A "Jewel Robbery" with a Marijuana Twist

Kay Francis is offered a marijuana cigarette by William Powell in "Jewel Robbery"

In the pre-Hayes Code film "Jewel Robbery" (1932), William Powell ("The Thin Man") plays a suave jewel thief who romances a bored, jewel-grubbing Baroness played by Kay Francis. "In my own eyes, I'm shallow and weak," says Francis. "I fly about all day, pursuing furs, jewels, excitement....In the morning, a cocktail, in the afternoon, a man, in the evening, Veronal [a barbiturate]."  

After invading a jewelry store where Francis and her elderly husband are picking out a large diamond ring, Powell congenially holds everyone hostage and robs the store's inventory. He then takes the unusual step of offering the shop's owner a marijuana cigarette, saying, "Do smoke one of my cigarettes. Now, inhale deeply...." 

Despite having just been robbed, the man begins giggling so vociferously that Francis asks Powell, "What did you give him?" Powell replies, "A pleasant, harmless smoke. He'll awake in the morning fresh and happy, with a marvelous appetite."  

He then offers her a cigarette, saying, "They're harmless, really. Two puffs, and you'll be hearing soft music. The world will begin to revolve pleasantly. Three, a beautiful dream." She asks, "How do you know this?" and he replies, "Experience. I assure you, all the ladies fall asleep happily." "So that you steal their jewels in peace, I suppose," she replies. Refusing to smoke, she says, "I prefer to keep my wits about me, thank you" (which, considering her circumstances, was rather wise). 

Powell then hornswoggles a security guard into carrying his loot out to the getaway car, and gives him as a tip his box of marijuana cigarettes. The guard fully enjoys smoking one of the joints, inhaling deeply. When he is questioned by the police, he offers the chief one of his stash and the two are soon yukking it up fully. Francis of course falls for Powell, but never gets a chance to try another of his cigarettes. 

Two years later, Gertrude Michael sang "Sweet Marijuana" in the 1934  film "Murder at the Vanities," apparently released just before the Motion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code) went into effect. 

Following a series of Hollywood scandals involving drugs in the 1920s, legislators in 37 states introduced almost 100 film censorship bills in 1921. The studios chose to self-regulate, hiring Presbyterian postmaster Will H. Hays, a former head of the RNC, to head the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. Hays reviewed scripts and in 1924 he introduced a set of recommendations that forbade depictions of drug trafficking and urged caution in depicting drug use, among other proscriptions like not ridiculing clergy. These evolved into the Production Code, with input from a Catholic editor and a Jesuit priest. 

The Hays Code forbade the use of graphic violence, profanity, obscenity, promiscuity, miscegenation,  homosexuality, criminality, and substance use. It disallowed any sort of ridicule for a law or "creating sympathy for its violation." A recurring theme was "that throughout, the audience feels sure that evil is wrong, and good is right." The code was replaced in 1968 by the motion-picture rating system still in use today.

In 2009, the movie "It's Complicated," in which Meryl Streep and Steve Martin smoke pot, was slapped with an "R" rating from the MPAA, said to be due to a lack of "a negative consequence for their behavior."