Speaker 1: All right, we had the Lord of bang reefer madness.
Speaker 1: So how do we get from hiding weed from the
Speaker 1: cops much less our parents, to having parents who legally indulge,
Speaker 1: sometimes in front of their kids. Cannabis has had a
Speaker 1: really long and occasionally rocky past, but now for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks, it's not a whole lot different than alcohol.
Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. From reefer madness to a casual smoke
Speaker 1: with friends? How did that happen? That's next on the backstory.
Speaker 1: The backstory is back. Weed was demonized for generations, but
Speaker 1: its backstory is pretty captivating. It goes back thousands of
Speaker 1: years and up until the twentieth century, most people had
Speaker 1: no problem with it. Three thousand years ago in the
Speaker 1: Middle East, records show that people would gather in a
Speaker 1: large sort of tent and throw bunches of cannabis onto
Speaker 1: a fire. When observer wrote, it delighted them and they
Speaker 1: shouted for joy. I'll bet Hindus. In India, Assyrians, Greeks,
Speaker 1: and Romans all used weed for health problems including pain, arthritis, depression,
Speaker 1: menstrual issues, inflammation, lack of appetite, and asthma, and it
Speaker 1: was celebrated by early Greek and Roman doctors for its
Speaker 1: mood enhancing ability. It was also used for religious purposes.
Speaker 1: In fact, Hindus gave Shiva, one of their supreme gods,
Speaker 1: the title the Lord of Bang, their word for weed,
Speaker 1: because they thought the cannabis plant was his favorite food.
Speaker 1: I love that bang, pretty aptitle. Right, Let's head forward
Speaker 1: to the nineteenth century. If you were dealing with pain
Speaker 1: or any number of physical or mental issues, cannabis was
Speaker 1: considered a medical marble, and it was also used by
Speaker 1: adults and children to stop convulsions, treating epilepsy, Parkinson's MS,
Speaker 1: and what they call tremors. So, what the heck happened? Well,
Speaker 1: now it's the early nineteen hundreds. We see the beginning
Speaker 1: of weed's descent from medical marvel to a vilified substance.
Speaker 1: Why did that all happen? Excellent question. Well, it was
Speaker 1: fueled by racism, politics, and fear. It was associated with
Speaker 1: African American jazz clubs and also Mexican immigrants. In fact,
Speaker 1: the term marijuana, with its Mexican Spanish roots, was popularized
Speaker 1: to help fuel this fear in those days, making cannabis
Speaker 1: look foreign and dangerous. And then came the nineteen thirties
Speaker 1: and Ree for Madness, a film that was the epitome
Speaker 1: of all the fear surrounding weed. It basically told everybody
Speaker 1: that if you used weed, you'd turn into a psycho
Speaker 1: nut job. They said it incited violence, madness, and immorality,
Speaker 1: and within a year the Marijuana Tax Act of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty seven pretty much criminalized cannabis for decades to come.
Speaker 1: But who was behind all this? I'm sure there were
Speaker 1: the religious and social groups that had also pushed for
Speaker 1: the prohibition on alcohol, which by the way, had been
Speaker 1: legalized once again just a couple of years earlier. But
Speaker 1: it was more than that. First, you had thousands of people,
Speaker 1: including enforcement agents, who suddenly realized they had nothing else
Speaker 1: to fight. With alcohol off the table, they wanted to work,
Speaker 1: especially in the midst of the Great Depression. AH. Weed
Speaker 1: is a perfect target. But most nefariously, you had the
Speaker 1: liquor industry. Pot weed, marijuana, whatever you called it had
Speaker 1: become a major competitor for liquor producers during prohibition, and
Speaker 1: they wanted it out of the way. So the movie
Speaker 1: re for Madness became a massive propaganda tool for the
Speaker 1: liquor industry to fight the use of weed for folks
Speaker 1: who just wanted to get festival or relax. Liquor producers
Speaker 1: wanted to own that category. Thus the push to demonize
Speaker 1: a plant that had been used medicinally and for religious
Speaker 1: and cultural celebrations for thousands of years. But it went
Speaker 1: a whole lot further. We get to the nineteen seventies
Speaker 1: and President Nixon declared a war on drugs, categorizing cannabis
Speaker 1: right with heroin and cocaine as a Schedule one drug,
Speaker 1: calling it an enemy of the American people, and that
Speaker 1: war was not just on substances, but on the communities
Speaker 1: that used them. Now. On the other hand, the sixties
Speaker 1: and seventies counterculture embraced weed as a symbol of peace, love,
Speaker 1: and rebellion. The hippie movement, which was all about freedom
Speaker 1: and spiritual awakening, embraced cannabis with music festivals like Woodstock,
Speaker 1: which celebrated weed culture, calling it a natural and harmless high,
Speaker 1: and that began the gradual shift in public perception. Weed
Speaker 1: became a muse for all sorts of musical genres, from
Speaker 1: rock and roll to reggae, hip hop. Bands like The Beatles,
Speaker 1: Led Zeppelin, and The Grateful Dead often celebrated cannabis in
Speaker 1: their music and lifestyles. It became a symbol of rebellion,
Speaker 1: a way to reject societal norms and embrace that culture
Speaker 1: of peace and love. Then, rappers like Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill,
Speaker 1: and Whiz Khalifa began celebrating cannabis in their lyrics and
Speaker 1: even became entrepreneurs in the growing cannabis industry and from
Speaker 1: a medical standpoint, in nineteen ninety six, California became the
Speaker 1: first state to legalize medical marijuana. That opened the floodgates
Speaker 1: for research and showed weed's potential for treating chronic pain, epilepsy,
Speaker 1: and even reducing the growth and spread of certain cancers.
Speaker 1: Pretty amazing. Today, the cannabis culture here in America is
Speaker 1: evolving at an unprecedented pace. It's a booming industry with dispensaries, cafes,
Speaker 1: and even cannabis infused restaurants sprouting up once again. It's
Speaker 1: recommended by doctors to treat all sorts of illnesses and
Speaker 1: other physical and mental issues. Its celebrated through art, music
Speaker 1: and festivals, kind of like the wine industry. Is it
Speaker 1: hard to embrace the change in thinking For some yes,
Speaker 1: it's understandable. But remember this. As recently as three hundred
Speaker 1: years ago. Tomatoes were villified. Why because aristocrats mostly ate
Speaker 1: them off of pewter plates. And it turns out pewter
Speaker 1: is infused with lead and the acid and tomatoes leached
Speaker 1: the lead into the fruit and led to a lot
Speaker 1: of deaths of prominent people from lead poisoning. Big shots
Speaker 1: dying after eating tomatoes. They must be evil. Of course,
Speaker 1: nobody really understood why, and they just thought tomatoes were
Speaker 1: poison So you see, a lack of understanding is what
Speaker 1: leads to misinformation about so many things in our lives.
Speaker 1: And now the stigma about weed is being lifted. That
Speaker 1: change is part of the ever changing tapestry of American values.
Speaker 1: Cannabis is slowly being rebranded as a lifestyle choice and
Speaker 1: a wellness trend, a major shift from the days of madness.
Speaker 1: Hope you're enjoying the backstory with me, Patty Steele, Please
Speaker 1: please subscribe, and if you have a story you'd like
Speaker 1: me to dig into and share, feel free to dm
Speaker 1: me on Facebook at Patty Steele or on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
Speaker 1: Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner.
Speaker 1: We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
Speaker 1: to reach out to me with comments and even story
Speaker 1: suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook
Speaker 1: at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the backstory with
Speaker 1: Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you
Speaker 1: needed to know.