This Marijuana Commercial Will Make You Feel Less Guilty About Your Pot Use
Good news, people.
A Gallup poll released earlier this week discovered that 64 percent of Americans want to legalize marijuana.
That’s right. 64. percent.
In a time of unprecedented political polarization, marijuana legalization actually polls well with both Democrats and Republicans. According to Five Thirty Eight:
72 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of independents and 51 percent of Republicans support marijuana becoming legal.
It seems the only people skeptical of this policy change are politicians (and their pharmaceutical overlords). More than just supporting legalization, though, quite a few Americans enjoy using the drug—and it’s not just young people. In fact, “middle-aged Americans are now slightly more likely to use marijuana than their teenage children.” And the Baby Boomers love to spark up as well.
Since 2002, regular marijuana use among Americans age 45 to 54 has jumped by nearly 50 percent. Among those ages 55 to 64, it’s jumped by a whopping 455 percent (no, that’s not a typo).
It’s really only a matter of time until marijuana is legal in all fifty states. That should excite all of us, for a range of important socio-political reasons. But beyond these tangible effects, legalization will also alter society’s perception of who uses marijuana.
Lazy stereotypes of the stoner will naturally erode as people can open up about their pot use. For example, a stereotype that’s always bothered me is the “youthful vice” story.
People employ this stereotype a lot — politicians especially. Barack Obama famously admitted that he “smoked pot as a kid” (a lot) but that he no longer partakes, even though he believes marijuana is not “more dangerous than alcohol” — yet he continues drinking alcohol. Similarly, Jeb Bush confessed that he had smoked marijuana when he was young, but that such behavior had since ceased. Sorry Mom. And never to be left out of any misplaced viewpoint, David Brooks once wrote, “smoking was fun, for a bit” but that he “graduated to more satisfying pleasures” as he got older.
But as we’ve seen from the data above, this stereotype is completely baseless—and untrue. As marijuana users become more honest with others about their hobby, it allows for society to reflect a truer representation of who actually tokes up.
That is why I was so excited to see a recent advertisement by a cannabis company called Kindred. When I watched their ad, I realized that this was the first time in my life I saw a stereotype-free depiction of marijuana users.
The ad is revolutionary, in this sense. It highlights a mom rubbing some cannabinoid oil on her shoulder, two hunky bros eating an edible on a hike, and three women getting high during a yoga session.
It’s really worth a watch:
A year ago, Seattle writer and comedian David Schmader did a fantastic TEDX talk about “Stoners coming out” and at the end of his set (which I’d recommend), he made a memorable call to action:
[Weed users] stop treating your weed-based pleasures as a source of shame to be kept secret. And the rest of you, stop lazily accepting the old stoner lore.
Ads like the one above will go a long way in achieving both of these goals. Media changes human perception more than we think, and it can do so at a dizzying rate.
It’s commercials like this which makes me certain that my generation will be the last one to feel guilty for enjoying marijuana.
