When it comes to myths, there are plenty of weed myths to choose from.
“Weed can make you stupid or cause you to have low sperm count”, just to mention a few. Let’s look at some of the most prominent weed myths on the books. We’ll be covering these weed myths in a series, so be sure to follow us on Facebook for updated posts.
The majority of these myths were fabricated through government propaganda during the 70s and 80s. Some of these myths stem as far back as the early 1930s. The reason these myths came into existence is that the government in order to maintain prohibition needed to have the public believe a false narrative about cannabis. In other words, these weed myths are orchestrated by some government officials or agents.
People would not support the banning of a medicine, as we are seeing these days.
So let’s get to it then.
Weed Myths Debunked: Marijuana Makes you Lazy and Unmotivated
You’re a bright, energetic youth going about your merry way. One day, a shady looking dude with a half grown mustache offers you a joint. Ignorantly, you accept the joint and smoke it. In a matter of months, you transform into a shell of who you were. You’re demotivated in life. All that seems to matter if you get to smoke more weed. Your grades drop, you’re pants are covered with semen while you live in your mother’s basement. All because of marijuana!
The problem with this myth is that statistically speaking, people living in cannabis-friendly states and smoke marijuana tend to have full-time jobs at a higher rate than their non-smoking counterparts do.
The median cannabis smoker in states like Colorado and California is 35 years old professionals raking in on average $77k per year. This doesn’t really seem to fit the demotivated semen covered stoner we are led to believe exist.
Of course, some of these stereotypical stoners do exist. However, it’s the minority. In all likeliness, these people would have derailed themselves in one way or another…irrespective of the presence of marijuana.
The lazy demotivated stoner myth came from anti-drug campaigns dating well back to the 1930s during the “Reefer Madness” period. Apart from depicting cannabis users as deranged lunatics with lust and murder in their eyes, they also highlighted the loser stoner.
However, the “lazy stoner” myth really took off in the 1960s all through the 1990s. PSAs with teens melting into the couch were common. It reinforced the idea that stoners are lazy and demotivated in life.
In some cases, people do have a shift in their interests after consuming marijuana. People blame cannabis for influencing their decisions and derailing their lives.
The problem with that argument is that if the influence of cannabis is a bad thing. What can be said of religion? Pop culture? Politics?
Understanding the mind of a stoner
Perhaps, under this new paradigm, the things that used to make you happy simply won’t do it for you anymore. Perhaps, you need a deeper level of satisfaction in life.
The fact that you don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, isn’t a bad thing. It’s just different.
I believe this is also why the myth was created. People who saw cannabis users do things differently felt alienated. When a group of people faces something they don’t understand, they tend to demonize it.
Perhaps this is the core reason why the Lazy stoner myth came into being in the first place.
Anyhow, thanks for sticking through our first Weed Myths series. We’ll be tackling a new myth next week! Be sure to follow us on social media for more awesome content!
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