UVSS HEMPOLOGY 101 CLUB
LECTURE SERIES 2007/08

LESSON #8 : CANNABIS IN THE MEDIA - Part 2

Last year, in a scandal that rocked the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the press revealed that the ONDCP's advertising campaign included paying television networks to infiltrate regular sitcoms with anti-drug story lines. Cannabis Culture has discovered that they were doing the same thing with comics. What the ONDCP was supposed to do with their five-year, billion-dollar advertising budget, was find networks, magazines and other media that were willing to give advertisements at half price, or who would donate an equal amount of advertising free. What the ONDCP did instead was let networks fulfill their requirements by hiding anti-drug messages in television programs. The mainstream press missed the fact that the ONDCP also paid – and continues to pay – comic book manufacturers DC and Marvel for anti-drug ads. Reverend Dazmuzi, Cannabis Culture, 2001.

Few Americans, however, know of a hidden government effort to shoehorn anti-drug messages into the most pervasive and powerful billboard of all -- network television programming.
Two years ago, Congress inadvertently created an enormous financial incentive for TV programmers to push anti-drug messages in their plots -- as much as $25 million in the past year and a half, with the promise of even more to come in the future. Under the sway of the office of President Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, some of America's most popular shows -- including "ER," "Beverly Hills 90210," "Chicago Hope," "The Drew Carey Show" and "7th Heaven" -- have filled their episodes with anti-drug pitches to cash in on a complex government advertising subsidy. Daniel Forbes, Salon.com.

Maclean’s Magazine published the first of Mrs. Murphy’s articles on the illicit drug traffic in Canada. The stated purpose of the series was to arouse public opinion to pressure the government for stricter drug laws. Mrs. Murphy’s ability to blend statistics, anecdotes, popular racial bias, fables and sensationalism gave her writings wide public appeal. The public’s profound ignorance of drug use and the lack of objective information enhanced her apparent expertise. Newspapers across Canada seized on the drug issue and publicized her views. Her writings were extremely influential in shaping Canadian drug laws which underwent significant changes throughout the 1920’s. Solomon & Anthony, Introduction to THE BLACK CANDLE.

Much has changed since President Richard Nixon launched a "war on drugs" in the 1970s. The U.S. government's aggressive efforts to crack down on illegal drug use have evolved in recent years to encompass everything from television programming to foreign policy. Salon's exclusive investigative report by Daniel Forbes details the arrangement that White House officials made with Hollywood script writers and high-profile magazines to encourage anti-drug messages in their content, in exchange for financial incentives from the Clinton administration. Salon.com

To those who believe as I do that the present marijuana laws are unjust and divisive and that the pot debate is more dangerous to the society than pot itself, the current disposition on many questions to treat the whole subject as a joke suggests that basic change may be nearer than we think. As Goode effectively demonstrates, mere evidence, logical arguments, and the other standard devices that are used to persuade and produce consensus among reasonable men do not seem to work in this case---perhaps because the debate is not a real one but only an expression of underlying and un-stated motivations, resentments, or political considerations. Perhaps the case for reform can best be made by jokes and laughter.

At any rate, it is evident that a great deal of public joking is being done and that the user of marijuana is not seriously regarded as a genuine criminal. Recent movies, for example, portray the use of pot as a gag, and at least one movie director has stated that real marijuana was smoked during the filming. Pot parties, involving the commission of what the statutes define as heinous crimes, have been presented on the television screen to entertain the viewing public. Various popular television programs regularly include pot jokes. In private conversations such jokes are even more common and little or no stigma attaches in many circles to admitting in private that one has smoked or would like to smoke. Numerous stories float around about policemen, even narcotic agents, who smoke the weed or have at least tried it. The experiment with alcohol prohibition, it will be remembered, was also to some extent laughed out of court. Alfred Lindesmith, foreword for Goode, Eriche, THE MARIJUANA SMOKERS, Basic Books, 1970.