[1] The midnight movie scene in theaters of the 1970s revived the hectoring anti-drug propaganda film Reefer Madness (1936) as an ironic counterculture comedy.
The broad popularity of Reefer Madness led to a new audience for extreme anti-drug films bordering on self-parody, including Assassin of Youth (1937), Marihuana (1936), and She Shoulda Said No!
High Times magazine, founded in 1974, began sponsoring the first Stony Awards in 2000, celebrating stoner films and television, recognizing a broad scope of noteworthy cannabis media.
[2] Stoner films often involve evading authority figures who disapprove of the protagonists' marijuana usage, usually out of a greater lack of acceptance of their lifestyle of leisure and innocence.
Authority figures are often law-enforcement agents, who are portrayed as comically inept, as well as parents, co-workers, friends, and security guards.