How to Use Cannabis Responsibly and Safely The Experience of Getting High
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The Courier-Journal (KY), 2005-08-13 (Sat.) Television goes up in smoke by Tamara Ikenberg
Marijuana is hitting an all-time high on the small screen
Nancy Botwin is a widowed suburban soccer mom who happens to sell marijuana
to support her family. Played by Mary-Louise Parker, she's the star of
Showtime's fresh half-hour dramedy "Weeds," which made its debut on Monday.
An attentive parent and a member of the PTA, Nancy is one of many sane,
seemingly everyday TV characters who relate to reefer.
The Supreme Court may have voted against legalizing medical marijuana, but
that hasn't stopped pot from cropping up all over cable TV, where you're
more likely to see a joint dangling from a character's lips than a
cigarette.
You can get a contact high just from watching HBO's Sunday night lineup. On
"Six Feet Under," weed is as common as an after-work cocktail. Members of
the Fisher family, from frustrated young artist Claire to conservative
brother David to matriarch Ruth, light up regularly. Next, on "Entourage,"
Hollywood hangers-on Turtle and Drama are known to pass a joint while
cruising through La La Land, and the show's handsome hero, Vincent Chase,
sometimes takes a puff to prepare for stressful situations.
Finally, on "The Comeback," the writers of the fictional sitcom "Room and
Bored" are known to break out the bong for inspiration. This is hardly an
endorsement of the drug, as the material they write is terrible.
When you look at the stats on marijuana use, these characters aren't that
out of sync with society: According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use
and Health, nearly half of Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana
at least once.
TV isn't the only medium where marijuana is making a statement. Willie
Nelson's new album cover sports the distinctive leaf, and video games such
as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" feature pot in their subplots. The
off-Broadway play and "Vagina Monologues" spoof "The Marijuana Monologues"
was a huge hit, and radio endlessly emits the reefer-steeped rhymes of
hip-hop and rap.
But the ubiquitous medium of TV is perhaps the most hallowed frontier for
reefer to conquer.
Marijuana activists are pleased, for the most part, with the new wave of
onscreen pot smokers. Unlike the munchie-prone misfits of the past, many of
today's TV tokers are taxpaying family folks with careers and brains. And
marijuana isn't the focal point when it's featured. No one makes a big deal
out of it.
"It's definitely coming around," said Stephen W. Dillon, an Indiana
attorney as well as chairman of NORML, the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws. "There's an increasing awareness that marijuana is
not the killer drug, 'reefer madness' that was presented to the parents'
generation in the '30s and '40s."
"Reefer Madness," a 1936 propaganda film, portrayed pot as the ultimate
evil in a time when drug commission head Harry J. Anslinger was militantly
crusading against cannabis use. He no doubt would have been shocked --
shocked -- by Showtime's giddy musical send-up of the movie.
Anslinger's bud-bashing reign may be history, but there are still anti-drug
activists who are less than thrilled with pot's media moment.
Gary Oetjen, assistant Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in
charge of Kentucky and southern Ohio, doesn't have cable, but he is bothered
by pot's growing presence in mainstream media.
"Do I think TV influences the younger generation? Absolutely. They're
glamorizing the usage of it and these young kids believe they can get away
with it. It's always a battle," he said. "It portrays a positive aspect when
it should be nothing but negative. They're allowing (kids) to believe they
can get away with this and cause no harm."
Steve Dnistrian of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America expressed
concern in USA Today that cannabis on cable will increase drug use among
kids.
"These are trendsetting shows. They affect behavior and attitudes,
particularly teens," he said in an interview with that newspaper. "When
glamorization of drugs has climbed, changes in teen attitudes followed."
Steve Bloom, editor of High Times magazine, sees the rise in marijuana
content as part and parcel of a free TV land.
"These are premium cable shows, and they are not censored, and they do what
they want," he said. "A lot of these shows are on at 9 o' clock or later.
It's up to parents to really guide their kids; if they don't want them
watching "Entourage," then tell them not to. You can't program TV around the
wishes of anti-drug groups."
In addition to Showtime and HBO, Comedy Central -- the only TV network to
advertise in High Times, according to Bloom -- is also a bastion of bud.
"Chappelle's Show" is rife with reefer references, and the subversives
behind "South Park" regularly reinforce their proclivity for pot.
"It represents the TV industry mirroring what's happening in society,"
Bloom said. "A lot of the writers, directors and producers, probably a lot
of them smoke marijuana, probably a lot of them deep down would like to see
the laws changed, so they're pushing the envelope by including storylines
with marijuana. They want to see it more normalized on TV, and that would
hopefully usher in some slight change in society's view of marijuana."
Local playwright Brian Walker, creator and star of the pro-legalization
satire "Smoke This Play," which was performed earlier this month at Actors
Theatre, is encouraged by the more sophisticated status of smoking in
entertainment. If it's brought from the fringes to the forefront, he
believes, major changes can be made.
"If you look at the whole gay issue, it started to become not such a big
deal anymore when it was on TV, and Showtime and HBO started embracing the
subject matter and the regular networks started embracing it," he said. "I
think marijuana could sort of follow the same street. The people in
entertainment really hold a lot of cards in their hands."
In the 1980s and '90s, non-cable networks also wove pot into plots. On
"Roseanne," Dan and Roseanne toked up in the bathroom after confiscating
drugs from one of their kids, and on "Murphy Brown," Candice Bergen's title
character smoked pot during her battle with breast cancer.
"Medical is the safe way to go when you're going to focus on marijuana,"
Bloom said, adding that 80 percent of Americans approve of medical marijuana
use.
But nobody expects the laws to shift immediately just because public
opinion and TV's new ganja generation are showing pot in a new light.
"It's not surprising that even though marijuana is being portrayed more
positively in the popular culture, that public officials have not yet caught
up to public opinion," said Kris Krane, associate director of NORML.
Even though the drug's image is getting an extreme makeover, there are
still shows where weed is purely a punch line.
Pot fumes have long filled the air of the Forman basement on "That '70s
Show," and Towelie, "South Park's" terrycloth toker, remains an icon of
inhaling.
"Who can forget Towelie? He's a funny character," Krane said. "We like
Towelie."
Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 © 2005 The Courier-Journal |
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