Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: April 20, once an underground holiday now widely celebrated, sets the stage for a new project bringing together comedians and filmmakers to tell the story of cannabis and the communities built around it. The series explores the history of the plant, its culture, and the people who've worked to normalize its use, even as the US government at times responded with aggressive enforcement against peaceful communities.
The anthology is made up of four 20 minute documentaries, each offering a snapshot of cannabis history, culture and resistance. It's titled 420 Quick Hits.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Gotta have a weed pun.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: That was David Bienenstock, cannabis journalist and consulting producer on the new Hulu original series.
He says the documentaries highlight both well known figures and their lesser known stories.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: One is about the founder of High Times magazine, Tom Frassad, who was a political radical, a publishing visionary, a weed smuggler and a lot more. And you know that story.
Everybody sort of knows High Times, but not too many people know the story of the founder. In part due to his big time smuggling runs, he kept a very low profile while running High Times.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: The other quick hits include a behind the scenes look at the making of Harold and Kumar, a movie that broke the mold as a mainstream comedy centered on cannabis, released at a time when weed was widely illegal and featured two Asian American leads, a first for Hollywood.
Another episode explores how glassblowers in Eugene, Oregon turned their craft into protest and as a result a federal crackdown followed.
But it's the campaign against marijuana planting known as camp and its impact on the southern Humboldt community that takes center stage in episode three, which tells the
[00:02:12] Speaker B: tale of a low budget stoner monster movie made by southern Humboldt locals during the middle of the camp raids on cannabis growers. This again is the government sending helicopters and armies, convoys against peaceful back to the land hippie weed growers. And among many ways that they pushed back against this was producing this film, Ganjisaurus Rex. 40 year anniversary of the film, it has become a cult classic. And we're really showing how this was, you know, sort of a goofy comedy, but also a very serious piece of protest art that showed people what was going on in this almost surreal event in the war on drugs.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: While the other documentaries in Quick Hits feature well known figures synonymous with cannabis culture, one stands apart. Ganja Source Rex, a unique homegrown hero.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: It's about a whole community of people and it's about as close to the roots if you'll allow a weed punk of the culture, you know, this act of civil disobedience in growing this plant. And it's about a group of people who believe in cannabis, but also believe in a whole way of life that was wrapped up in the back to the land movement. And I think that looking back 40 years of what that community stood for and how they backed up that belief with action is going to be really inspiring to people. Now, you know, the idea that the government is using undue, unjust, unconstitutional methods to bring militaristic force against a group of peaceful people who at worst are growing a beneficial and beautiful planet plant, I think that's going to resonate with people looking at the world now and they can find inspiration in this peaceful campaign to expose what the government was doing, to do it through art and humor, and also to change these laws in a way that starts to dismantle this system of oppression.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: The episode stands out for its focus on community with shots of familiar scenes, cannabis drying inside Humboldt homes, local youth gathering at the Redwood Playhouse, jam packed celebrations at the Metel, and even inside the studios of kmud.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: The number of times I said, it's not going to be Murder Mountain, and we made very good on that, on that promise.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: The Legend of Gongisaurus Rex also features familiar faces like Joanie Rose, Al Cirallo and andy Barnett.
[00:05:22] Speaker C: Almost 40 years ago, we made a movie. Every once in a while somebody will say to me, oh, you were in that movie.
And I have realized that it's a bit of a cult classic because it just won't die.
Oh my God, that's an embarrassing thing.
[00:05:47] Speaker D: When I'd go to YouTube and I put in Ganjisaurus, I'd see like little titles like, the worst movie they've ever made.
When we were first doing it, we did not think it was funny. Everybody involved now it's kind of like, kind of like a cult movie. The kind they say, it's so bad it's good. Just trust me. This seed is a genetic miracle. We're talking about a plant that's going to be as big as a redwood tree.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Our friend Tyrannosaurus, herbivorous Gongisaurus Rex was attracted to these plants.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: The last voice you heard was Ganjisaurus Rex herself.
As the host of the podcast Greatest Moments in Weed History, David Bienenstock has explored and elevated many of the undertold and often unknown stories in cannabis history.
He explains how and why Ganjisaurus Rex made the cut.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: This community really banded together in some amazing ways through making this film. Ganjisaurus Rex, an all volunteer effort, and also the history of kmud. Radio itself was in part a reaction to these camp raids and creating a way to Bring the community together, to bring the community together to broadcast literally how these raids were happening in real time so people would have a chance to keep their battery powered radio with them when they were out in the cut. To document the civil rights abuses of camp in a way that really led to very positive changes, not just in southern Humboldt, but throughout California and ultimately throughout the world.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: That shift is reflected in the histories of many people in southern Humboldt, where families were once harassed from the sky and on the ground for cultivating a plant that is now legal.
At the time, cannabis cultivation carried harsh penalties, including mandatory minimum sentences.
One legacy cultivator, Johnny Casale of Huckleberry Hill Farms, was sentenced to 10 years in 1992.
Now one of the first licensed cultivators in the county and the state, he grows award winning cannabis from his mother's strains.
Casale was among the first farmers to connect with David Beaninstock and a group of cannabis conscious comedians working to raise awareness about the struggles facing southern Humboldt Farms.
[00:08:33] Speaker E: Yeah, you know, it was a film that was created early on in my childhood and, and shout out to Al.
I'm sure he's looking down and really excited to see how this comes about and very proud of David being in stock for helping tell this story. You know, it was a big part of our childhood and I've watched it multiple different times and I still watch it. And when it was shown at the metel, I watched it again because it's, it's just a big part of our childhood. A lot of the characters and stuff reminded us of our own families and you know, it just, it means a lot. There was many times in the movie, you know, when the helicopter shows up that, you know, you get goosebumps and you just, you reflect back to the days because no matter how much I can share with a person what it was like to grow up in southern Humboldt during the war on drugs and running from helicopters and growing in trees and growing underneath trees and worried about having convoys pull up in your driveway every single day. It really doesn't do it justice. But that movie really helps tell a story that was a big part of all of our lives back then.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: And the story of southern Humboldt is part of the larger through line of the new 420 quick hit series Freedom and Liberty.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: About standing up for your rights and, and about building community around being marginalized, around being pushed by the authoritarian government into a corner and making that corner something beautiful and building community there.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: While many of the places featured in Ganjisaurus Rex still remain, the town looks very different with shuttered businesses, fallowed farms, and the absence of seasonal workers.
Even people who never grew cannabis or were outright against it are feeling the ripple effects of legalization.
And while many say the Humboldt brand and its history may be the path forward to educate consumers, Beaninstock says this isn't the last time the community will hear from him saying that the legend of Ganjisaurus Rex will continue.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: For people of Southern Humboldt, the biggest message I would have is thank you over so many years for welcoming me personally into that community, for allowing us to tell this story, for participating in the documentary. We had a screening as part of the documentary.
We filled the Matiel center with people. It was a really beautiful moment. And my other message would be, you represent and are something extremely special in cannabis history and we can build on that to create a cannabis future for Southern Humboldt that can be based on love and respect for the legacy of cannabis there. Nothing would make me happier than to continue to grow the cult classic film of Ganjisaurus Rex and use it as a way to shine a beautiful light on this community. Just don't be discouraged by all of the headwinds right now.
Understand that what is beautiful about this community is lasting and will outlast this and that brighter days are coming in the future. Keep the faith.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: In honor of today's holiday, you can sit back, roll up and light up your screen with the four 20 quick hits, produced by Jimmy Kimmel, now streaming on Hulu. For KMUD News, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
