Legal acceptance of adult use marijuana is moving from state to state, with nine states now having laws allowing for the recreational use of marijuana for adults. Along with this are indisputable cultural changes, and a recent study has shown this is reflected in popular music.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, looked at the Billboard Top 40 charts from 1986 and 2016 and screened for mentions of drugs or alcohol.

Kyle Jaeger, an author for Marijuana Moment, summarized the work, "During the time period under review, references for all categories except tobacco increased. The first mentions of cannabis appeared in 1989, for example, with fewer than five references in that year’s top 40 chart, as ranked by Billboard. But by 2016, there were more than 30 marijuana references, more than for any other substance tracked in study."

I have long felt that popular music reflects the trends and politics of the era and this includes the use of drugs. I taught the inaugural course "Substance Addiction and Older Adults" at Quincy College, and as part of the experience students listened to music from the decades under discussion. We began with the 1930s and early ‘40s, as adults who came of age in that generation are still active and alive.

While the study identified the year of 1989 as the year a song related to marijuana first became popular, I referenced in the course an early recording of Cab Callaway in 1938 singing "Reefer Man" in a hit movie. The discussion on marijuana also included the controversial opinion that the hit song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was referring to marijuana use.

Throughout the years, there have been numerous songs referencing marijuana, many during the hippie era of the ‘60s and ‘70s. This included the "Everyone Must Get Stoned" chant and the song, "One Toke Over the Line." A move to control the use of drug terms in music had this song banned. (Toke) And moving into newer generations, there is my favorite, "I Will Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again," by Toby Keith. (Keith)

A drug that was commonly used for recreational purposes in the 1940s was Benzedrine. The popular music of the time reflected this, and an example is the work of Henry “Hipster” Gibson and his music, "Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?" from 1944.

Other drugs’ popularity wax and wane, and then come back again. Such a drug is cocaine. Several eras and their music reflect this.

The re-emergence of such music occurred in the era when amphetamines, including easy access to Benzedrine, were banned. Eric Clapton's 1977 recording of songwriter J.J. Cale's "Cocaine" had entire groups shouting out about the drug.

That baby boomer generation was not the first group to sing the praises and woes of cocaine. The drug was a popular topic for blues singers in the 1920s and 1930s.

A drug that may not be as familiar to many, as it is not readily obtained in all parts of the country, is psilocybin, which is found in a specific variety of mushrooms.

Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick sang about the magic mushrooms in "White Rabbit," from 1977. This song also references numerous other drugs of the era. We may see more songs about the mushrooms as there is a push to have psilocybin recognized as a legitimate medical treatment in Oregon and other states.

As products and drugs become part of the culture of each era, music reflects this. This was the lesson I gave my class.

Another was that the strategy to ban music having any references or hidden meanings related to drugs in the 1970s did not work then and clearly would be less effective now. And some songs have hidden lessons … Go ask Alice and those related to Willie and weed.