COUNTER CULTURE

Weed has played an important role in North American pop culture for a long time.  From groovy Hippies bogarting joints in the 60’s in the 70’s ,to Justin Bieber being accused of renting private jets and hot boxing them.  From music to movies, munchies to mayhem, the sticky bud has been a subtle yet significant influencer.

FILM

I can remember the first time I watched Cheech And Chong’s Up in Smoke.  As a young teen in high school, that movie changed my life.  It was like nothing I  had ever seen before.  It seemed like out of nowhere,  you had these 2 Latino dudes on the big  screen glorifying the use of what was  at that time,  a substance that was still fairly unknown to me.  And dang they were funny!  The antics of Cheech and Chong in the late 70’s and early 80’s still resonate.  My friends and I still drop in a  “Dave’s not here man!”  quote from time to time and it still gets a chuckle.

MUSIC

Then came the 90’s and the explosion of rap in pop culture.  Run DMC, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy had laid the groundwork for the next level of killer beats to drop and Cypress Hill exploded onto the scene talking about “Stoned is the Walk of the Walk” and of course Snoop Dogg “Sippin on gin and juice…laid back.” There can be little question that the music of these prolific artists in the 90’s was a huge influence on Gen Z and Millennial culture.

COVID-19

Then we move to modern times where weed has finally been legalized in Canada and it seems like there is a dispensary on every street corner.  The timing couldn’t have been better with a 2 year long Covid-19 pandemic and millions of people cooped up at home with little to do.  Cannabis use skyrocketed during the pandemic with so many turning to the mind easing effects of the bud to cope with stress and anxiety.  It will be interesting to see what comes next and how Cannabis further influences pop culture and generations to come.