Marijuana in Classic Cartoons

Weed has been featured on TV for several years now. From old movies to new ones today to documentaries, marijuana has been portrayed both positively and negatively. So, it should not come as a surprise that it was a part of some cartoons back in the day.

Whether you are a weed enthusiast or you just want to kick back and relax, here are some classic cartoons that present to you some stoner characters or anything related to cannabis:

Popeye

Who would have thought that this classic, all-time favorite cartoon is actually depicting weed? While Popeye is known for eating spinach to get stronger and bulkier to rescue Olive Oyl from Bluto (who was later renamed as Brutus), it was not an entirely innocent cartoon. Popeye was created during the 20s and 30s in which “spinach” was a code for “marijuana.”

Additionally, there was anti-marijuana propaganda at that time that claimed pot could induce super strength. With the main character’s mighty power because of eating some spinach, it would have easily shown the connection with cannabis. Further, as Popeye is a sailorman, he was expected to be quite knowledgeable about exotic herbs, which included weed at that time.

There were also explicit references to marijuana in Popeye, such as the 1934 plotline about a gold mine that Vanripple owned. The mine manager was feeding some berries from a bush, which had its roots soaked in the drug. Even more evident was in the 60s when Popeye would suck the “spinach” through his pipe.

Fritz the Cat

Back in 1972, this animated comedy film was quite controversial, not only because it was X-rated but also due to the drug use in the adult cartoon. One of the scenes were there was marijuana involved the police – who were represented by pigs – raided the apartment of Fritz’ friend. Fritz was in a bathtub full of girls when he was pushed to the side. He took solace in weed and became very stoned afterward.

Flip the Frog: Chinaman’s Chance

Here is a really old cartoon called Flip the Frog, which aired from 1930 to 1933. The MGM cartoon series dealt with marijuana references back in its final year. The main character, Flip, tracked a criminal who was hiding in Chinatown. There was a scene there where he walked into an opium den, and he saw a smoke pipe laced with marijuana. He smelled it and started smoking it up.

Flip ended up very stoned and began to dance around. Note that this guy was a police officer, but when he caught up with the crook, he was too high to make an arrest. Instead, he jumped into the arms of the criminal because he thought he was a sexy Asian girl.

Some classic cartoons did not directly show or talk about marijuana, but there would be some hints of use. Examples are Scooby-Doo (Scooby Snacks, along with hallucinations and ghosts). However, let us not forget the long-running animated series The Simpsons, which had some great stoner moments, including Ned Flanders whose mom and dad are stoner hippies.