The last Here Weed Go! episode goes on an emotional quest for the beginning

I’m your host, for the very last time, Eddie Celaya, former cannabis and breaking news reporter for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Marijuana Guide.

You heard that all right, folks. This is the very last Here Weed Go! episode you’ll be hearing… at least for a little while.

I ended up being offered a new position outside of the paper and on local cable television, an offer that I could not refuse.

I’ll explain a little more at the end of this missive, but right now what I will tell you is that you can still follow Here Weed Go! on Instagram, @Here.Weed.Go, to find out any updates for the brand in the future, and you can follow me at @ReporterEddieTravels to see what I’ll be getting up to, starting in mid-January 2024.

But before I get all misty eyed, I did want to give a proper introduction to my last guest, well, last Here Weed Go! guest, Sean Williams.

Sean is a journalist like me, but unlike me, Sean is a particularly brave fellow. He has written stories for publications ranging from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone Magazine dealing with drug trafficking, war zones, human smugglers, and all of the stories that come with those topics.

For our interview though, I focused on one of Sean’s latest pieces, his story titled Purple Haze: Cannabis returns to Kathmandu.

It’s a story of rediscovering some of cannabis’ original mother strain seeds in Nepal, but it’s also a story of Nepal itself, told by Williams through the backgrounds of his two guides.

Instead of giving too much away, I’ll let you listen to our conversation, and I’ll let you know that the piece is available in the November issue of Harper’s Magazine. Believe me, you’ll know why I saved this interview for last. Or at least for the last one right now…

Our conversation begins, like so many of mine have before it, with the story of how Sean first got high…

So, as for those new plans of mine...

To start, beginning on January 16, I'll begin my new broadcast television career as a multimedia reporter for KGUN9 here in Tucson. That means pre-recorded stories and live-on-camera look-ins for me.

I'll be making my living off the evening news, as Don Henley might say.

So, if you live in the Tucson area and have cable television, you'll actually be seeing a lot more of me. It just won't be all weed, all the time.

And I am OK with that.

This move of course means that, as of 11:01 p.m. on January 11, 2024, I am no longer an employee of Lee Enterprises or the Arizona Daily Star, and thus no longer the host of Here Weed Go! and curator of TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com.

At least, for now, anyways.

While the name "Here Weed Go!" and all the episodes, content and stories I created under that name will forever be the property of Lee Enterprises, I haven't completely closed the door to producing, hosting, editing and distributing an interview-based podcast focused on the cannabis industry on my own.

In fact, I have a few episodes saved I will eventually release, perhaps here under the Here Weed Go! banner or under a new, spiritually related banner. Sort of like the cartoon Doug.

When I’m ready to establish that new show back here in the cannabis space, you’ll know about it. Especially if you follow me on Instagram at @ReporterEddieTravels.

In the meantime, for the next few months, I just need to commit myself to some other moving parts in my new role on television, reporting live and making mini-news-documentaries 3-to-5 nights a week before taking on the podcast mantle again, though I love it dearly.

But to all my friends out there in the Tucson and Phoenix cannabis community, don't worry: I'll still be out at all the AZCannafriends events and vendor fairs that I can, and I will still be looking for a great story to let Tucson know about.

Before I close this out, I want to give a shout out to a few people, the ones who really made this crazy experiment possible.

To my mother (and first real guest!), Samantha Longenbaugh, thank you so much for always being a fan of the show and everything I do. There were many phone calls you told me to keep my head up and spirit high, and they all paid off with, what is up to now, the best job I've ever had. And you were the best guest I ever ended up interviewing.

To Yvanna Cancela, I owe you so much for introducing me to the Las Vegas cannabis community before MJBiz in 2022. You were the first person to really give me the idea to mix my weed and travel stories, and I will forever be grateful for that.

To Chris Law and Pascal Albright, your efforts to edit my rambling question/answer sessions into coherent, cogent interviews will always be appreciated. Especially now that I do all that editing of said rambling myself! The industry is small, so here's to working together again sometime in the future.

And finally, my biggest thanks are reserved for my former editor-in-chief and biggest professional advocate: Jill Jorden Spitz. Jill, thank you so damn much for taking a chance on cannabis content here at The Star, and thank you so much for taking a chance on me.

Before I somehow stumbled into what I once called "The Best Job in The World," I was working the breaking news beat, the very same beat I'll be leaving Thursday.

I had pitched an idea for a pot podcast earlier, but word about development on such a project seemed to have stalled.

Dissatisfied with the role at The Star, I pursued an offer to become a business reporter in Austin, Texas, and was deciding between staying or leaving.

A few hours after being offered the job in Texas, Jill called me to let me know she had approval from corporate to run with the podcast idea. It was all a go, if I wanted it.

Although the pay in Austin would have been higher, and the nightlife more my speed, I knew what my answer was going to be. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cover cannabis becoming legal in my home sate.

It was going to be the best job in the world.

And it was.

"We're gonna change the world," I told her.

I hope, with this crazy project of mine, I at least changed your world in some way.

If I did, or you want to hear what I'm up to in my new job, you can email me at epcelaya@gmail.com

And don't forget, keep smoking and proving them wrong. And remember, always and forever, Here Weed Go!