Reefer Madness: The propaganda that lingers a century later
In 1936, a movie called Reefer Madness hit the screens. It showed young people being driven to insanity, violence, and death after trying marijuana. The film was ridiculous, even by the standards of the time—but it wasn’t just a joke. It was part of a well-funded campaign to ban cannabis and stoke fear among the public.
That campaign worked.
In 1937, the federal government passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which effectively outlawed cannabis in the United States. What followed was nearly a century of criminalization, misinformation, and lost opportunities for research and safe, responsible use.
But before all that—before prohibition—there was a different kind of story unfolding.
In the 1920s and early 30s, cannabis was not just legal—it was part of daily life in certain corners of American culture. It appeared in pharmacies as a tincture. It was grown as hemp. And in the jazz world, it was celebrated, embraced, and even sung about.
Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest musicians America has ever produced, was a lifelong cannabis user. He called it “gage,” and he didn’t hide it. In fact, Armstrong and his bandmates proudly called themselves vipers, a jazz-age term for people who smoked cannabis. He said it relaxed him, helped him focus, and improved his performances. He was once arrested for possession in 1930, years before cannabis was banned nationally—but that didn’t stop him. Armstrong later said cannabis was “a thousand times better than whiskey,” and considered writing a memoir titled Gage.
Armstrong wasn’t alone. Across jazz clubs, speakeasies, and city sidewalks, cannabis was part of a vibrant, creative culture. It wasn’t feared. It wasn’t even unusual. It was just… part of life.
So what happened?
In short: fear won. Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, saw a political opportunity. He tied cannabis to immigrants and Black Americans, weaponizing racism and sensational headlines to turn public opinion. And he succeeded.
Reefer Madness wasn’t just a movie—it was a movement, built on fear, not facts.
🎬 Here's the original trailer, if you’ve never seen it. It’s just over a minute long, and speaks volumes about the fear-based messaging of the time:
And now, nearly 90 years later…
Cannabis is once again part of everyday life for many people. It helps them sleep better, manage stress, ease discomfort, and feel more balanced. We live in a world that’s finally catching up to what some communities always knew: used thoughtfully and responsibly, cannabis has value.
But old fears have a way of resurfacing.
Lately, a new wave of “Reefer Madness” is showing up—this time in the form of legislation. In North Carolina, House Bill 328 promised sensible regulation but turned out to be something far more restrictive. Now there’s talk at the federal level of banning popular hemp products outright, including THCA flower, through backdoor provisions in must-pass funding bills.
These efforts are often framed as being about protecting children—which is a concern everyone shares. No one wants cannabis in the hands of minors. But here’s the truth: we already live in a country where alcohol, tobacco, and firearms are legal for adults, and yet kids still sometimes find ways to access them—even though it’s illegal for children to do so. That’s not a good thing—but banning those products entirely has never been seen as the solution.
Instead, we regulate. We set age limits. We restrict marketing. We create clear guidelines for safe, adult use.
That same approach should apply to cannabis.
Reasonable, well-crafted regulation is not just appropriate—it’s necessary. But when fear takes over, regulation becomes prohibition by another name. And that hurts the people trying to do it right—the responsible stores, the farmers, the customers who rely on these products for real quality of life.
A note on where we are now:
This year alone, we’ve seen major hemp policy shifts across several states. In North Carolina, HB 328 sparked alarm after a promising regulatory effort turned into what many saw as an industry-ending bill. Governor Josh Stein has created a Cannabis Task Force to study the issue more carefully. In Georgia, a new law banned the sale of THCA flower outright. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott recently vetoed a proposed ban and has called a special legislative session to further address hemp regulation. While some efforts have stalled or are tied up in court, the trend is clear: the hemp industry remains in a period of intense flux, as lawmakers across the country try to figure out how cannabis fits into a fast-moving cultural and legal landscape.
Why does this matter?
Because when fear drives policy, people lose. Not just businesses, but regular folks—people who’ve found something that works for them and use it to live a little better. When we shut down access to safe, tested, legal options, we don’t make anyone safer. We just make it harder for people to take care of themselves in a way that fits their lives.
At PhenomWell, we believe in common sense. We believe in keeping these products out of kids’ hands, and in making sure they’re available to adults who use them with intention and care.
We’ve seen Reefer Madness before. We know how that story ends. But this time, we have a chance to write a better one.