The film, “Reefer Madness” was the capstone of one of the most sinister, yet brilliant, propaganda campaigns ever executed. With a nationwide release coinciding with the start of cannabis prohibition, the film’s scare tactics and blatant mistruths successfully demonized cannabis. As a result, the misguided perception about cannabis has ensued for generations.
Despite renewed interest in cannabis born from concerns about climate change, water shortages and drought, the war on drugs, modern disease, GMOs, soil contamination and addiction, it and may take generations convince everyone it was all just a lie.
Revisiting Reefer Madness after learning the truth about cannabis, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry over its absurdity. Either way, it’s both a comedy and tragedy. It seems criminal that the film’s makers were permitted to use such a powerful piece of propaganda to deliberately deprive several generations of one of the most sustainable cash crops on earth …