Psychoactive drug derived from cannabis sativa that has become a symbol of freedom or decay depending on audience, regulators and use. Federal surveys of the 1990s noted that 69 million Americans over the age of twelve have smoked pot, including 10 million who had done so in the previous month. Nonetheless, 500,000 are also arrested annually as legislators, medical establishments and law enforcement crusade against the drug and its ramifications.

Established as a countercultural narcotic in the 1930s, marijuana also became a symbol of the vulnerability of (white) American youth in exploitation films such as Reefer Madness (1936), later seen as a camp classic. Here, marijuana was portrayed as the addictive first step on the road to dissolution, hard drugs and depravity This image was challenged by the 1960s, when pot became a more mainstream form of countercultural relaxation, from cultivation in large fields to small artesian plantings, distinguishing forms of selection and processing (sensimilla, hashish, hash oil) and colorfully named varieties like “Maui Wowie.” Paraphernalia for processing and smoking became accoutrements of alternative lifestyles, available in headshops alongside tie-dyed clothes and ethnic items. Hence, presidential candidate Bill Clinton could carefully identify himself with a generation by admitting that he had smoked—but not inhaled— pot in his college days.

Marijuana, nonetheless, became a special target of later wars against drug use, including propaganda about effects ranging from decreased brain function to risky sexual and school behavior to schizophrenia. This led to destruction of domestic supplies and prosecution/vilification of users. This new criminialization not only changed patterns of “acceptable” public use, but decreased supplies and raised costs, even while more addictive drugs remained accessible.

There remains a continuing lobby for legalization, including NORML (the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws). In the 1990s, these sometimes worked with those promoting marijuana for medical use (dealing with the effects of chemotherapy glaucoma, AIDS, etc.). A 1999 Gallup poll showed that 73 percent of Americans favor legalization of medical marijuana; some western states have exempted patients from prosecution. These ballot initiatives, however, have been challenged by federal policies and enforcement. Marijuana, then, remains a divisive issue for baby boomers despite a more tolerant and experimental past.