I read in The New York Times (“”Weed Drinks Are a Buzzy Alcohol Substitute. But Are They Safe? See footnote) that Pabst, known for its Blue Ribbon beer, now sells lemon-flavored “High Seltzer,” a canned cannabis drink promising “a different kind of buzz.” I knew that Pabst Blue Ribbon had been known as the most bland and tasteless beer favored by the “Joe Six Pack” crowd.
There are some beers whose reputation is so bad that even Joe Six Pack types who only drink “The Big Three” will mock them – the most famous being Pabst Blue Ribbon. So I decided to sit down and give it a fair shake to see what all the hubbub is about. I was pleasantly surprised at just how offensive this beer was not, but truth be told it’s far from a good beer. Reference
I didn’t know until reading some of the comments that in the early 2000’s it also became a hipster beer.
You can see by looking back at the ads in addition to the 1948 one I used (here) that Pabst Blue Ribbon’s target consumer once was decidedly upscale.
It occurred to me that this is probably a group dominated by Trumpers and I wondered whether there might a theme for a Sunday diary. I was curious about how many members of the Trump cult also used cannabis. I decided to do some research and here’s some of what I found.
There’s no doubt that the SCOTUS anti-abortion is likely to bring out voters and this is getting substantial media coverage. The major media isn’t addressing marijuana legalization much that I have noticed these days but it was in the news last year: “Republican lawmakers aren't with the public on marijuana” (July 17, 2021, CNN)
Senate Democrats are making one of the largest pushes to date for decriminalizing marijuana on the federal level. The bill is likely to fail because of Republican opposition.
And while the Democrats' proposed legislation has a number of different components, objections to decriminalizing (let alone legalizing) marijuana fly in the face of public opinion of Americans overall and many Republicans.
Gone, but entirely not forgotten, is Jeff Sessions. His adamant anti-marijuana stance was very public when he was Trump’s attorney general between February 9, 2017 and November 7, 2018. This is from Wikipedia:
In a May 2017 letter, Sessions personally asked congressional leaders to repeal the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment so that the Justice Department could prosecute providers of medical marijuana.[186] The Rohrabacher–Farr amendment is a 2014 measure that bars the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana".[186] Sessions wrote in the letter that "I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime."[186] John Hudak of the Brookings Institution criticized the letter, stating that it was a "scare tactic" that "should make everyone openly question whether candidate Trump's rhetoric and the White House's words on his support for medical marijuana was actually a lie to the American public on an issue that garners broad, bipartisan support."[186]
On January 4, 2018, Sessions rescinded the Cole Memorandum, which had prevented federal prosecutors from bringing charges against state legalized marijuana use.
Below are some of the articles about how the Trump administration position on pot effected many of his supporters.
“Some Trump supporters who also like weed feel torn allegiance” from The Cannabist, Jan. 11, 2018.
PORTLAND, Maine — The Trump administration’s anti-marijuana move has some members of the president’s voting base fuming.
Fans of President Donald Trump who use marijuana say Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to tighten federal oversight of the drug is the first time they’ve felt let down by the man they helped elect. The move feels especially punitive to Trump voters who work in the growing industry around legalized marijuana that has taken root in states of all political stripes.
“Trump’s Anti-Pot Policies Irk His Supporters” from High Times, Jan. 12, 2018.
While President Trump was on the campaign trail, he told supporters that he was in favor of medical marijuana. He also said that anything pertaining to the legalization of cannabis was something that should be left up to the individual states. But then, in true Trump fashion, as we would soon learn throughout the unnerving course of 2017, we witnessed the appointment of Mister “Good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Jeff Sessions, who took the reins as leading law enforcement hammer at the U.S Department of Justice. It was the first indication of Trump’s anti-pot policies. And it confused some of Trump’s more loyal supporters in the beginning. They simply could not understand why the president would want to work with a man who has made it his mission to ensure marijuana remains an outlaw substance.
“Some Trump supporters unhappy with DOJ's anti-pot stance,” CBS News, Jan. 11, 2018.
The Trump administration's anti-marijuana move has some members of the president's voting base fuming.
Fans of President Donald Trump who use marijuana say Attorney General Jeff Sessions' move to tighten federal oversight of the drug is the first time they've felt let down by the man they helped elect. The move feels especially punitive to Trump voters who work in the growing industry around legalized marijuana that has taken root in states of all political stripes.
It remains to be seen whether Trump's pot-loving voters will take their anger to the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. But pro-legalization conservatives are also chiding the administration's anti-pot move as an affront to personal liberties and states' rights.
Jumping forward from 2018 to August, 2020: “Trump Voices Concern That Putting Marijuana On The Ballot Makes Republicans Lose” from a small business website.
President Trump on Monday urged Republicans not to place marijuana legalization initiatives on state ballots out of concern that it will increase Democratic turnout in elections.
The president, who has rarely weighed in on cannabis policy without being prompted, said in extemporaneous remarks at a campaign event that he blames marijuana legalization efforts on former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) defeat in the 2018 election.
Legalization was not on the statewide ballot in Wisconsin in 2018—though there were several local, non-binding measures on reform proposals that passed that year.
“The next time you run please don’t put marijuana on the ballot at the same time you’re running,” Trump said, directing his advice to Walker, who was in the crowd. “You brought out like a million people that nobody ever knew were coming out.”
Roe is an issue that will bring out a significant number of voters and could swing close elections to Democratic candidates especially where choice is on the ballot. However what isn’t being extensively covered in the general national media is that cannabis legalization is also on the ballot is a number of states (read article in Leafly):
As an issue for Democrats to focus a part of their message on compared to Roe being overturned pot legalization is small potatoes, but it doesn’t mean it should be ignored especially where it is on the ballot. I think it would be helpful for Democratic Party candidates when relevant to highlight their GOP opponent’s anti-abortion position. If they have voted against pot legalization this should be brought out too.
Footnote:
Conclusion of NY Times article: Because weed drinks are so new, they are “an incredibly understudied class of cannabis products,” Dr. MacKillop said.
There aren’t yet robust studies on how drinkable cannabis products affect the body long term, Dr. Vandrey added, and it’s unclear how the health effects — positive or negative — of marijuana translate into a drinkable beverage.
“The cannabis industry has evolved much faster than the data,” he said. “This is just another great example of that.”
Correction — The original diary said the company was owned by Molson Coors. It is not, It was once brewed by Coors. Here’s the information on its c current ownership and its history from Wikipedia.
UPDATE: Sunday, Aug 21, 2022 · 5:08:27 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Heres a diary which I wrote with the intention that be be totally political but figured a fair number of people would read it because of my click-baity title and illustration about beer and pot. It was supposed to be about states where pot legalization was on the ballot in 2022 and whether this would help Democrats running against anti-legalization Republicans.
I noted that a lot had been written about Roe. We know that state ballot measures making sure abortion was legal and easy to access have a good chance of helping Democrats in 2022.
There are over 200 comments but almost all of those I read had to to with either beer or pot, mostly debates about beer.
