I’m always interested in what is being said by those who support the “War on Drugs.” I want to understand what cannabis industry opponents are thinking, how they strategize, and what they want to see happen at the federal and state levels. While advocates on either side of the issue have likely used stats and data to the extreme in order to support their respective positions, those who oppose legal marijuana have a long and semi-successful history of sowing mostly fear and ignorance to block access to marijuana, and that legacy continues today.
Let’s start from the beginning:
Reefer Madness, 1937. Reefer Madness is “a 1936–1939 American propaganda exploitation drama drug addiction film revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana—from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, hallucinations, and descent into madness due to marijuana addiction.” Here is the film’s original trailer. Even at the earliest stages of what would eventually develop into the Drug War, cannabis had a special place among prohibitionists who wanted to instill paranoia regarding cannabis consumption. As we all now know — either from the science that exists or from our personal or anecdotal experiences — rape and murder are unlikely side effects of marijuana usage. If you have never seen Reefer Madness, I urge you to watch it for a good laugh.
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Pot-Smoking Hippies and the “Dangers of Dope,” 1960s. Throughout the 1960s, legal marijuana opponents used public service announcements (and short films shown in schools) to spread their anti-marijuana message. During this period, Americans began seeing “hippies” and “free-thinkers” presented as the stereotypical cannabis consumer. In one very famous 1968 PSA, we see what appear to be some hip, young people arrested for smoking marijuana and, while being arrested, professing in their defense several of the very reasons why states are legalizing marijuana today. The kicker though is when Sonny Bono takes the screen, refuting each argument for marijuana legalization while at the same time showing how teens “on grass” rage against “the establishment” to their own detriment.
“Everybody’s Doing It,” “Users Are Losers,” 1970s. Continuing with the PSAs, prohibitionists began playing up worst-case scenarios and outrageous side effects from marijuana use. I was able to find two PSAs from this era. The first one does a fantastic job associating cannabis use with seriously hard and harmful drugs. The second one is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon that emphasizes how marijuana is a “gateway” to more serious drug use and addiction. These PSAs came out right about when the ultimate drug warrior, Richard Nixon, officially declared the “War on Drugs.”
“Just Say No,” 1980s-1990s. Probably the most famous anti-drug PSA from this era was the “This is Your Brain on Drugs” PSA from 1987. This PSA dramatically draws a direct link between frying your egg in a pan and frying your brain on drugs. Even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were roped into the anti-cannabis propaganda of the 80s. The ads in the 1990s sought to scare parents into protecting their kids from being offered marijuana, which would ultimately turn them into puppets controlled by the drug. Not surprisingly, at least one major congressionally mandated study suggests that these anti-drug/marijuana ads had little to no impact in “winning the War on Drugs.”
The “Flat” and “Harmless?” campaigns of the 2000s. In the 2000s, the focus of the opposition shifted to personal autonomy. In determining that just talking about actual drug use wasn’t effective at keeping kids away from drugs and marijuana, Drugfree.org, through its “Above the Influence” campaign, began focusing on how avoiding drugs would preserve your individuality. PSAs started focusing on preventing the abuse of marijuana (and other drugs) with awkward interventions that show how cannabis will destroy your once vibrant personality or lead you to commit manslaughter by car. These ads also played up the same “pot makes you lazy, stupid, careless, and dangerous” rhetoric of the 1960s and 70s, with little to no data or science to back up such claims.
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“The Next Big Tobacco,” at present. Now, with 23 states and D.C. having some form of medical marijuana and/or full-on legalization, the old tricks of the prohibitionist trade aren’t cutting it like they once did. Recognizing this, prohibitionist groups now claim to oppose legalization so as to block the coming of the next “Big Tobacco.”
Today’s anti-cannabis ad campaigns feel like the last vestige of a rapidly shrinking subset of society that wants to keep cannabis criminalized for a multitude of self-serving reasons other than its alleged and perceived societal harm. Within 10 years, we will likely view today’s anti-marijuana propaganda with the same sort of wonder (and disbelief?) with which we look at those from the last century.
Hilary Bricken is an attorney at Harris Moure, PLLC in Seattle and she chairs the firm’s Canna Law Group. Her practice consists of representing marijuana businesses of all sizes in multiple states on matters relating to licensing, corporate formation and contracts, commercial litigation, and intellectual property. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the cannabis industry in 2014, Hilary is also lead editor of the Canna Law Blog. You can reach her by email at [email protected].