The new faces of pot users: moviegoers, Bingo moms and super PACs
Who’s inhaling these days? Not ne’er-do-wells in dark alleys. More like moms, super PACs and movie-goers. From CNN on March 25, a growing movement of “Cannamoms” who gather in Bingo parlors across St. Louis, Missouri, insisting the occasional microdose of marijuana makes them better parents:
Missouri is one of 24 states, along with Washington, D.C., that have legalized recreational marijuana. Kesterson and Jessica Carroll, a mother of two, started STL Cannamoms in 2022. Their Facebook group now has more than 4,000 members.
Over in NYC, Variety Magazine on March 27 described plans for the Big Apple’s movie theaters to get the necessary permits to allow pot use for its patrons. And, from CNN on April 1: the political superPAC “Legalize America” just spent “more than $1 million” for two, 30-second commercials to push the White House to decriminalize marijuana.
The March 2024 Socionomist cover story “Don’t Fear the Reefer: Why More States are Just Saying ‘Yes!’ to Legalizing Pot” gets the bottom of what’s behind the epic shift in attitudes toward pot and other drugs:
What’s everybody been smoking?
Socionomics understands the growing pro-cannabis movement to be — well — our collective human brain on the drug of waning positive mood.
Over the past 100 years, governmental activities have manifested these changing attitudes. During periods of rising mood, policymakers stepped up regulation of cannabis. During periods of falling mood, they eased those same stances.
History is long, but the catalyst behind why these historic cultural shifts repeat is short: social mood. The new April 2025 Socionomist establishes a profound connection between waning positive mood and the rise in vigilante folk heroes, like Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
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