
1:47.6	the rise of sour-diesel, sour-dee, in the early 2000s. Ramone's story reflects on all of these
1:55.9	overlapping eras in New York City weed history while bridging the worlds of the underground, the gray market,
2:03.5	and now legalization in a truly unique way. Through it all, Ramon and his partner Vlad's belief
2:10.0	that this plant brings people together has been the guiding light for Happy Monkey. But before we get
2:16.3	into the interview, I do need to stop and say thank
2:19.8	you to everyone who supports this podcast on Patreon as we roll into 2025. Truly, truly, truly,
2:30.9	truly, that support that I get from listeners on Patreon is what's keeping this podcast
	...

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