OLTL: Marijuana

[DavidEvanSmith]

I was watching Nora uncovering the joint in Matthew's bag during yesterday's episode, and the ominous music that was playing over the scene made me LMAO... because in this day and age, I didn't feel like weed was such a threatening drug anymore.

In these days of medical marijuana and the debate over legalizing it, how do you guys feel about weed and do you think THAT'S the drug to build a teen drug story around on soaps?

I would prefer the story to center on ANY other kind of drug, and maybe it will snowball into a story about Cocaine or Heroin, or Ecstasy, but I don't think marijuana packs the punch that it used to, or that these other drugs would. The last time I remember marijuana on soaps, was when General Hospital used it as comedy for Alexis while she was battling cancer.

Am I just desensitized, or do you guys feel the same way?

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

I think it works. I have seen in my day, plenty of moms who come rushing into the hospital holding their kid by the ear wanting to have them tested because they have been smoking reefer. High school kids, especially. Cocaine for Matthew? or The X, that would have been laughable to me.

[marceline]

Maybe they'll bring back Snoop Dogg and have Matthew become part of his entourage. We know Snoop and Bo have...history.

[tina m]

I guess it's an issue, especially for such a good kid like Matthew. I've seen every kid in high school (expect me!) try that and any other type of drug. So, in the real world it's nothing new, but for OLTL, it can turn into a pretty big storyline.

[All My Shadows]

The commercials were ridiculous. I said this in the weekly thread, but I'll say it again. The whole thing's coming off like some 50s short "documentary" about the disastrous results of marijuana use. The scenes yesterday were so awkward, too. But eh, I'll give it time to see where it goes. I really, really don't see it being anything but laughable, though.

[JackPeyton]

Reefer Madness anyone?

and not the awesome musical comedy from a few years ago...

[marceline]

ITA. Soaps seem to have a problem accurately portraying drug stories. Remember when Cole was on steroids? He took a couple of pills and two minutes later he was "raging" and throwing chairs. It was pathetic. I predict Matthew will take one (off-screen) puff and jump naked through a plate glass window.

[brimike]

LOOOVED that one, JP! Freakin' hysterical - and I hate musicals, but anything that somehow finds a way to include a zombie dance number is a-okay with me. And Steven Weber and Ana Gasteyer are awesome in it!

I can't remember the last time I saw an accurate portrayal of drug addiction on a soap. I think the last true-to-life alcoholism story I saw was Felicia's on AW. As for drugs? Definitely not Jen on ATWT. Maybe Mark on AMC? God, that's scary...

[All My Shadows]

Basically.

It's the 90210 approach. One episode has the person being confronted with the drug, but they turn it down. But by the end, something horrible has happened to them, and so they reconsider. Next episode, everyone's commenting on how weird that person has been acting, and we see that they're a fricken junkie who doesn't want help. The next episode, they embarrass and/or hurt themselves and finally start to listen to their friends. And then the next episode, we see them leaving rehab, a completely changed person.

That's a little exaggeration, mind you, but that's what it all boils down to.

[marceline]

No that's not an exaggeration. Sadly it's very accurate.

Does it get any better than "Listen to Jesus, Jimmy"? I think not.

I thought Haley's alcoholism on AMC was fairly well done. They showed that it was always a struggle for her.

[MichaelGL]

Perhaps it's starting with marjuana now, but I kind of understand Nora's concern. I mean didn't she have to deal with her daughter Rachel being addicted to drugs also?

[Bright Eyes]

Marijuana isn't really a big deal at all, IMO. However, when it comes to parents finding it on their kid I have no problem with Bo and Nora worrying and such. When my parents found it on my sister and brother my mother flipped her lid, though my dad was calm about it. But if the show is going an addiction route with Cole or Matthew it NEEDS to be more that just weed, since it's barely even a drug in my mind. It's a goddamn plant for Christ sakes and is less harmful than alcohol is. Close to everyone in high school uses it, it IS the norm now. Hell there's even a lot of people now that just smoke weed and barely ever drink.

[All My Shadows]

What high school are you talking about? Because I don't think it's as widespread as to say that close to everyone does it. I'm not saying that people don't do it because they think it's bad, though. Nine out of ten, people aren't doing it because it's illegal for all ages, and not just high school kids. If Mary J was legal at 21 or something, then yeah, it'd definitely be as used as alcohol and cigarettes and stuff.

[brimike]

And it's a damn shame.

With Kyle from Generations playing Jesus? It definitely does NOT get any better than that!

I forgot about Haley. Alcoholism will always be "easier" to portray accurately in daytime because it's an "easier" addiction to portray visually on daytime television. Standards and practices have stepped in in recent years, and there's only so far you can go with drug addiction storylines, visually speaking. Frankly, somebody at the lowest of the low points of cocaine dependency is not the look of most people on a soap. And whenever soaps try, they end up failing miserably, or... like everyone else has said, it's like a PSA.

I always wondered why drug dealers were portrayed as these sleazy, addicted, skinny guys hanging out in shadows. Most of the dealers I came in contact with in my youth were non-users, bright, intelligent, witty, and act like they're everybody's best friend. Gets them more customers that way, everybody wants to hang around them, and it doesn't seem like doing drugs is such a bad thing after all. It cracks me up when some leviathan slithers out of an alley on a soap, unkempt and unshaven and like he hasn't slept in a bed in days, and the soap character's all "Yeah, I'll buy some off of you". Seriously?!

What's so insidious about drug addiction is that it happens under the most enjoyable and fun-loving circumstances, not out of dark alleys. The few friends I have who are drug addicts didn't become addicts because they were hanging out with the "wrong" kind of people, or because they gave in to "peer pressure".

What I wouldn't give to see drug addiction portrayed realistically, and how it can go from "life-of-the-party" to "holed-up-in-your-house-without-sleeping-for-two-days", and the damage done by all the lies along the way. Daytime is a genre that can easily do it, as we see these characters five days a week. Much better than primetime, which, sadly, has to do it in the 90210 way, since it only airs for 22 hours a year.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I thought Alan's pain killer addiction on GH in 1998 was the last great addiction story I've seen on a soap, and thankfully, Stuart Damon won an Emmy for it. I also liked Katherine's relapse on Y&R a few years back.