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What you'll learn in this post:<\/h2>\n
[Click any of the section titles below to jump there]<\/p>\n
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- The Perception of Marijuana Users<\/a><\/li>\n
- ''Reefer Madness'' & the Power of Ignorance<\/a><\/li>\n
- Flowers in Their Hair (and Pipes)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Stoner Slapstick and Silicon Valley<\/a><\/li>\n
- When Will It Eventually Change?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Perception of Marijuana Users<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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For as long as we\u2019ve known about marijuana, we\u2019ve made assumptions about those who use it. <\/span><\/p>\n
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Cannabis has been tied to every pop culture institution imaginable, from the hysterical propaganda of \u201cReefer Madness\u201d to beloved stoner films like \u201cHalf Baked<\/a>.\u201d Reggae and hip-hop artists have long embraced weed culture in their lyrics and merchandise, while documentaries have fleshed out the importance of cannabis in movements like the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n
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As our society continues to better understand cannabis’ role, we’ve begun to appreciate how incredibly diverse its user-base truly is. However, while today we may dismiss the idea that marijuana is only for bored teenagers and society\u2019s rejects, the history of cannabis is plagued with misinformation, public bias, and prejudice.<\/span><\/p>\n
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In fact, the U.S. has often made a point of assigning stigmas associated with cannabis to whatever groups stood most at odds with the societal status quo.\u00a0<\/span>From the 1960s Counterculture Movement to the S.F. Buyer\u2019s Club established by Dennis Peron<\/a>\u00a0in 1991, outsiders have always been more willing to see the truth in cannabis\u2014and often paid a price for it. <\/span><\/p>\n
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By examining three eras of use, we can better understand how marijuana came out of the shadows to become mainstream medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\u201cReefer Madness\u201d & the Power of Ignorance<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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While \u201cReefer Madness<\/a>\u201d\u2014a propaganda film released, re-cut and redistributed between 1936 and 1939\u2014is now seen as a joke, at the time it was deadly serious. In the movie, marijuana is a conduit to heinous consequences, ranging from suicide to mental illness.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Aside from being entirely false, the movie’s fallout was a conflation that continues today: equating cannabis with deadly substances like heroin.<\/span><\/p>\n
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With no solid information widely available to combat these assertions and other publicly spread materials, many took marijuana’s life-ruining portrayal as gospel truth. This set a precedent for marijuana users as societal outcasts.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Jazz musicians were a popular target. Later forms of music, like hip-hop and reggae<\/a>, would later embrace the role of marijuana. The fact that these three styles of music were primarily the domain of African-American musicians is of course no coincidence.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Despite the fact that hemp served a pivotal role in U.S. efforts during World War II\u2014farmers were even allowed draft deferments if they agreed to plant the crop\u2014no efforts were made to consider easing laws put in place by the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act<\/a> and later made even more strict by the Boggs Act and Narcotics Control Act in the 1950s.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Instead, the divide between reality and public perception regarding marijuana users continued to deepen.\u00a0<\/span>Middle-class suburban families saw cannabis as an evil imbibed in alleyways\u2014until their own kids starting lighting up.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Flowers in Their Hair (and Pipes)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The years surrounding 1967\u2019s Summer of Love and the ongoing tragedy of the Vietnam War changed everything people thought they knew about marijuana.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Soldiers<\/a> sent across the world were getting high to deal with the horrors they saw daily, while a movement composed of protesters and young Americans disillusioned with the suburban dream found cannabis was one way to reject the rules they\u2019d been raised to honor and obey.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Whereas marijuana\u2019s appeal was once only for jazz musicians in poorly-lit clubs, now the biggest band in the world was getting in on the green.<\/span><\/p>\n
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The Beatles\u2014turned on to cannabis by fellow artist Bob Dylan\u2014fell hard for cannabis. While many would later move on to LSD and other psychoactive experiences, marijuana began its long equivalence as a popular aid for the creatively minded.<\/span><\/p>\n
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The Beat Generation<\/a> of writers\u2014including luminaries like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac\u2014also found refuge in cannabis. Suddenly marijuana’s face had morphed into a long-haired, bearded peacenik spouting poetry and calling for an end to war.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Of course, this view has drastic limitations; it’s a reflection of the greater society\u2019s efforts to find some common (and negative) thread to tie together the expanding pool of people embracing cannabis as medicine and muse.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Stoner Slapstick & Silicon Valley<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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By the time High Times started in 1974, it was clear that marijuana wasn\u2019t going away. While President George H. W. Bush followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Ronald Regan by introducing his vision for a \u201cWar on Drugs<\/a>,\u201d there was no placing the genie back in the bottle.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, film became a portal into how cannabis had permeated everyday life. From the explicit exploits of Cheech and Chong to the high school vibes of \u201cDazed and Confused,\u201d users are always burnouts.<\/span><\/p>\n
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- ''Reefer Madness'' & the Power of Ignorance<\/a><\/li>\n