Silverlake, CA. SJOM. Video screenshot by Wyatt Hewison. Artwork by Tim Blakeley. February 2010
During my 8-month stint working at my friend Veeektor's dispensary in Silverlake, I met all kinds of characters. Not surprising, considering the place was on Sunset Blvd., at the corner of Hipsterville and the Barrio. It was here at the Sunset Junction Organic Medicine dispensary that I decided to finally put my Amerijuanica idea into action. It had been more than 5 years—somewhere around 2003, no later than spring of 2004—since I had the idea to research, write and publish a Studs Turkel/Working-type book of stories about marijuana. Candid cannabis conversations in the words of users—and non-users. In May of 2004 I was even telling my future wife about the idea when we first met. (Molly claims she came up with the Amerijuanica name. I'm 99.9% sure I'd already come up with it before I met her. We respectfully disagree and agree to remain in newlyweded bliss.) By the time I began working at the dispensary, no forward progress had been made on the book. But now we figured, hey...let's turn these conversations into a podcast. More than 5 years later, here we are. Posting our 1st podcasts. Thanks largely to the many conversations I had with people like Teddy, whose story you really should hear on episode #3 of Amerijuanica. And not just because he survived a gunshot wound to the head and delivers green herbal medicine to the elderly in South Central. You should listen to him because Teddy is a master storyteller—even if you might not agree with what's coming out of his mouth.