Hempresent

Pato Banton is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He received the nickname "Pato Banton" from his stepfather; The first name derives from a Jamaican night owl that stays up all night calling "patoo, patoo" and the last name from the disc jockey slang word "Banton" which means heavyweight lyricist or storyteller. In 1994, he achieved a number 1 on the UK Singles Chart with a cover of The Equals' Baby Come Back featuring Robin and Ali Campbell of UB40. Banton first came to public attention in the early 1980s when he worked with The Beat. He recorded "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" with Ranking Roger, included on the 1982 album Special Beat Service. He went on to record a series of singles for Fashion Records and Don Christie Records.

Delic Corp With Matt Stang today on Hempresent with Vivian McPeak only on Cannabis Radio. During Stang’s 17-year career at High Times, he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute a noticeable amount of marijuana, in a case that involved rapper and Roc-A-Fella Records founder Kareem Burke. Stang says while the charge didn’t interrupt his work at High Times, it did have an impact on his career trajectory in a huge way. Stang says his run-in with the law made him that much more effusive in his support for ending the war on drugs: “I was actively running cannabis cups all over the world where cannabis was legal, while in a battle over cannabis consumption, so it was a very interesting place to be.

High Times Photographer Malcolm McKinnon joins us today on Hempresent with Vivian McPeak only on Cannabis Radio. Malcolm MacKinnon is a veteran photojournalist and widely considered to be one of the foremost cannabis photographers in the world. His work has been published in over 200 publications worldwide and he has interviewed and photographed a wide range of celebrities. As the former editor-in-chief of HIGH TIMES magazine, he worked under the pen name of "Dan Skye.” He also served as executive editor of HEMP TIMES, a sister publication. During his 25-year career with HIGH TIMES (1991-2017), he shot over 50 covers and centerfolds and traveled over a million miles on assignments, becoming the most published writer and photographer in the magazine's history. For over 30 years, Malcolm has also covered Native American issues, amassing a huge archive of imagery. He has interviewed and photographed numerous Native American leaders including Russell Means, Dennis Banks, John Trudell, Clyde, and Vernon Bellecourt, and Winona LaDuke, among others. He is a long-time advocate for the release of Leonard Peltier, who has now served over 45 years in federal prison, a victim of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in U.S. history. Behind bars, Leonard has become an outstanding painter and frequently uses Malcolm’s photographs for his artwork. Check out his work at MalcolmMacKinnon.com.

Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco with Author Alia Volz today on Hempresent only on Cannabis Radio. A blazingly funny, heartfelt memoir from the daughter of the larger-than-life woman who ran Sticky Fingers Brownies, an underground bakery that distributed thousands of marijuana brownies per month and helped provide medical marijuana to AIDS patients in San Francisco—for fans of Armistead Maupin and Patricia Lockwood. During the '70s in San Francisco, Alia's mother ran the underground Sticky Fingers Brownies, delivering upwards of 10,000 illegal marijuana edibles per month throughout the circus-like atmosphere of a city in the throes of major change.

Brave New Weed: Adventures into the Uncharted World of Cannabis with author Joe Dolce today on Hempresent only on Cannabis Radio. The former editor-in-chief of Details and Star adventures into the fascinating "brave new world" of cannabis, tracing its history and possible future as he investigates the social, medical, legal, and cultural ramifications of this surprisingly versatile plant. Pot. Weed. Grass. Mary Jane. We all think we know what cannabis is and what we use it for. But do we? Our collective understanding of this surprising plant has been muddled by politics and morality; what we think we know isn’t the real story. A war on cannabis has been waged in the United States since the early years of the twentieth century, yet in the past decade, society has undergone a massive shift in perspective that has allowed us to reconsider our beliefs. In Brave New Weed, Joe Dolce travels the globe to "tear down the cannabis closet" and de-mystify this new frontier, seeking answers to the questions we didn’t know we should ask. Dolce heads to a host of places, including Amsterdam, Israel, California, and Colorado, where he skillfully unfolds the odd, shocking, and wildly funny history of this complex plant. From the outlandish stories of murder trials where defendants claimed "insanity due to marijuana consumption" to the groundbreaking success stories about the plant’s impressive medicinal benefits, Dolce paints a fresh and much-needed portrait of cannabis, our changing attitudes toward it, and the brave new direction science and cultural acceptance are leading us. Enlightening, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Brave New Weed is a compelling read that will surprise and educate proponents on both sides of the cannabis debate.