In the ’90s, weed became cool again. And so did the movies.
As the 1980s gave way to the final decade of the 20th century, a generation that came of age under the thumb of Nixon’s war on drugs and the Just Say No era of the Reagans became activists and advocates for cannabis. They also started making dope movies — creating a new pop culture canon and expanding the language of cinema, making major contributions to the rise of weed in mainstream American culture.