Anyone who doubts the mainstreaming of the cannabis industry might want to skip "Letterman" and check out "Cannabis Planet." The weekly program, premiering in the Bay Area at midnight Friday on KOFY-TV, intends to promote the benefits of marijuana, but viewers shouldn't tune in expecting "KOFY and Bong Hits."
"It's that stoner mentality we're trying to get away from," says creator and executive producer Brad Lane. "We're pro-recreational use, but we're not rubbing people's faces in it."
The show is structured around a pair of cannabis news anchors (yes, one of them has dreadlocks) and a mashup of educational segments, such as cooking demonstrations for hemp smoothies and medicated chicken stir-fry, and cannabis cultivation tips with marijuana guru Ed Rosenthal.
Lane pays KOFY to put "Cannabis Planet" on the air, like an infomercial, and generates revenue by running ads during the show for companies that produce grow lights, plant food and other products geared toward the cannabis industry. His operational philosophy is "Fuel, food, fiber, medicine," and he's bent on showing the public that medical marijuana isn't just for those with serious illnesses. He claims cannabis can alleviate everything from menstrual cramps to sleep disorders, and personally uses marijuana to curb attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, from which he's suffered since his days in Montessori school.
"When other children laid down to take naps, I was instructed to go outside and run laps," he says. "But I'm lucky I have this energy because I work 18 hours a day producing this show. Wherever it says that cannabis is a motivation killer, I think I'm living proof that that's not true."
KJLA-TV, which reaches most of Southern California, first aired the Los Angeles-based show in July of last year and is now presenting season two to roughly 40,000 viewers each week. KOFY picked up "Cannabis Planet" after contacting KJLA-TV, whose executives vouched for Lane and said he hadn't brought them any trouble from the FCC. KOFY reviews all the show's content and reserves the right to pull it off the air in its entirety, but does not make edits or changes. The station is in for 26 episodes and will run a disclaimer each week, but Craig Coane, KOFY's president and general manager, isn't wringing his hands over the content.
