The War on Cannabis Comes to the Screen
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt ended Prohibition in 1933, few could have guessed that a new war would soon begin. Two years later, the fight against narcotics turned its focus on cannabis. By 1937, almost all of the United States had placed marijuana on the same legal level as heroin and cocaine. It wasn't long before propaganda against it flooded the country, even reaching the movie theater.
These films belong to what is known as 'exploitation cinema', and their creators had no qualms about copying one another. For instance, 'Assassin of Youth' is considered a clone of 'Reefer Madness'. But there is an exception to the rule: 'She Shoulda Said No!' (also known as 'The Devil's Weed', from 1949) has a semi-biographical profile, because it starred Lila Leeds, who a year earlier had been arrested along with actor Robert Mitchum for taking part in "a marijuana party".
Without work and on the verge of bankruptcy, Leeds had no choice but to participate in a project that clearly sought to profit from the scandal.
The Promotional Art
The message was more or less the same across all these films: if you smoke marijuana, you're a lost lustful sinner headed for hell.
