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  Cannabis Culture — Marijuana in Film, Music & Life

Posted by CN Staff on April 19, 2004 at 09:01:26 PT
By Neha Singh, Associate Features Editor  
Source: UCSD Guardian 

You haven’t switched from liquor to dope by any chance, have you Dexter?” Katharine Hepburn said to Cary Grant in the 1940 film “The Philadelphia Story.” Believe it or not, marijuana has been portrayed in films for a long time. Over the years, filmmakers have tried to mirror society — the counterculture in particular — and marijuana has always been a favorite sticky issue. From its early days of scare tactics in the cult favorite “Reefer Madness,” to the late 1970s marijuana heroes Cheech and Chong in “Up In Smoke,” pot has come full circle.
Nowadays, the majority of films that feature marijuana are somewhat neutral in their portrayal of this illicit substance. However, it has taken decades for popular media to evolve from portraying marijuana as “heathen devil weed” to a social drug. Whether it’s a full-blown pot film, a quick shot of a bong on a table or a joint in a drawer, marijuana has become a common presence in movies. According to sociologist Jerome Himmelstein, marijuana was first brought to the United States as a psychotropic drug by Mexican migrant workers at the turn of the 20th century. It was available legally as an herbal remedy for headaches, nausea, insomnia and a host of other ailments until the late 1930s. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, effectively criminalizing the sale and use of the plant under federal law. At this time, the primary users of marijuana were Mexican migrant workers and black jazz musicians. The association of the drug with these marginal ethnic groups sealed its fate as a dangerous psychotropic drug. “Reefer Madness” (1938) is an important film because it shows the blatant misrepresentation of the effects of marijuana. The story opens with an official speaking to a hall filled with concerned parents and teachers. The speaker warns of the dramatic rise to almost “epic proportions” of the deadly addictive weed. The speaker claims that this new plague cannot be underestimated, and the effects of the “killer-weed” may even be more deadly than that of heroine and cocaine, and intones that this “deadly narcotic” is “The Real Public Enemy Number One!” The film portrays evil pushers who prey on unsuspecting teenagers. The effects are shown to be crazed dancing, violent sexual tendencies, hazardous driving and ultimately homicidal tendencies. In the final scene, the protagonist is sentenced to death after murdering two others. “High School Confidential” (1958) is an interesting cinematic example of the changing signification of the dangers of marijuana consumption. The increased use of marijuana by beatniks and other fringe countercultural groups forced filmmakers to portray the effects of the drug more realistically. In this film, the protagonist, an undercover narcotics officer, infiltrates an upper-class secondary school to break an evil drug ring. While marijuana is still portrayed as highly addictive, it is shown more as a stepping stone to the harder drug, heroin. “Do I have to spell it out for you?” the protagonist said to one poor weed addict. “If you flake with the weed, you’ll end up using the hard stuff.” Perhaps it is in this period that distinctions between “hard” and “soft” drugs started to materialize. This film also directly relates to the fact that more and more university students in this time period were beginning to experiment with marijuana. Films such as “I Love You, Alice B. Toklas” (1968) and “Easy Rider” (1969) demonstrated the changing attitude toward drug culture during the 1960s and 1970s. Marijuana was commuted, as were the laws surrounding its possession, from “killer weed” to “drop-out weed.” As it became popular with middle-class white university students, its stigma was diminished greatly — so much that it was decriminalized in 11 U.S. states. It was during this period that marijuana was portrayed openly in films as a peaceful and even enlightening natural substance. “I Love You, Alice B. Toklas” is a charming comedy focusing on the mid-life crisis of the main character, played by Peter Sellers. He meets a sweet flower child and is introduced to the hippie world. Marijuana is an entirely positive force in this film; everyone who uses it (even unwittingly, like Sellers’ aging parents) emerges more thoughtful, aware, spontaneous and free. One is hard-pressed to find films in any of the other historical periods that portray pot in such a benevolent light. Even Cheech and Chong are shown to be, at best, dull-witted and slow. Interestingly, certain stereotypical companions of marijuana, such as sexuality, continued through this period. The correlation of marijuana to sexual promiscuity is best demonstrated in Russ Meyer’s now infamous, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (1970). In the opening scene, we see the main characters smoke a joint and immediately begin having sex. Throughout the film, getting stoned is the excuse behind “deviant” sexual behavior. Looking at films in the 1980s, it is apparent that Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign seems to have been successful. Films during this period show that drug use of any kind leads to the inevitable decline of the character’s moral stature. In films such as “Clean and Sober” (1988), the main character is given a choice, drugs or death. Hollywood returned to its pre-’60s attitude of showing drugs only in a negative light. The usual mainstay of marijuana representation, the teen flick, also seemed to be in a curious state of abstinence. Compare the heroes of 1982’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to 1989’s “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” In “Fast Times,” Spicolli, played by a young Sean Penn, is the lovable if irresponsible surfer hero. Even in the epilogue, he is given the honor of saving Brooke Shields from drowning. Spicolli and his friends happily toke their way through high school with no ill effects. “Bill and Ted,” on the other hand, shows two portrayals of the “stoner” personality, but there is a conspicuous absence of any drug, alcohol or even cigarette use. Marijuana, having been an icon of youth rebellion for decades, was quickly snuffed out with a simple “no, thank you.” It was in the 1990s that pot really started being portrayed as a social drug in films. Gone were the days of “you’re going to hell” if you smoked. Films stopped commenting on the ethics of marijuana use. They started showing it for what most of society really uses it for — a social drug. “Dazed and Confused” (1993), “True Romance” (1993) and “Reality Bites” (1994) are interesting because they all involve pot smoking, but did not simply focus on the morality of the drug. It was perhaps the first time since the 1960s that marijuana was portrayed so casually. None of the characters were addicted, harmed or led to harder drugs on account of their marijuana use. Instead, the smoking was portrayed in the same offhand manner as cigarette and alcohol consumption had been during the 1950s. These days, marijuana is everywhere in films. From Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal puffing it continually in “Y Tu Mama Tambien” (2001), to suggestions of it in “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), it is hard to watch a movie that does not make some sort of reference to marijuana. The film industry realized that marijuana use can be like the new cocktail hour. Note: Growth of pot in movies through the decades, from Hepburn to Spicolli, marijuana is on fire.Source: UCSD Guardian, The (CA Edu)Author: Neha Singh, Associate Features Editor Published: April 19, 2004Copyright: 2004 UCSD GuardianContact: editor ucsdguardian.orgWebsite: http://www.ucsdguardian.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #17 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on April 20, 2004 at 05:35:06 PT
Hemp For Victory
I wish they had included the short film Hemp For Victory as well - that one's far more eye-opening than Reefer Madness for today's audiences. But leave it to the internet - here's a site which has Hemp For Victory in many different versions, both downloadable and streaming. You could even download a DVD quality version and distribute your own copy.http://www.archive.org/movies/movies-details-db.php?collection=feature_films&collectionid=Hemp_for_victory_1942&from=BAThis archive.org site is pretty cool at first glance! They have old public domain movies, and a section on Election 2004. I'm sure somebody here will be interested in their Dennis Kucinich archive:http://www.archive.org/movies/movieslisting-browse.php?collection=election_2004&cat=Candidates:%20Dennis%20Kucinich
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on April 19, 2004 at 21:44:56 PT
DVD Review from The SFC
REEFER MADNESSSunday, April 18, 2004 First this movie was dated as serious filmmaking. Today it's old hat even as camp. The entire kick of this 1938 film, a low-budget exposé on the evils of marijuana, is the filmmakers' complete misunderstanding of the nature of the drug that, as presented here, creates a state of manic hostility. (A true cautionary film would show stoned people sitting on a couch laughing at "Reefer Madness" and then show the same stoned people sitting on the same couch, in the same clothes, laughing at the same movie 10 years later.) That said, "Reefer Madness" is watchable and maintains a certain time-capsule interest. The authorities are like people from another century (in a sense they were), upright and grim. Also of note is the fact that, although marijuana is demonized here, tobacco is accepted to a degree that seems foreign to us now. In the film, all the high school kids smoke cigarettes -- including the brightest and most innocent -- and that's how they get tricked into trying marijuana. The film has been restored for this release and looks clean. The DVD contains two versions, the original black and white and a newly colorized version. The color is a fun touch. It certainly can't hurt: This is not "Citizen Kane." -- Mick LaSalle REEFER MADNESS1938 NOT RATED20TH CENTURY FOX $14.98 
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 19, 2004 at 16:16:42 PT
Thanks cloud7
I didn't see your link but I got it posted. Sometimes the news makes me think that we really are making progress. It keeps me going!
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on April 19, 2004 at 16:01:16 PT
thanks cloud7 -- I feel faint
Too much truth in one day.It's feast or famine here.I say -- thank God I grew up when there was some good weed around. I hate to think what could have become of me without marijuana.
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Comment #13 posted by cloud7 on April 19, 2004 at 15:48:46 PT
MMJ for kids with ADD
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,117541,00.html
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Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on April 19, 2004 at 13:22:21 PT
Lawyers, religion and pot
A famous science writer from NY hit me up for some pot in Aspen. I was told that all the top civil rights lawyers in NY smoke pot and the top lawyers in NY know where to get the best pot.This makes me wonder. A lot of the top civil rights lawyers are Jewish. There is a cultural tradition there. A lot of these guys had to read Exodus in Hebrew in school.So they at least carry the ability to check for themselves that Moses made his annointing oil with caneh bosm, not calamus.It could be interesting when enough of them arrive at the dawn of that new day.Because it really does feel like the dawn of a new day to see ancient cannabis use so strongly linked to Moses, one of the founding fathers of the most potent moral and literary tradition in the world.
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Comment #11 posted by mamawillie on April 19, 2004 at 13:20:42 PT
Movies
I saw Reefer Madness a few month ago-- rented it at netflix.com (had to wait several months for it.. that's how popular it is)...Also saw "Saving Grace" not too long ago... highly recommend it. Brenda Blethyn plays a widow who turns to hydroponic marijuana gardening to save her English manor...
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Comment #10 posted by Virgil on April 19, 2004 at 13:08:27 PT
Subtitles for the Spanish speaking world
Yesterdays news of Spain pulling out of Iraq combined with their race to beat the Dutch at being cannabis friendly mean the control the US has is slipping. Doing cannabis wrong because the US says so is over. The mocking of the American people for being so stupid is about to begin on a world wide scale and the DVD that shows that US madness is now at least 7 decades old will play well in the Spanish speaking world.It is not just cannabis that challenges the US total prohibition. Coca prohibition is falling in Sout America and NarcoNews is fanning the flames of reform. The prohibition ship is sinking and the US, Canada, and the UK have some big elections this year. Reefer Madness really is going to be a cult movie playing on big screens in living rooms everywhere.
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Comment #9 posted by Petard on April 19, 2004 at 12:27:24 PT
Last Night on ABC
They had a MJ scene at the end of "The Practice".The "new" law firm that will be the subject of a spin-off show is being previewed in the final episodes of "The Practice". In last night's show the new cast is familiarized to the viewers. This new cast contains a 30-something blonde B---h who is hyper-aggressive towards the other females in the new firm, including a subordinate, 1st year, attorney (a provacatively dressed "sexpot" who states "I'm 25, I'm not going to dress like I'm 40"). In one of last night's final scenes, the 25 year old sexpot and one of the male 1st year attorney's are smoking a joint in the storeroom and whining about the other employee's. Immediately after mentioning what a B---h the blonde is, uh-huh, the blonde walks in on them. The blonde "confiscates" the joint, tells the guy "don't you need to go pee" (which he obligingly agrees with and runs off) then threatens the sexpot with exposure of her pot smoking if she ever complains about anything to anyone ever again ("You're not getting paid $160,000 per year to smoke pot in the storeroom"). As they exit the scene in opposite directions, the blonde is shown raising the joint up to her own face.That to me is a more realistic portrayal than any I've seen in years on the idiot box, indiscretion being used as leverage against a fellow user, but yet, pot use not an insidious act in and of itself. They had another pot reference recently on the show too where the new lead male got his boyhood buddy off on murder charges and they're in the old treehouse reminiscing. The new lead then says something about "Got any papers? Wonder if that bag I stashed years ago is still here? As I recall, it was really good stuff."
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Comment #8 posted by potpal on April 19, 2004 at 12:11:16 PT
Half-Baked
A rather funny pot flick not mentioned above...
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 19, 2004 at 10:45:56 PT
A Link To Order 
I did a look around Amazon.com and didn't find it but here is a web site where it can be ordered.Reefer MadnessDVD - Full Frame(pre-ordered - expected to ship on April 20, 2004) http://www.foxstore.com/cart.html?add=1114&u=1082465520&fsid=9050506db8a4b2ff21a5a13c9861c6fa
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on April 19, 2004 at 10:32:35 PT
Libraries and the DVD of Reefer madness
You would think that half the country is for legalizing cannabis. The fact that we do not see any poll with a decent sampling is one evidence considering what we need is a sweeping poll by state and by levels of formal education. This DVD is really a big deal because what was once a film for prohibition is now turned upside right to be a film for ending CP.George Soros will be 74 on August 12th, and if he would like to see CP end in his lifetime like Peter Lewis espouses, he would see that this movie is in every library in the country. Even on an individual basis people will want to donate this to the DVD section of the local library and it will be most interesting to see the stories concerning the acceptance and denial by the libraries on this propaganda granddaddy.That every library is offered a copy of the DVD should still be on the checklist of Soros and Lewis. 
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Comment #5 posted by jose melendez on April 19, 2004 at 10:03:51 PT
yo mama - that's funny
"Y Tu Mama Tambien" means "And Your Mother, Too."
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 19, 2004 at 09:36:30 PT

I'll Be Buying The DVD!
Grandpa`s Marijuana Handbook short feature should be good too!http://www.grandpaspotbook.com/
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Comment #3 posted by Max Flowers on April 19, 2004 at 09:27:12 PT

Cool
This is good. If "Reefer Madness" experiences a huge upsurge in DVD rentals and popularity, and an entire new generation finds it hilarious and then realizes what it represented and what it has led to in the present, perhaps it will turn a whole new segment of young people into anti-prohibition activists.
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on April 19, 2004 at 09:23:41 PT

Wow on that DVD in comment1
That will be one significant DVD as it will be seen by tens of millions of people in the coming years. It will show people that lies brought us CP, and lies sustain CP. If the truth be told by the prohibitionists, they would admit that the truth cannot be told. They even got an excuse from their management mommy, Office of Management and Budget, that they can lie.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 19, 2004 at 09:12:01 PT

Press Release from Business Wire
Fox Home Entertainment Lights up a Cult Hit -- ``Reefer Madness`` Monday, April 19, 2004 Entertainment 
 The Grass Is Greener With A Newly Colorized and Restored Print, And It`s High Time To Make The Hook-Up On 4/20 CENTURY CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Apr 19, 2004--Prepare for a smokin` DVD release when Fox Home Entertainment debuts the newly-colorized, smolderingly controversial ''Reefer Madness'' on April 20. Originally produced in 1938 as a government-supported film to discourage the ''new number one public enemy'' -- marijuana smoking -- this outrageous and over-the-top depiction of the effects of marijuana has made it a cult classic. Featuring an all-new restoration of the original black-and-white print and presented for the first time in color, the DVD includes commentaries by Mike Nelson of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and the Legend Films Color Design Team, as well as a short film -- ''Grandpa`s Marijuana Handbook'' -- and the ''Reefer Madness'' trailer. A must-own addition to any DVD stash, ''Reefer Madness'' will be priced at just $14.98 U.S./$16.98 Canada.''Reefer Madness'' DVD SPECIAL FEATURESBonus DVD materials include commentaries by Mike Nelson of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and the Legend Films Color Design Team, as well as a short feature -- ''Grandpa`s Marijuana Handbook'' -- and the ''Reefer Madness'' trailer. The film is available for the first time in two versions, a restored black and white and colorized version, and is presented in its original aspect ratio (1.33:1).SYNOPSIS''Reefer Madness'' is a campy cult favorite first released in 1938 as a propaganda film meant to scare America`s youth away from drugs. In this quintessential classic, innocent teens partake of the ''demon weed'' only to find that one puff plunges them into a hilarious web of murder, sex, lunacy, and jazz music. This cautionary tale has since become the height of camp entertainment among today`s high school and college crowds. You may think you`ve experienced this mind-altering ''hit'' before, but you`ve never seen it like this -- in color for the first time and presented in an over-the-top way that`ll leave you rolling...with laughter. So fire up the DVD player and enjoy!For more information, visit FoxPressroom.com, and for screener and artwork requests, please contact Josh Kushins, PH: 310-473-4147; FX: 310-478-7914; E-Mail: josh_kushins bhimpact.com''Reefer Madness'' DVDSuggested Retail Price: $14.98 U.S./$16.98 CanadaStreet Date: April 20, 2004Feature Running Time: 66 minutesRating: NRClosed Captioned: Yes 
http://www.cpwire.com/archive/2004/4/19/1551.asp
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