This year marks the 80th anniversary of “Reefer Madness,” the 1936 propaganda film that has earned its place in the cannabis canon. A cult-followed caricature of the type of hysteria that circled the nation’s dialogue on substances through the 20th century, it was developed as a morality tale for teenagers and their parents, designed to warn them of the perils that awaited them should they choose to dabble with a cannabis-laced cigarette. But how did this panicked frenzy come to exist in the first place?

Isaac Campos, a history professor and drug scholar at the University of Cincinnati, has traced the origin of “reefer madness” to Mexico, where newspapers published stories of manic marijuana imbibers. (The nation outlawed marijuana in 1920, 17 years before the United States.) Mexico’s attitudes about marijuana eventually trickled north, spurring a frenzy about the “marijuana menace” in the U.S. of A., where articles on the “dangers” of cannabis peppered newspapers. And so “Reefer Madness” propaganda was born. Associated with pandemonium and disorder, the concept of this “madness” was a far cry from the numbed-out, munchie-laced perception that developed around stoners in the ‘60s, an effect that Campos attributes to “context”—the expectations and environment that in large part inform what effect the drug will take. In Mexico, cannabis was consumed within prisons and soldiers’ barracks, environments whose aggressive natures seemed to rub off on the substance’s public perception.

How much can change in 80 years. And indeed, what a difference setting can make in our experiences. Tonight, as we dip into our artful party palette with friends, we’ll be tipping our hats to those who have fought the good fight since “Reefer Madness” to revise public opinion on a misunderstood and faithful companion, and giving a toast “to whom it may!”

Curious what the hysteria is all about? Watch “Reefer Madness” for yourself on YouTube

This year marks the 80th anniversary of “Reefer Madness,” the 1936 propaganda film that has earned its place in the cannabis canon. A cult-followed caricature of the type of hysteria that circled the nation’s dialogue on substances through the 20th century, it was developed as a morality tale for teenagers and their parents, designed to warn them of the perils that awaited them should they choose to dabble with a cannabis-laced cigarette. But how did this panicked frenzy come to exist in the first place?

Isaac Campos, a history professor and drug scholar at the University of Cincinnati, has traced the origin of “reefer madness” to Mexico, where newspapers published stories of manic marijuana imbibers. (The nation outlawed marijuana in 1920, 17 years before the United States.) Mexico’s attitudes about marijuana eventually trickled north, spurring a frenzy about the “marijuana menace” in the U.S. of A., where articles on the “dangers” of cannabis peppered newspapers. And so “Reefer Madness” propaganda was born. Associated with pandemonium and disorder, the concept of this “madness” was a far cry from the numbed-out, munchie-laced perception that developed around stoners in the ‘60s, an effect that Campos attributes to “context”—the expectations and environment that in large part inform what effect the drug will take. In Mexico, cannabis was consumed within prisons and soldiers’ barracks, environments whose aggressive natures seemed to rub off on the substance’s public perception.

How much can change in 80 years. And indeed, what a difference setting can make in our experiences. Tonight, as we dip into our artful party palette with friends, we’ll be tipping our hats to those who have fought the good fight since “Reefer Madness” to revise public opinion on a misunderstood and faithful companion, and giving a toast “to whom it may!”

Curious what the hysteria is all about? Watch “Reefer Madness” for yourself on YouTube