Sifting Through the Hyperbole: One Hundred Years of Marijuana Coverage in The New York Times

Authors

O. Hayden Griffin III, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Alexis Lynn Fritsch, University of Louisville
Vanessa H. Woodward, University of Southern Mississippi
Richard S. Mohn, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2013

School

Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security

Abstract

The contemporary media has often portrayed marijuana as a slacker drug; however, this portrayal is somewhat novel. Several scholars have argued in the early 1900s, especially in the 1930s, the media often associated marijuana with violence and mental illness. Another common argument was that marijuana was associated with Mexican immigrants. Conversely, other researchers have argued that these reports were overblown and media accounts of marijuana were not very common until recent years. The current study utilizes recently available on-line archives to conduct a more comprehensive test of how exactly marijuana was depicted in The New York Times from 1851-1950.

Publication Title

Deviant Behavior

Volume

34

Issue

10

First Page

767

Last Page

781

Recommended Citation

Griffin III, O. H., Fritsch, A. L., Woodward, V. H., Mohn, R. S. (2013). Sifting Through the Hyperbole: One Hundred Years of Marijuana Coverage in The New York Times. Deviant Behavior, 34(10), 767-781.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/7780