History of Cannabis in the Movies

Man has been utilizing cannabis for a variety of purposes since ancient times - hemp likely one of the earliest plants widely cultivated by humans. Unfortunately, the motion picture was invented during a small stretch of our collective history when prohibition was active. Luckily the portrayal of cannabis in film has largely evolved with our understanding of it.

Cannabis in film has gone from unbending prohibition and wild demonization to a topic that is mostly explored through documentaries - a sign of its normalization as a legitimate product and business.

The Beginning: Cannabis in Early 20th Century U.S.

The American film industry exploded in the early part of the 20th century when WWI came to an end and the Roaring 20s saw the height of the Silent Era. In 1927, “The Jazz Singer” was released - the first motion picture with synchronized audio.

Sadly, this was also the decade that saw the emergence of restrictions on cannabis use in earnest across the United States.

By the 1930s, cannabis was labeled a drug and strictly regulated throughout the country. The Marihuana Tax Act was passed in 1937, marking the first regulation of cannabis at the federal level.

Around the same time, one of the most infamous cannabis-related films in history was released.

The First Film: Reefer Madness

“Reefer Madness,” originally funded by a church prohibition group, was barely over an hour long and can be called nothing short of sheer propaganda. For those who have never seen it, the plot is likely what you’d suspect: Marijuana infiltrates cookie-cutter White America, unscrupulous and morally unsound “pushers” corrupt young men and women that in turn descend into a feverish and fatal marathon of debauchery - complete with murder, rape, suicide, and a hallucinatory breakdown into “madness.”

In one famous scene, Ralph (who we have already seen descend into a life of crime) and Blanche are in their apartment and are very high. Blanche offers to play piano for Ralph as he smokes a joint. As the affects of the joint ludicrously take hold, Ralph repeatedly demands that Blanche play the music “faster, faster” as he continues to smoke. Jack, one of the other central characters, soon enters the apartment and Ralph, in his deranged state, assumes ill intent and beats him to death while a hysterical Blanche looks on.

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/vtngFEE5t1E

The First Film: Reefer Madness

“Reefer Madness,” originally funded by a church prohibition group, was barely over an hour long and can be called nothing short of sheer propaganda. For those who have never seen it, the plot is likely what you’d suspect: Marijuana infiltrates cookie-cutter White America, unscrupulous and morally unsound “pushers” corrupt young men and women that in turn descend into a feverish and fatal marathon of debauchery - complete with murder, rape, suicide, and a hallucinatory breakdown into “madness.”

In one famous scene, Ralph (who we have already seen descend into a life of crime) and Blanche are in their apartment and are very high. Blanche offers to play piano for Ralph as he smokes a joint. As the affects of the joint ludicrously take hold, Ralph repeatedly demands that Blanche play the music “faster, faster” as he continues to smoke. Jack, one of the other central characters, soon enters the apartment and Ralph, in his deranged state, assumes ill intent and beats him to death while a hysterical Blanche looks on.

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/vtngFEE5t1E

Influences of ‘Reefer Madness’ on Society

The film came to occupy a strange place in the hearts of both film nuts and the cannabis crowd. It is widely considered by many critics to be among the very worst films ever made, with no redeemable cinematic value whatsoever. It is also easy to view it with ironic parody, a sort of counterculture embrace of an unlikely anthem.

But it is easy to see how, at the time, the film could have sowed the seeds of fear and misinformation in the minds of countless parents, willfully ignorant of the broadly racist and classist nature of prohibition efforts. After all, the town in the film looks like their own towns; the young men and women look like their own sons and daughters.

It is interesting to note that federal prohibition of alcohol ended in the United States in 1933. It could be argued that cannabis prohibition and the attitude that spawned “Reefer Madness” were a result of shifting that fear and suspicion towards something less accepted and mainstream.

For a long time, there were almost no major motion pictures that contained cannabis use after “Reefer Madness” was released. That is due to something called The Motion Picture Production Code. Created and enforced by what eventually became the famous Motion Picture Association of America, the Code was a set of standards and regulations intended to keep objectionable or morally questionable material out of American cinema.

From 1930 to 1968, the Code was responsible for keeping any glorification or use of drugs - including cannabis - out of film, along with other perceived evils such as sexual behavior (this gave us the infamous trope of married couples sleeping in separate beds). Any representation of homosexuality, profanity, miscegenation, anti-authority behavior, etc. were all banned from film as well.

If a crime was committed on screen, the culprit had to face the consequences of their action. Clergy and law enforcement had to be respected. Any portrayal of extramarital romance had to portray it as damaging and negative. Anything that could be deemed sexually perverse was strictly forbidden.

It’s easy to see, given the prevailing attitude towards cannabis at the time, how it was easily on the “absolutely do not film” list for filmmakers.

There were eventually some more propaganda films, or at least films where cannabis was seen as a vice or evil that needed purging.

Cannabis in 50’s Cinema

In 1958, “High School Confidential” came out. In it, the protagonist young police officer goes undercover in a local high school to root out a marijuana ring and save a young woman from her debilitating addiction. The cops get the bad guys in the end and our hero wins and saves young Joan from herself.

It would be difficult to classify this as an anti-cannabis propaganda film in the vein of “Reefer Madness” only inasmuch as cannabis could just as easily be replaced by heroin or cocaine and the film would function exactly the same way.

But it sadly reflects the attitude of the time: cannabis is a drug, akin to those potentially deadly narcotics mentioned, and guilty by association of the same evils.

The Motion Picture Production Code was abandoned in 1968 in favor of the film rating system we still utilize to this day.

The Late 60’s: 'Easy Rider'; Stigmas Remain

The late 60s were also, of course, the high water mark for the counterculture movement. 1967 gave us The Summer of Love and Woodstock occurred in the summer of 1969.

Also in 1969, “Easy Rider” was released. The film stood in stark contrast to the censored pictures that preceded it. Written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern and starring Fonda, Hopper, and Jack Nicholson, the film follows the journey of two drug-smuggling motorcycle-riding drifters as they travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans to take part in Mardi Gras festivities.

Though the film accurately conveyed the hippie movement’s casual attitude regarding cannabis (and other substances and attitudes), and although real cannabis was allegedly used during filming, it would be a reach to say the film worked to remove the stigma associated with cannabis use.

Along the journey, Billy (Hopper) and Wyatt (Fonda) are arrested for a minor offense. In jail, they meet George (Nicholson), a young attorney who is also an alcoholic. He assists in their release from jail and decides to accompany them on their adventure to New Orleans.

As they are camping one night (they feel as if they are unwelcome in town), Wyatt introduces George to marijuana when he offers him a joint around the campfire, saying, “Here. Do this instead,” referencing George’s bottle of whiskey.

When Wyatt urges him to light it up, he declines, saying, “Oh no, no, no, I couldn’t do that. I mean, I’ve got enough problems with the booze and all. I can’t afford to get hooked.”

Wyatt tells him the fallacy of that way of thinking, and George corrects himself, “Yeah I know but it leads to harder stuff.”

Wyatt looks at him and the joint but says nothing. George asks him, “You say it’s alright?” Wyatt smiles, and then George relents and asks him how to do it.

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/lcB4BYbAjR8

Wyatt’s silence in this scene is deafening. Foregoing an opportunity to dispel the “gateway drug” myth, the film leaves the matter open, letting the audience come to its own conclusion. George is beaten to death shortly thereafter by suspicious townsfolk. Wyatt and Billy escape and make it to New Orleans where they indulge in prostitutes and LSD, leading to a bad trip before both are also murdered the following morning by unwelcoming locals.

It’s hard to say the film blames cannabis explicitly for its characters’ demise, but it would be a stretch to say it absolves it too.

Into the 70’s & 80’s: The Pillars of ‘Stoner Comedies’ Arise

In discussing cannabis in pop culture, it is impossible to avoid mentioning Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, better known as Cheech and Chong. Before hitting the big screen, the duo released their eponymous debut comedy album in 1971, the same year Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Multiple successful albums followed throughout the 70s before releasing their first major motion picture “Up in Smoke” in 1978.

Now considered a cult classic and one of the early pioneers of the stoner comedy genre, the film was not well-received by critics. In fairness, the plot of the film, to the extent it is concerned with a plot, is ludicrous. The stand-up comedy background of the duo is apparent, as scenes often work only to set up punchlines and vulgar wordplay humor.

The film does, however, lay the groundwork for many of the classic pillars of “stoner” films: lovable losers, unproductivity, illusions of grandeur, the ineptitude and zealotry of police, and more.

Take this famous scene, where new friends Man (Chong) and Pedro (Marin) have smoked themselves into near coma and are arrested:

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/HuYeQi4wB_k

Despite the overtly racist reference to “getting Chinese eyes” and an assortment of cheap dick-related jokes, this scene set the standard for many to follow in later films: the cartoonishly large joint, the smoke-filled car, the accidental taking of drugs while stoned, and the complete inability of the characters to function because of their high.

Cheech and Chong released a feature-length film every year from 1980 to 1985, including the appropriately titled “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” in 1980, “Nice Dreams” in 1981 (in which a police sergeant gradually morphs into a lizard as a result of smoking some of the duo’s marijuana), and “Still Smokin” in 1983.

On one hand, Cheech and Chong certainly embraced cannabis as something positive, indeed almost sacred, a far cry from decades of stigmatization and demonization in Hollywood. On the other, they laid the foundation for what would become the very stereotypes many in the cannabis culture now find offensive, namely that cannabis use equals lazy burnouts.

Though certainly not the first coming-of-age film, Amy Heckerling’s 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” may be the most iconic, at least to a certain generation of cannabis users. Replete with virtually all of the high school movie cliches, the film features a young Sean Penn as the ever-chilled out, totally rad surfer dude Jeff Spicoli. Spicoli enjoys reckless indulgence and waging war against his strict and straight-laced history teacher, Mr. Hand.

To see them meet for the first time, view here: https://youtu.be/bMtdrKIdDgE

Though lovable and certainly a sympathetic character, Spicoli advances the stereotypical “stoner” mold, though perhaps a bit more innocently than in films like “Easy Rider.” The stakes are lower but there is still serious risk associated with Spicoli’s ways, including his use of cannabis, as exemplified when he crashes a friend’s brother’s Camaro:

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/QN_Nod65e7o

The 90’s: When Cannabis Became Less Stigmatized & Cult Classics were Born

Cannabis in film possibly enjoyed its best decade in the 1990s, at least in terms of how frequently it was used and the casual attitude most of the characters (and filmmakers) display towards its use.

Whether the famous films of the 90s worked to dispel the stereotypes established by their predecessors is more debatable.

1993 saw “Dazed and Confused” hit theatres and it is now widely considered one of the best coming-of-age, party films ever. Like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, the film features pot-smoking teenagers who have a very casual attitude about cannabis use.

It also gave us the immortal David Wooderson, played by Matthew McConaughey, and one of his most memorable lines when he asks Mitch, “Say man, you got a joint?”

When Mitch says no, Wooderson responds “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/Z6XIGZ51VMo?t=130

Kevin Smith’s “Clerks,” the first film of his “View Askewniverse” set of films, was released in 1994 and gave the world two of its most beloved weed dealers in Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself). Though Jay embodies some of the stereotypical stoner attributes, Silent Bob is something new: odd, sure, and a bit of an outcast from society, but highly intelligent, capable, and more than functional despite his constant high - a definite break from the likes of Cheech and Chong.

The duo give us some of the most quoted and memorable scenes from Smith’s filmography, including this profanity and slur-laced introduction in “Clerks”: https://youtu.be/WTw51Ynkn7A

Their snoochie-boochie Jedi mind trick escapades in 1995’s “Mallrats”: https://youtu.be/CAeFPZ-yXYM

As unlikely universe-protecting prophets in 1999’s “Dogma”: https://youtu.be/IAuJpbmqNkk

Or as the woefully clueless but “rehabilitated” preachers in “Clerks II” which was released in 2006: https://youtu.be/fYKLuSKW4ao

Though usually minor support characters and comedic relief, Jay and Silent Bob featured in their own full-length film in 2001’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

Smith’s films aren’t out and out drug films - they span a wide range of themes and narratives. But Jay and Silent Bob’s constant reprisals and often bizarre (but somehow heroic) antics have made them beloved among cannabis consumers and non-consumers alike.

In 1995, “Friday” was released. Written by and starring Los Angeles rap legend Ice Cube, the movie follows two friends Craig (Ice Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker), the latter of whom has created a $200 debt the pair must pay off to his weed supplier or risk being killed.

Set in the South Central neighborhood, the film explores a very different world than that in most of the other “stoner” films of the 90s, with commentary on gun violence, poverty, and the drug trade in poorer, predominantly black neighborhoods.

The film takes a decidedly staunch stance against gun violence and against many of the evils associated with the trafficking of illegal drugs, but also follows the example of other stoner films with characters who continue to espouse the use of marijuana, despite any negative associations. The film ends with one of Chris Tucker’s most memorable scenes, where he tells his supplier he is done pushing for him and going to rehab, only to light up when he hangs up the phone:

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/b5zigOv03Yw?t=63

1998 saw two classic “drug” films, though they were vastly different.

Terry Gilliam’s film version of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” starred Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke - and is an absurd drug-fueled debauch and sprawling critique on the shortcomings of the counterculture movement of the 1960s set over the faintest idea of a tangible plot.

The film holds true to the novel for two of its most oft-quoted lines right at the beginning. Our protagonist sets the tone for the whole film by stating, “We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.”

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/P2pgWsYSyUA

Though much of the film, including this scene, owes its characters’ hallucinations and various missteps to a wide range of non-cannabis chemicals, the film is revered by a certain segment of cannabis users who appreciate the cavalier attitude of the film’s central characters, characterized by one of Thompson’s most famous lines:

“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

Occupying a much lighter space, the Coen brothers’ 1998 film “The Big Lebowski” is beloved by a larger segment of cannabis users and a wider set of film audiences.

Starring Jeff Bridges as the incomparable Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, the film is (like Smith’s films) not an outright drug or stoner film. An absurd plot of mistaken identity, the theft of a beloved rug, kidnapping and ransoms, and a trio of bowling buddies is centered on The Dude.

The Dude is described by the film’s narrator as “... sometimes, there’s a man … and even if he’s a lazy man, and The Dude was certainly that, quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County … which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide …”

The Dude is, as one might expect based on this introduction and the stereotypes of stoners previously discussed, a regular marijuana smoker.

Though never approached directly as relevant to the film, his marijuana use is used to characterize The Dude as much as anything else in the film as he is regularly seen getting high despite a myriad of strange and sometimes serious complications unfolding around him.

To see a scene, view here: https://youtu.be/jo11SqLmuGc

President Admits to Smoking (Not Inhaling) & Cali Legalizes: Surge in Stoner Comedies

Prohibition had been taken to new heights throughout the Reagan administration with the War on Drugs, but the 1990s saw Bill Clinton famously confess to smoking marijuana (without inhaling …) and, in 1996, California legalized medical marijuana.

Attitudes across the country had certainly thawed considerably towards cannabis use. Whether cannabis in film helped change people’s attitudes on the subject or the popularity of cannabis in film merely reflected a broader societal shift is debatable, but what is absolutely certain is that the 1990s into the first decade of the 21st century saw the “stoner comedy” soar in popularity.

1998 also gave the world “Half Baked,” which starred Dave Chappelle as Thurgood Jenkins who, along with his stoner buddies, has to raise money to free their incarcerated friend by selling marijuana. Though blasted by critics, the film has a huge cult following. It gave the world this iconic - and brilliant (however lewd) – take on the “dangers” of cannabis compared to other banned substances:

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/uUPHlAbAf2I

2000’s: Newfound ‘Stoner' Personalities & Modern Cult Classics

“Dude, Where’s My Car?” came out in 2000, and saw Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott as two stoner buddies who lose their car in a wild night of partying and thus must recreate their mindset to trace their steps… by getting high again.

In 2001, the comedy troupe Broken Lizard released “Super Troopers,” a movie about a dysfunctional team of Vermont Highway Patrolmen who have little regard for the laws or rules they are sworn to uphold. Beyond giving the world every smoker’s favorite police officers, the film was a cult hit, especially among younger viewers, and spawned a sequel in 2018.

Among many other liberties, the officers smoke marijuana seized as evidence just before this infamous scene, featuring probably the film’s biggest name in Brian Cox.

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/JNPW2wZ4D2s

Their boredom in quiet rural Vermont often leads the officers to a variety of marijuana-aided “shenanigans,” including the famous “cat game” scene with a cameo from comedian Jim Gaffigan.

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/1rlSjdnAKY4

The film is a silly stoner comedy through and through, though the notion of police smoking weed shows how far the industry had come since the days of the Motion Picture Production Code.

In 2004, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” came out. In this now-formulaic stoner comedy, two friends, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) go… to White Castle… because they’re high and hungry. That’s it - that’s the basic premise of the film. Of course, a number of freak circumstances and pitfalls await them, and they are forced to navigate love interests, Princeton University security forces, performing surgery, and a number of other crazy circumstances on their way to get their precious White Castle burgers.

To see a scene, view here: https://youtu.be/Twv-BLL6wUE

The scene above does two interesting things. First, it introduces the idea that smoking marijuana is not reserved for the hood (“Friday”) or suburban white guys with dead end jobs (nearly all of the other ones), but rather undertaken even by second generation immigrants (Korean and Indian respectively) who are stellar students with immense expectations placed on them. It also pokes fun at the “Reefer Madness” era with the anti-marijuana propaganda clip shown towards the end.

The stoner film mold perhaps reached its zenith in the 2008 film “Pineapple Express,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as reluctant partners trying to escape the clutches of their marijuana supplier after witnessing a murder at his hands.

The film explores the awkwardness of the relationship between the illicit drug dealer and his customers as not quite friends but two people forced to be friendly. Through the high-stakes action of the film, the two grow to become actual friends with their enjoyment of marijuana a major facilitator.

In a perfect snapshot of the film’s major theme, Dale (Rogen), a process server who is dating a high school student, visits his drug dealer Saul (Franco) who, seemingly lonely, invites him in and engages in a wide-ranging conversation that Dale is eager to finish so he can leave. Saul is essentially a caricature of the stoner motif developed over the years:

To see the scene, view here: https://youtu.be/eI1dAmDZrZE

Moving Forward: Cannabis Will Continue to Evolve its 'Personna' in Cinema

Since “Pineapple Express,” one is hard-pressed to find a feature-length major motion picture release that follows in the mold developed over the last twenty years.

There was the aforementioned “Super Troopers” reboot. There have also been Cheech and Chong and Harold and Kumar sequels.

In 2014, a loosely biographical film called “Kid Cannabis” was released, which was based on the real life of Nate Norman who was featured in a Rolling Stone article in 2005. Norman, a high school dropout and pizza delivery driver in rural Idaho, built a million dollar operation smuggling marijuana from Canada before being apprehended by authorities.

In 2017, DJ Pooh (who co-wrote and acted in “Friday” alongside Ice Cube), directed a stoner comedy called “Grow House” which featured Snoop Dogg, Malcom McDowell, and Faizon Love, though it enjoyed only a minor release.

But largely, it is hard not to feel that major film studios have felt that the time of the stoner film mold has passed. There is no shortage of documentaries on the exploding cannabis industry as decriminalization efforts have succeeded in more and more places, but only time will tell if we will ever see another comedy or adventure film in the mold of these classics.

Of course, all of these are great for re-watching, especially with the added enjoyment of your favorite cannabis product.

As time moves on, we can only hope society’s perspective and our cinematic enjoyment evolve as we continue discovering the benefits of the plant while its stigmas are finally removed.