The song "Smokin' Reefers" originally appeared in a 1932 Broadway production titled "Flying Colors". Just a few years before the destructive "Reefer Madness" propaganda campaigns began spiraling out of control, "Flying Colors" opened on September 15, 1932 at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 188 performances.

"Smokin' Reefers" was a bold song, not lyrically hiding its meaning. Its original composer is unknown. The first commercial release of the song on album appears to be by Larry Adler in 1938.

An interesting historical note about the song's lyrics is the famous line:

"It's the kind of stuff all the dreams are made of."

In the 1941 film "The Maltese Falcon", when Humphrey Bogart's character is asked what the Maltese Falcon statuette is, he uses the memorable line:

"The stuff that dreams are made of."

Considering the proximity to the commercial release of "Smokin' Reefers" which came just a couple years prior, did the script writer use the song lyric for inspiration, or was the original Shakespeare the inspiration:

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on."

Shakespeare used "made on" while Smokin' Reefers was the first to use "made of". The Maltese Falcon movie line is much more similar in meaning and word structure to the Smokin' Reefers version, so I highly suspect the song's lyrics to be the inspiration.

But regardless of whatever the case may be there, the song Smokin' Reefers is a historical artifact of the early cannabis culture in the United States. Because of the early hysteria of the drug war, much has been lost. Here we have a little glimpse back to our roots. Enjoy and keep the light alive against our continued harassment and suppression.

(date unknown) Cab Calloway - Smokin' Reefers

Larry Adler's 1938 Version is not available online, but it is available on "Viper Mad Blues" compilation

click to enlarge

(1934) Mickey Mouse - "Daily" comic strip

Mickey Mouse is held captive by opium smugglers.

I'm liking the "Blue Drag #2" even better - it's only available on Grooveshark:

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/album/Int+grale+Vol+4+Magic+Strings+CD2/3729410

(1942) Hemp For Victory

Hemp for Victory is a black-and-white United States government film made during World War II, explaining the uses of hemp, encouraging farmers to grow as much as possible.

The film was made to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort because other industrial fibers, often imported from overseas, were in short supply. The film shows a history of hemp and hemp products, how hemp is grown, and how hemp is processed into rope, cloth, cordage, and other products.

As it was made by the US Government, it is public domain and is freely available for download from the Internet Archive.

Before 1989, the film was relatively unknown, and the United States Department of Agriculture library and the Library of Congress told all interested parties that no such movie was made by the USDA or any branch of the U.S. government. Two VHS copies were recovered and donated to the Library of Congress on May 19, 1989 by Maria Farrow, Carl Packard, and Jack Herer.

The only known copy in 1976 was a 3/4" broadcast quality copy of the film that was originally obtained by William Conde in 1976 from a reporter for the Miami Herald and the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church of Jamaica. It was given in trust that it would be made available to as many as possible. It was put into the hands of Jack Herer by William Conde during the 1984 OMI (Oregon Marijuana Initiative). The film 20 years later is now available anywhere through the internet.Source: Wikipedia