"Weeds" and Marijuana Chic

There are more worrisome statistics still. The 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that among Americans age 12 and older there were 14.8 million current users of marijuana and 4.2 million Americans classified with dependency or abuse of marijuana. Addiction is a real threat. Another 2006 report found 16.1 percent of drug treatment admissions were for marijuana as the primary drug of abuse. This compares to six percent in 1992.

There surely are multiple reasons to explain the increasing use of this drug. But one reason for the trend is surely its glamorization by Hollywood, which thinks marijuana is a fun-and-games subject.

"Access Hollywood" has breathlessly promoted a new movie called "The Wackness," set in 1994 New York. A young man sells marijuana out of an Italian-ice cart. He starts seeing a therapist, asking him for guidance on dating a young woman. He pays for the therapy sessions with pot.

If the plot seems tiresome, it's the casting that's truly saddening. The young pot dealer is played by Josh Peck, who just months ago was delighting hundreds of thousands of small children as a rubber-faced jokester on Nickelodeon's teen comedy "Drake and Josh." One of his regular pothead customers is played by Mary-Kate Olsen, half of the famous twins who played the baby sister on the family sitcom "Full House."

Child stars too often go looking for a part to "stretch their range," but that's code for scraping off any odor of a goody-goody reputation. These actors are doing it by glorifying marijuana.

Drug-dealer chic really began with "Weeds," the Showtime pay-cable series starring Mary-Louise Parker as widowed suburban mother/pot dealer Nancy Botwin. The fourth season recently premiered to the delight of TV critics, who love the show's exposure of suburban hypocrisy. Showtime publicists wrote, with noticeable pride: "Last season, viewers saw Nancy venture from hesitant but determined toe-dipper in the unpredictable waters of drug dealing to confident, full-fledged queen-pin entrepreneur."

They're proud of the drug-dealing mom as she gains confidence in her "queen-pin" criminality?

The show's primary hypocrite is the boozy anti-drug crusader Celia Hodes, played by Elizabeth Perkins, who told TV Guide that her character "discovers drugs this year ... and she's like a kid in a candy shop." Perkins is delighted by the bad behavior on the show. "There's just something delicious about watching people misbehave without any sense of conscience."

This is a classic Hollywood outburst. These people love misbehavior, wallow in it and suggest anyone who would dare take a stand that appears morally upright is undoubtedly just a repressed fraud. It carries an Orwellian echo: Honesty is found in corruption, and moral fervor is a sickness that needs to be vanquished. Morality is immoral.

Perkins displayed more of her debased philosophy on CBS's "The Early Show" on July 2 in a cozy showcase of CBS-Showtime corporate-cousin synergy. She described her moralizing character as fun to play because she's "really screwed up and evil." She's an unstable hypocrite in a bad marriage who's "going to take it out on whoever happens to be standing in her way."

CBS anchor Julie Chen asked Perkins if she supports legalizing marijuana in real life. "Oh, yeah, absolutely." she answered. "Alcohol is legal. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me why marijuana's not."

Chen asked what her character would say in response. Perkins replied: "Oh, put them all in jail." Chen laughed and agreed. "She's so self-righteous." Perkins then added, "Well, Celia's probably the only character on the show who's never smoked marijuana ... Never cave with marijuana, because that's the 'evil drug' -- according to her." Chen guffawed along, in mockery of the anti-drug position.

Teenagers will go see the movie with the Nickelodeon star selling pot, and teenagers are in the audience when Showtime is displaying its affection for "Weeds." Hollywood is not merely mocking people who moralize against marijuana, they're actively encouraging young people to explore the "edgy" life of illegal drugs they see on screen. But Hollywood will not be around for comfort or counseling when teenagers have to go to detox, or see psychologists for depression or other mental problems.

They ought to look in the mirror and wonder if they're the self-righteous people who are really screwed up and pushing evil.

I thought the first two seasons of Weeds were fantastic. The last season not so much. Some of that could have been that it was overshadowed by the terrific Californication. I haven't seen any of the new season.

As for the stats he brings up I have one question. Are people depressed because they smoke weed or do they smoke weed because they are depressed?

I hate the foul language in Weeds. It is way overdone. And I don't understand the attraction to the drug culture at all. Haven't been there, haven't done that.

OTOH, it is a terrific show and so I'm willing to overlook all of that just to watch Mary-Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins do their thing. Am I, who will turn off any movie at the drop of a single F-word a hypocrite? I must confess that I am. My only explanation is that little Mary-Louise is just too cute to pass up.

Teenagers are ridiculously prone to depression, the rush of emotion that puberty brings causes emotional crashes left, right and center.

Bozell and his ilk put the cart before horse; People self-medicate to ‘up’ their moods with drugs like Pot. It’s the depression that drives the usage, not the usage driving the depression.

... and I’m with the actress on this; It’s ridiculous that truly destructive drugs like alcohol and tobacco are legal, but pot isnt. Who beats their wife on pot? Who dies of liver failure from pot?

I wish I could remember the comedian who said it, but one of them had a very astute observation about potheads. It went something like this, “you ever seen two people high on weed get in a fight? No? You know why? Because it is impossible to fight after smoking weed.”

Of the people I know who smoke weed, I have seen rapid weight gain, I have not seen increased aggression.

” The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent”

I’m sorry, but I question this. Does one precede the other? Is it that 40% of people who would use marijuana in the first place already predisposed for mental disorders, or does marijuana CAUSE mental disorders. Because that is what they are implying here. “Marijuana increased the risk of mental disorders...” I just don’t know how much faith I put in these studies. Not just marijuana, but heck, first eggs were bad. Then they were good. Then wine was bad, then it is good.

I think they just want “more funds to research further”.

I’m with the comedian that said they should require all members of the UN to get high before meetings. There would be no war, ha!

But you are right, alchohol can create more monsters that pot ever did. It all falls back to the person using it, and their own control of their behavior, but it seems to be a much more destructive drug than pot. Of course I don’t want anyone high driving either.

This does not mean I want pot legal, just discussing.

"There's just something delicious about watching people misbehave without any sense of conscience."

They are also the easiest characters to write about. Doing the same crap on A&E with "Braking Bad". What I wouldn't give to clone a Paddy Chayefsky or Rod Serling. Real writers that knew how to write intelligently, instead of lowering standards to appeal to the "bong" crowd. Degenerates writers should have stayed on strike! They weren't missed.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported last month that a teenager who has been depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used marijuana than teenagers who have not reported being depressed (25 percent compared with 12 percent). The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent. So much for the "harmless" nature of pot.

So much for the ability to think, Brent. Self-medication as a reason to use drugs is well-known, especially in alcohol and nicotine. It's not surprising that a large number of drug users should experience symptoms that they use drugs to minimize or somehow ameliorate. With his logic he may as well claim that suicide causes depression since a larger number of people who commit suicide are depressed compared to the average population.

I’m going to have to remember to no longer post items by authors with my given name. It took me a minute reading both of your posts to remember that Mr. Bozell and I both have the same first name. I’m like what the hell, I agree with their viewpoint, why are they calling me out? :)

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