Thanks for picking up The Impact Issue of the Leaf!
This month, I had the honor of interviewing Woody Harrelson, who is our cover feature story, inside his beautiful Ganja Giggle Garden off Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. Being a fan of weed, film and Harrelson my entire adult life made the interview all the more special. We chatted about acting, activism and why organic sun-grown Cannabis deserves a place on every top shelf.
Heading into The Woods starts as a luxury dispensary experience. Entering the store reveals living trees growing through the floor, earth tones with wood and glass displays and Cannabis on every available shelf. After shopping for all the weed needs and hitting the prominent sun-grown display, a few steps toward the back reveal a tropical oasis complete with birds of paradise, a flowing koi pond and friendly faces smoking everywhere.
We arrived before Harrelson for the interview, giving us time to indulge in the sensory experience of a stoner jungle. Once in the lounge, the sounds of the city disappear, replaced by bird calls and the gentle coughs of fellow smokers. There’s seating all over, a walk-up bar serving chilled infused beverages and a full coffee shop on-site. As we roamed and toked, I saw a diverse audience of industry professionals taking meetings, tourist stoners and locals enjoying a quick tropical vacation before continuing about their day. Far from a smoky bar scene, The Woods has the purest of stoner vibes, and I’d smoke there every day if I lived in Los Angeles — just like Harrelson does when he’s in town.
The interview took place inside one of several treehouse cabanas that you can rent hourly, the same cabana where Harrelson and Bill Maher filmed a smoky episode of the “Club Random” podcast. We shared the space comfortably, and Harrelson made the first statement of the interview, which isn’t in the main article. “You must have had a hell of a time explaining to your parents why you dropped out of college to start a weed magazine,” he said before a big chuckle, which set the tone for our conversation. He also asked about my faith in God, as I wore my cross on set, and he listened to my belief that Cannabis is a gift from God, along with our endocannabinoid system.
Of all the celebrities I’ve met, Harrelson was the warmest, most genuine and certainly the only one to build a lounge where, as he put it, “I’d like to go myself as a stoner.” I left our interview with more respect and admiration for a man whose career I already characterized as deserving of a lifetime achievement award in Cannabis. I’m honored to have him on the cover of this magazine.
Like Harrelson, the Leaf team cares about the culture of Cannabis, which starts and ends with our community. I hope that this story and issue will be shared with those on the fence about Cannabis. That way, we can truly work to “love thy neighbor,” as it says in the Bible, while we connect and share the truth and the plant that we all love and benefit from.
