Weeds, fear and control this Halloween: Conservatives are reviving zombie myths to hijack the debate

As cannabis legalization spreads across the U.S., a conservative narrative is changing the debate and turning cannabis into a tool for broader political struggles. By linking it to divisive issues like immigration and gender rights, conservatives in every state are diverting attention from the tangible benefits of legalization.

Instead, they promote viral, fear-based storytelling designed to provoke outrage and control. This strategy is no coincidence – it aims to exploit social media’s monetization model, where emotionally charged content spreads quickly and dominates the conversation.

In this environment, cannabis becomes more than a public health or economic issue – it is a symbol in a larger culture war. These viral narratives support policies that disproportionately impact marginalized communities and trap them in cycles of incarceration and poverty.

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Using cannabis as a weapon to take away rights

In an amicus brief to the US Supreme Courtten Republican governors, led by South Carolina Governor Henry McMasterdrew a parallel between the state’s flexibility in legalizing cannabis and their desire for similar autonomy in banning gender-specific care of minors.

The governors argue that just as states have the right to create their own cannabis policies despite federal prohibition, they should also have the power to restrict transgender health practices.

The case, United States v. Skrmettibrought by transgender youth challenging a Tennessee law uses cannabis legalization as an example to support their stance on local government on controversial medical issues.

This selective framing of cannabis policy as a justification for restricting transgender rights highlights how the issue of legalization is being co-opted into a broader conservative agenda. By linking cannabis to highly charged issues, the GOP’s conservative narrative aims to divert the discussion away from the health or economic benefits of cannabis and instead push it onto cultural battlegrounds.

Also Read: DEA’s 50-Year, $1 Trillion Drug War: Why Were There 250,000 Marijuana Arrests in 2022?

Weed, papers and panic: Conservatives in Arkansas link medical cannabis to immigration fears

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, a conservative nonprofit is using similar tactics to oppose proposed medical marijuana reform. The Family Council Action Committee claims the change would make the state a “drug destination” for undocumented immigrants.

Jerry Coxthe group’s executive director, has linked access to medical marijuana to immigration fears and warned that the proposed law could allow “illegal immigrants” to obtain medical cannabis cards despite security measures requiring a valid government ID.

Supporters of the measure, including the group Arkansans for Patient Accesshave condemned these claims as unfounded scaremongering and pointed out that 24 other states allow recreational cannabis without similar consequences.

They argue that the amendment is focused on expanding access for rural and low-income residents and that linking cannabis reform to immigration is a deliberate attempt to inflame public sentiment.

Also Read: FBI Report: Over 200,000 People Arrested for Cannabis-Related Violations in 2023: How Is This Possible?

Locked and Loaded: How conservative scaremongering about cannabis is keeping prisons full and progress stalling

These examples illustrate a broader trend in conservative media: reframing cannabis as a proxy for politically charged debates about immigration and gender rights while hiding the real economic and social consequences.

By drawing attention to issues that provoke fear and moral panic, these narratives perpetuate policies that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. The rhetoric surrounding cannabis in conservative circles is not just about cultural values, it also helps perpetuate a political economy that thrives on mass incarceration and structural poverty.

Criminalization of cannabis has long been a tool to incarcerate Black and Latino communities. Even as some states legalize cannabis, many people remain behind bars for non-violent cannabis offenses and trapped in a system that blocks access to housing, employment and education.

Also Read: It’s Your Constitutional Right: How to Break the Senate’s Blockade on Cannabis Legalization

Caught in the cycle: How conservative narratives perpetuate inequality

These conservative narratives help perpetuate this cycle by distracting from the root problems—poverty, systemic racism, and overpolicing—that keep people incarcerated and economically marginalized.

Conservative media capitalizes on this framing by generating content that fits well into algorithms and creating fear-based stories that spread quickly and captivate their audiences.

Meanwhile, the policies they support ensure that an incarceration-based justice system continues to thrive and maintain the structural inequalities that keep poor and minority communities in prison and deprived of economic opportunity.

Similar to that NRA While the U.S. government has rebranded the AR-15 as a “modern sporting rifle” and emphasized its use in hunting and sports to soften its image, cannabis is similarly being drawn into a signifier-signified game. Despite this innocuous renaming, AR-15s have been at the center of many tragic mass shootings.

Beyond academic theory – this is how communication in the media works today. By linking cannabis to current issues, conservative voices aim to delay legalization by making it part of a larger culture war, ultimately slowing progress while profiting from the viralization of these debates.

Read more: Medical marijuana dispensaries near preschools in Arizona? Court of Appeal says yes