How to Create your Own Stoner Myth

How to Create your Own Stoner Myth

Weed Folklore and Rumors - How to Create Your Own Cannabis Myth from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

We’ve all read the “Top Stoner Myths Debunked” articles on the internet and by now you should be impervious to these pseudo-facts. Whether we’re talking about the “cannabis gives you cancer” or “cannabis makes you stupid” myths, they all have played their role in keeping the masses in the dark about the benefits of marijuana.

The question we have to be asking ourselves is; “How did these myths come to be in the first place?” These days, it’s a lot harder to convince a large group of people to believe in a single truth. There are so many voices and perspectives on the internet, our problem is separating fact from fiction.

Back in ancient times, you know, before the internet existed and people had to actually get off their asses to get “things”; information was much more limited. The main sources of information came from mainstream media outlets, print media and libraries. Their problem, as opposed to ours, was that they had no real way to be “skeptical” about the information delivered to them through “official channels”.

It was during these ‘dark days’ that the vast majority of these “stoner myths” came to being.

Today I’m going to be covering the methodology used to dupe the masses through pseudo-facts as utilized through cannabis prohibition.

Let’s get started…

The Official Lie

We’ll start with the basics. The first wave of stoner myths came about government sponsored “cannabis research”. For the longest time, the only type of cannabis research that received federal grants had to seek out the negative effects of cannabis.

If you tried to find any medical properties within the plant, you would have been flat out denied. While the vast majority of these studies were fundamentally flawed in methodology, biases and integrity; it didn’t stop the government from delivering their results as ‘fact’.

Understanding that the majority of the people only heard the government’s side of the story in regards to cannabis, they accepted the false studies as “law”.

When enough people accepted the fictional results as “truth”, the lie was passed on through everyday conversation.

“Well you know, smoking the mari-ju-ana kills as many brain cells as one thousand beers!”

And like a nasty STD, it spread throughout the years to cement itself in the minds of many generations.

The Headliner Effect

How many times have you read headlines that goes something like; “Marijuana kills teenage boy who jumped out of second story window!?”

I’m guessing that somewhere down the line you read a title like that. Most people, will not read the full story. They would only skim through the pages to see what it’s all about. Usually, people only read the first paragraph and the last one while skimming through the rest.

Within these sensationalist articles, there is usually a bit somewhere in the middle that reads, “Although doctors by no means attributes the death to cannabis…cannabis was merely in his system...” or something along these lines.

There’s a reason why they bury the facts somewhere in the middle of the article; they know that people won’t read it. What does stick in their minds? The Title.

If you see titles screaming at you that marijuana kills, eventually your mind will accept it as truth.

The Propaganda Machine

Coupled with the ‘False Studies’ approach to create stoner myths; if you have the resources of the government you could always run a decade long negative propaganda campaign. You could send “officials” to talk to children about drugs and introduce them to a singular narrative about the substances. You could spam their eyeballs with invasive commercials portraying only the negative effects of drug use within an extreme scenario.

You could hijack children’s cartoons and have their beloved characters echo a whisper of the anti-drug narrative, all while their brain waves are conveniently operating in Alpha Waves.

Remember, “If you tell a lie loud enough and often enough…people will believe it…”

Stoner Myths come from the propaganda machine utilizing a wide array of tactics to introduce a narrative that suits those that benefit from the existence of prohibition.

Reinforcing the Negative Side Effects

Every drug has side effects, cannabis just so happens to be “hungry and happy”. So what would you do if the plant you are demonizing doesn’t live up to the “danger profile” established by the official narrative?

If “marijuana ruins your life” is the premise, and someone smokes it to find the opposite to be true, the lie dissipates and the source is put into question. So, the government ramped up the drug war.

NOW, marijuana can ruin your life. Sure, it’s artificial dangers created by the entity that wishes to maintain a policy providing them with unlimited authority to fuck over your life due to mere consumption choices; but now the premise is true!

Because of these oppressive systems in place, the government reinforces the negative effects of cannabis, cementing the fallacy deep within the minds of those who do not question.

And there you go, a few simple ways to create a stoner myth. Talking about stoner myths…what’s the funniest one you’ve heard lately?