UVIC LECTURER SPEAKS TO POT FILM STEREOTYPES

A distinct aroma wafted from the Human and Social Development Building on
Wed. Jan 27, as 4:20 Club patrons arrived early to campus to hear UVic
professor Susan Boyd talk Reefer Madness.

Her lecture analyzed film and popular media as the source behind
Canadians' view of marijuana as immoral and corrupting. Reefer Madness, a
1936 cult film, is just one of the 120 American, Canadian and British
films from 1912 to 2008 that Boyd, a harm reduction activist and author,
examined in her lecture.

"I defined drug films as any film that is a full-length fictional film
that portrays illegal drug use and trafficking as the main focus," said
Boyd. "I wanted to look at marijuana, specifically, because it's a natural
drug.?It's one of our oldest drugs. It has 460 compounds - just one of
them THC - and it's been used for over 5,000 years for its healing
qualities."

The pictures Boyd analyzed ranged from 1920s state-sponsored drug
education films to Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, released in 2004
by New Line Cinema.

"I took a look at the films historically to see if there were certain
themes that ran through them or if the themes change depending on the
social or political environment," said Boyd.

Boyd teaches drug law and policy, and theory and research methodology at
UVic. She drew from both cultural and feminist criminology in creating a
lens through which to understand the films.

"One of the themes we see is the gateway drug discourse: marijuana leads
to harder drugs," said Boyd.

Early American films, such as The Cocaine Fiends and Marihuana, the Weed
with Roots in Hell! racialized the drug trade by introducing the theme of
coloured men luring innocent white suburban teenagers (especially
vulnerable women) into a self-destructive spiral of drug abuse. These
films were meant to be cautionary tales, she said.

However, a genre of film that surfaced in the 1970s celebrates drug culture.

"Stoner films emerged and Cheech and Chong were the kings of this. Here,
we have two men and, in many ways, they turned racialized stereotypes on
their head. They make fun of themselves and law enforcement and play to
the absurd," she said.

Films such as Night Rider and Up In Smoke also challenged racial and
gender stereotypes in drug films. Racial drug users were celebrated, while
white country-club females turned criminal temptresses became a less
common theme.

"I watched these films with a group of male teenagers and that was the
best, because the parts that irritated me, as an adult woman, they loved.
I could really see what captures their imaginations and it really made me
appreciate Cheech and Chong and the whole genre of stoner flicks," she
said.

Boyd praises Harold and Kumar for being the only movie out of the 120 she
examined which mentions medical marijuana.?She also watched Pineapple
Express, a 2008 movie which echoed the themes in Harold and Kumar.
However, she said she was disappointed, because the lead characters take
up weapons at the end, feeding into another stereotype about drug dealing
and gun slinging.

"The fever behind harsher laws has to do with propaganda and more
reformers pushing for drug policy changes," said Boyd. "Our law has done
nothing to deter people from using marijuana."

About 69 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds have tried smoking weed in Canada,
she said.

Bill C-15, which enlists mandatory minimums for the possession and
cultivation of drugs, is an example of the "huge gap between what
Canadians want and what we have," Boyd said.

Similiarly, Boyd pointed to the films she watched as a source of
misunderstand about marijuana use. In the films she watched, she noted
recurring themes of marijuana as a gateway drug, smoking marijuana leading
to promiscuity, racialized drug use and distribution, and psychosis as a
result of drug use.

"I know we can just say these films are entertainment, but I find these
themes disturbing - especially in relation to the discourse outside of
film talking about marijuana, marijuana grow-ops and dealing."