{"id":4459,"date":"2022-02-25T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenentrepreneur.com\/article\/420447"},"modified":"2022-02-25T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T16:30:00","slug":"how-anti-weed-propaganda-has-morphed-throughout-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4459","title":{"rendered":"How Anti-Weed Propaganda Has Morphed Throughout History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur<\/em> contributors are their own. <\/p>\n

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Although cannabis has become normalized throughout popular culture, anti-weed propaganda still perpetuates the social stigma that has long dampened the reputation of this incredibly resourceful plant.<\/p>\n

Shutterstock<\/i> <\/figure>\n

Gone are the days of flat out unhinged propaganda that portrayed cannabis as a violence-inducing, family-destroying, and all-around life-ruining drug. Still, deeply rooted within the hysteria of anti-weed propaganda is unbridled racism, sexism, and a narrative built on nothing but lies and fears.   <\/p>\n

Propaganda and misinformation is still there to be thwarted in the present day, but you\u2019ll realize just how far the cannabis movement has come after looking at this insane (and oftentimes rage-inducing) anti-weed propaganda that has been weaponized throughout history.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll dissect the origins of anti-cannabis rhetoric, and also share some examples of how it evolved through television airwaves. Here are 10 of the most infuriating, obscene, and all-around insane examples of anti-weed propaganda throughout history.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Why Do People Called Weed the ‘Devil’s Lettuce’?<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Historically Significant Anti-Cannabis Propaganda <\/b><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with a bad trip down memory lane and look at the earliest instances of anti-cannabis propaganda. These examples re-shaped society and transformed an incredibly useful plant into a heinous substance that would be stigmatized for years to come. <\/p>\n

Reefer Madness<\/h3>\n

The creme de la anti-cannabis propaganda film. This 1936 American exploitation film is now a cult classic beloved for its absurdness, but at the time it was made, it effectively awoken an irrational fear throughout society that subtly persists to this day. The premise revolves around a group of high school students who are lured by marijuana dealers to start indulging. A slew of unsavory acts transpire as a result of their pot smoking and eventual marijuana \u201caddiction,\u201d including manslaughter, attempted rape and murder, suicide, fearful hallucinations and more.   <\/p>\n

The original intention of the film, which was financed by a church under the title Tell Your Children<\/i>, was to drive parents into an anti-cannabis frenzy. In the 1970s, Reefer Madness<\/a> <\/i>was rediscovered and turned into an unintentional comedy of sorts, but it still provides a shocking visual of how an entire generation was brainwashed into nightmarish delusions about cannabis.<\/p>\n

Marijuana, Assassin of Youth by Harry J Anslinger<\/h3>\n

No single person had a more instrumental role in pushing anti-cannabis propaganda than Harry J. Anslinger. The figurehead of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics throughout five presidential administrations, Anslinger made it his life\u2019s mission to demonize cannabis and enforce harsh penalties for illegal drug use. <\/p>\n

In 1937, Anslinger wrote \u201cMarijuana, Assassin of Youth,\u201d a screed that boasted several unfounded claims about cannabis use and its effect on young people. This historic piece of propaganda focuses on the unpredictable nature of cannabis, claiming that the brain could have a severely negative reaction and turn a law-abiding citizen into \u201ca mad insensate or a murderer.\u201d Written just one year after Reefer Madness<\/i>, Anslinger\u2019s work is essentially a carbon copy of the film. It delves into many of the same themes featured in the movie, claiming that cannabis use could drive well-mannered young people to madness, suicide, or a life of crime. <\/p>\n

The Marijuana Menace \u2013 Cannabis As A Vehicle For Anti-Immigration Propaganda<\/h3>\n

Misinformation about marijuana was being spread decades before Anslinger began his crusade against the plant. Decades prior, sparked by political upheaval from the Revolution of 1910, Mexican immigrants started to migrate into the United States in immense numbers. Known to unwind through smoking weed, racially-charged rumors were spread far and wide throughout the American Southwest about how this foreign imported grass would induce heinous actions.  <\/p>\n

Anti-drug advocates created a persona called \u201cThe Marijuana Menace,\u201d a clearly racist caricature that portrayed immigrants and African Americans as social deviants. This propaganda was fueled by claims that smoking marijuana led to violent crimes and a \u201clust for blood.\u201d All of the hoopla eventually led the city of El Paso, Texas to enact the first law against the sale and possession of cannabis in 1914. It wasn\u2019t long after that other states started to follow suit in criminalizing the plant. <\/p>\n

\u201cMurder Weed\u201d \u2013 William Hearst and His Crusade Against Cannabis<\/h3>\n

Decades after \u201cThe Marijuana Menace\u201d trope was devised to demonize Mexican immigrants, xenophobia and anti-cannabis propaganda only intensified. Anslinger had a powerful ally in William Randolph Hearst, the press mogul who openly waged a war against immigrants and cannabis. Look no further than a 1933 newspaper article published in the LA Examiner dramatically entitled: \u201cMurder Weed Found Up and Down Coast\u2014Deadly Marihuana Dope Plant Ready for Harvest That Means Enslavement of California Children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attempting to stir up an intense anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the country, Hearst\u2019s relentless barrage of yellow journalism conjured up images of devious cannabis-smoking Mexican immigrants to perpetuate fear and anger within the Anglo-Saxon population. For Hearst and other businessmen, it wasn\u2019t the effects of cannabis use that drove the desire to stomp out the plant, but rather the potential to use hemp as fiber, which would negatively impact their financial interests.     <\/p>\n

\u201cVoodoo Music\u201d and Dope \u2013 Criminalizing Jazz<\/b><\/p>\n

Similar to the way cannabis was used as a bludgeon against Mexican immigrants, newspapers also used the plant to attack African Americans, prostitutes, and New Orleans jazz music. Numerous articles surfaced calling jazz \u201csatanic music\u201d and claiming that \u201cmarijuana causes white women to seek relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.\u201d Propaganda fueled fears throughout the white community that black musicians were utilizing \u201cvoodoo music\u201d and marijuana to hypnotize women and erase their inhibitions. These racially fueled lies were first spread in the 1910s, but the rhetoric ramped up under the guidance of Harry J Anslinger. <\/p>\n

Known to be an ardent racist, Anslinger himself focused much of his anti-cannabis crusade on black jazz musicians. He kept a file called \u201cMarijuana and Musicians,\u201d and even kept famous musician Billie Holiday handcuffed to her death bed due to suspicion of drug possession and use. <\/p>\n

RELATED: Hey Prohibitionists. This Is All You Need to Know About the Cannabis Plant<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Modern Day Anti-Cannabis Propaganda<\/b><\/h2>\n

The hysteria generated by the likes of Reefer Madness <\/i>and Harry J Anslinger are far behind us, but even in the modern era, anti-cannabis propaganda continues to seep into the psyche of society. The 1990s and 2000s gifted us with a hysterical collection of anti-cannabis commercials that make you wonder how they were ever made in the first place.  <\/p>\n

\u201cHey Helen! Want A Hit?\u201d<\/h3>\n

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Imagine living in a world where all your elderly friends and smiling neighbors always greeted you with a freshly packed bowl of bud. For Helen, this stoner\u2019s dream world is a reality. This commercial features a middle aged white woman going about her daily errands. To her dismay, she is offered a hit of weed everywhere she goes, from friendly neighborhood soccer moms to a grocery clerk. For some reason, the creators of this commercial thought this weed lovers\u2019 utopia would come off as some sort of nightmarish hell world. Although it\u2019s probably geared towards middle-aged parents caught up in the anti-weed hysteria of yesteryear \u2013 this commercial seems like a hilariously ineffective piece of propaganda in retrospect.  <\/p>\n

Like Father, Like Son<\/h3>\n

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Not all anti-cannabis commercials are solely focused on impressionable children and teenagers. This 1987 PSA, for example, features an unexpected father and son bonding experience. The commercial begins with a mustachioed father barging into his son\u2019s room wielding a wooden box of pot and paraphernalia, demanding to know where he got the weed and who taught him how to smoke. After some back and forth between the two characters, a plot twist emerges that makes this stereotypical \u201880s dad way cooler than he looks. The angsty kid reveals that he learned about smoking cannabis by watching his father indulge. A narrator puts a bow on this ad with a heartwarming message: \u201cParents who use drugs\u2026 have children who use drugs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Speak Out Against Pot<\/h3>\n

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A life of eating pizza and fighting crime? Let\u2019s face it. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were undisputed cannabis icons \u2013 even when you were too young to realize it. That\u2019s why it was completely Kowa-bogus when Drug Free America tried to use our beloved sewer-dwelling superheroes in an anti-weed commercial. This premise starts with a young student getting peer pressured to try a joint, the stereotypical \u201890s bully even goes so far as to call the reluctant kid a \u201cchicken.\u201d The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles swoop in to give some advice to a group of students, and the kid eventually snaps back with a legendary comeback: \u201cI\u2019m not a chicken, you\u2019re a turkey!\u201d  <\/p>\n

Holy Sh*t! Is My Dog Talking? <\/h3>\n

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If you\u2019re a pet-owning pot smoker, you\u2019ve likely gotten high enough to wonder how cool it would be to talk to your dog or cat. In this anti-cannabis ad from Above The Influence, that thought is actualized in the form of a dog who is outspokenly disappointed about its owner\u2019s cannabis use. Lindsay, the pot-smoking teenager featured in this commercial, must have some seriously strong shit. As she goes to grab a soda from the refrigerator, her dog jumps onto the counter and goes into a verbal diatribe about how cannabis has changed her as a person. Understandably, Lindsay seems freaked out by the fact that her dog is speaking to her. Many stoners, however, would gladly take whatever she\u2019s smoking so they too can conversate with their furry friends.     <\/p>\n

Couch\u2026 Pancake Commercial<\/h3>\n

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Perhaps the most legendary drug awareness commercial among millennials, the images of the flattened pot smoker glued to the couch are etched into the history books of ridiculous anti-pot programming. The premise of this Above The Influence ad is simple: two friends sit in a dingy living room that is overwrought with awkward silence. A narrator asks the sober friend what\u2019s wrong with their stoned friend, who for some reason is completely flattened out and unable to move anything aside from her eyes. I don\u2019t know about you, but if my friend suddenly turned into a deflated sack of skin, I\u2019d probably call a doctor\u2026 This advert takes a unique twist on the couch potato stereotype, instead turning a teenage pot smoker into a couch pancake.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Although cannabis has become normalized throughout popular culture, anti-weed propaganda still perpetuates the social stigma that has long dampened the reputation of this incredibly resourceful plant. Shutterstock Gone are the days of flat out unhinged propaganda that portrayed cannabis as a violence-inducing, family-destroying, and all-around life-ruining drug. Still, deeply rooted within the hysteria of anti-weed propaganda is unbridled racism, sexism, and a narrative built on nothing but lies and fears.    Propaganda and misinformation is still there to be thwarted in the present day, but you\u2019ll realize just how far the cannabis movement… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}