This morning NORML’s Executive Director Allen St. Pierre and I were talking by telephone. He was telling me he would be on FOX “News” to debate Melissa Henson from the Parents Television Council. It seems the PTC is upset at what they see lately as an increase in the literally inconsequential (as in “without consequences”) depictions of marijuana smoking on prime time television.
Since I follow more prime time programming than our overworked director, he was asking me for my observations on the subject. So I told him about the premiere episode of the new series on NBC from executive producer Ron Howard, “Parenthood”.
The parents smoke the daughter's weed in "Parenthood"
In the episode, Peter Krause (nice to see the guy from Six Feet Under get a new gig) has a teenage daughter who is caught stashing an eighth of weed outside of the house. Krause confronts her, she lies, but in a later scene confesses that the marijuana was hers. A fairly typical marijuana scene in a family drama. It’s not the First Lady showing up to tell her to “Just Say No”; it’s just a small bit of a larger storyline.
What caught my attention was later at the end of the episode where Krause and his adult brother and sister and their spouses are talking outside the school’s auditorium. The brother, the single and reckless one, snatches the baggie of weed from Krause as he explains his daughter’s lie. Next thing you know, he’s twisting up a doobie and the adults are passing it around. On the school grounds. And laughing. And nothing bad happens… scene end.
So hearing that Allen would be debating the PTC, I rushed to their site to look up what would certainly be their condemnation of this new, supposedly family friendly drama.
I found nothing. Even their viewing guide for tomorrow’s shows, which has rated everything on CBS and CW that evening as including “gratuitous sex, explicit dialogue, violent content, or obscene language, [that] is unsuitable for children”, and even condemned tomorrow’s American Idol as containing “adult-oriented themes and dialogue that may be inappropriate for youngsters”, has nothing to say about the new Parenthood show. Perhaps it is just too soon for a condemnation of such a new show.
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When it comes down to it they cannot complain and blame other people for what is on television. It is their own personal responsibility to take care of their children and either let or dont let them watch whats on television not ours. Its just another BS excuse for them to attempt to keep control of the public and regulate everybody to see what they view as right.
lol true enough, everytime I watch that show I am truely appalled at how blatant and obvious the abuse is, I guess since they are usually poor & minority no one cares….. so appalling
They already have that show – it’s called COPS.
You know maybe they are right. I think at the end of that Parenthood episode, as they were toking it up, laughing, and solving the problems of the episode, just when the whole story line was wrapped up with a nice bow…..
…the police bust into their house, kick them in the face, shoot their dogs, put them in handcuffs, aggressively illicit information while tearing their house apart, taking anything they think is cool, social services comes in and takes the kids away, and the show ends as he is bloodied, battered, and crying alone in a jail cell. Maybe then we will understand the negative aspects of smoking pot.
I think you need to make a movie I believe what I do right now because of
and my own research Those given much credit for our constitution were some of those stupid stoners Probable what put all those stupid thoughts like freedom in their 
minds I believe hemp is the big part of the answer to what I know from the news Hemp cannibis laws are the foundation of control of the economy and treason against the republic Probably the only ones capable of bringing about an end to the lie and bring back constitutional freedom (Ya ) stupid potheads Does no harm easies suffering Isn’t that enough Proud to be with you 
Now that this story is written, they will surely be condeming the program.