REEFER
MADNESS
Photography by Ian Lewandowski
These photographs by Ian Lewandowski were created at Natural Pursuits’ first-ever 4/20 event.
There’s a film at the end of this feature. Don’t miss it.
Don’t make a to-do list when the first activity is getting very high
There were several shoots planned for the afternoon. None of them happened.
Instead, we sat in a circle in the living room for most of the afternoon, laughing, getting to know each other, and listening to music. New songs and albums by pop girlies new and old got airtime. Someone brought a weed-themed card game, which you’ll see in people’s hands.
Because Lewandowski shot the day with multiple cameras from multiple time periods, the photos have different qualities that kind of mirror how it feels to be high. More of his work from this afternoon, including what was shot on that camcorder will be in a future post.
If you want to see the candid photos from that day, click here to check them out here.
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The Original Reefer Madness
The 1936 film, Reefer Madness, was originally produced by a church group as a morality tale for parents, under the title Tell Your Children. Exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper later purchased it, recut it, and retitled it Reefer Madness for wider distribution.
The film helped shift marijuana from a relatively obscure drug associated with Mexican and Black communities into a perceived existential threat to white suburban youth. The year after its release, the federal government enacted the first-ever tax on marijuana, the first of many subsequent laws cracking down on the drug and anyone associated with it.
During the 1970s, Reefer Madness experienced a resurgence through the counterculture movement, rebranded as a comedy that effectively mocked the original film’s outdated moral panic. It became a cult classic precisely because it was so wrong about everything.
Naming this piece after it felt right. We were naked, high, and having a genuinely lovely afternoon. The madness, it turns out, was always the propaganda.
About the Artist
Photograph by Phillip Miner taken at the 4/20 shoot
Website: ianlewandowski.com
Contact
Instagram: @ilewando
Contact: ianrobertlewandowski@gmail.com
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