The Surprising Role of Marijuana in “Breaking Bad”
Breaking Bad is a television show about an everyday chemistry teacher named Walter White who, “breaks bad”, so to speak. Walter is a man who is going through, what I consider, the comfort zone of society. He has an average job, an average home, and an average family. In a lot of ways Walter is a push over. But when he finds out he’s got terminal lung cancer, everything changes. Given only a short time to live Walter wants to leave his family with money for when he’s gone, and the opportunity to cook meth presents itself as a very profitable way to accomplish this. In the show there seems to be two separate worlds, the world of normal everyday society, and the world of criminals and drugs. The border between these worlds is traditionally seen as concrete, a person can only exist in one or the other. Walter, however, seems to be the one character able to bridge the gap. He can exist in both worlds. At the end of the day this series is trying to show that these worlds aren’t so different after all, and the main way they do this is through the presentation of marijuana. The attitude of ignorance that the public has towards illegal drugs in our society, is highlighted by the presentation of marijuana in Breaking Bad.
The first time Marijuana comes into play is in Season 1, Episode 2. Walter is at his partner Jesse’s house, and he is in a very stressful situation. He then finds Jesse’s stash of pot and decides to smoke some to help him relax a bit.
In the next scene he is at an ultra-sound with his wife, Skylar. Skylar has been growing suspicious because Walter seems to be hiding something. She asks him, “Who is this Jesse Pinkman to you?” Walter has to come up with an answer on the spot and responds, “He sells me pot.” (The Cat’s in The Bag). Skylar becomes furious, and an argument ensues. But this was simply a diversion. He knew that Skylar learned about his connection with Jesse Pinkman, who is obviously some sort of drug user, so he took the path of least resistance. Having his wife think that he was smoking pot is a much better scenario than her finding out that he’s been cooking crystal meth. Skylar was so aghast by the fact that he was using pot, she didn’t suspect him of lying in the least bit. Walter played on Skylar’s ignorance in order to end her suspicions.
Marijuana comes up again in Episode 4 of Season 1, when Jesse moves back in with his parents. They are very nervous, because they don’t want him to negatively influence their younger son, who is an upstanding student. One of the scenes in this episode opens with Jesse and his parents sitting around a table. In the middle of the table is a joint. Jesse’s father asks, “Got anything to say? What do you know about this?” (Cancer Man). Jesse denies knowledge and his mother gives him this long speech about how he’s abused their trust, “How many chances have we given you…where you looked us in the eye and you plead ignorance and you play on our emotions… it makes us feel like fools every time” (Cancer Man). The truth is, they are complete fools. We find out later in this scene that the joint actually belonged to Jesse’s younger brother. They are blind to the fact that their own, angelic son, is a pot user. The fact of the matter is that for kids in today’s society, drugs are extremely accessible. By turning a blind eye to the world of drugs, parents are completely clueless of how easy it is for their own children to obtain these substances.
In Episode 6 Walt begins to experience nausea due to his chemotherapy. He frequently has to run to the bathroom during class to vomit. We are introduced to the character Hugo. He’s a friendly Native American man that works as the school’s janitor, and is always willing to clean up after Walter. Basically the point of this is that we, the viewers, begin to like this character and are thus sympathetic when he is arrested later in the episode. Hank, Walter’s brother in law who is a DEA agent, learns that meth has been cooked using chemistry equipment stolen from Walter’s high school. In a later scene Walter, Hank, and the rest of the family are all playing cards together. Walt’s son, Jr, asks “Hey uncle Hank why were you arresting Mr. Archilleta the other day, he’s a pretty cool guy” (Crazy Handful of Nothin). Hank says they suspected him of stealing the chemistry gear and they found a blunt when they searched his car. Skylar then says, “You know I can’t believe the school system didn’t know about this guy’s record, I mean that’s pretty scary” (Crazy Handful of Nothin). Hank said that he had a record because of a couple possession charges. So Hugo got caught with pot a couple times, what’s scary about that? If anything the fact that he smoked pot should make him seem less dangerous, but Skylar doesn’t see it this way. From her perspective the fact that he’s got a criminal record makes him dangerous. This is the way our society views people with criminal records, they are automatically dismissed as violent. No one ever cares about the nature of the crime that someone was accused of. Hank then goes on to say, “We got a search warrant and we tore ol Hugo’s house apart. Turns out he’s a major league pothead. But he didn’t raid your chemistry set” (Crazy Handful of Nothin). Look at the language here, they “tore” his house apart. So they completely destroyed his house on a hunch that proved false, just because he had pot? That doesn’t seem right to me. Walter then asks, “What’s gonna happen to him? ” Hank says, “Oh, well he’s going to lose his job, like he should. Probably spend a couple months in county” (Crazy Handful of Nothin). Hank says this very nonchalantly and quickly changes the subject back to the card game. From Walt’s perspective, someone who knew Hugo, he is genuinely concerned about his fate. But from Hank’s perspective he’s just another criminal off the streets. Hugo was suspected of cooking meth because he was found with pot. These two substances have absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that they are illegal, and because of this Hugo’s entire life was destroyed.
The final, and most significant time, that pot comes up in season 1, is during episode 7. Walter and Hank are sitting outside drinking whiskey. Hank breaks out a pack of cuban cigars and they both smoke one. Walt says, “Now I was under the impression that these were illegal” Hank replies, “Yeah well sometimes forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest” Walt then says, “It’s funny isn’t it. How we draw that line… what’s legal what’s illegal” (A no Rough Stuff Type Deal). This is the essence of my argument right here, Walt says it plain and simple. What’s the difference between a cuban cigar and the blunt that Hank found in Hugo’s truck. They’re both illegal, and yet one is a guilty pleasure while the latter lost a man his job and put him in jail. Walt goes on to say, “Who knows what will be legal next year” Hank responds: “you mean like pot,” Walt says: “Yeah like pot or whatever” Hank: “Cocaine? Heroine?” Walt: “I’m just saying it’s arbitrary” (A no Rough Stuff Type Deal). It is arbitrary! There are plenty of alcohol related deaths, but no one has ever died from marijuana. Marijuana has plenty of medical uses, while cigarettes kill tons of people every year. Hank seems to be able to see the difference between cuban cigars and pot, but not between pot and heroine. Many states today have legalized pot, does that mean that the legalization of cocaine is going to follow? Of course not, Marijuana and Cocaine are not even on the same scale, and yet, the DEA considers both to be schedule one substances. Walter has a different perspective in this area because he has now seen both worlds. Walter from episode one might have the same opinion as Hank, but now that he has seen the truth, he’s come to the conclusion that what is legal and what is illegal is not based on logic.
The attitude of ignorance that the public has towards illegal drugs in our society, is highlighted by the presentation of marijuana in Breaking Bad. Many people with Cancer use pot as a treatment. Those who have actually smoked pot know that it’s really not that big of a deal. But, if you are caught smoking it in a state where it is illegal, the repercussions can alter the course of your entire life. To someone like Jesse, or Walter, who deal with extreme drugs like crystal meth, marijuana is nothing. It’s kiddy stuff, just something to take the edge off. But for Skylar, or Jesse’s parents, they look at marijuana on the same scale as anything else. How is it that potentially dangerous substances are legal while substances with potential medical benefits are illegal? The reason is that our system is flawed, it’s broken and the culprit is ignorance. Our society says “this is good” and “this is bad,” and people just blindly go along with it. Oxycontin is one of the most addictive substances out there and you can legally get it from any doctor. Meth is illegal but it’s made with cold medicine, which is legal. So what’s the difference? where is that concrete line that divides good and bad? The truth: there is no line. There seems to be two separate worlds that coexist, but there’s not. There’s just one world where imaginary lines are drawn. People use terms like “them vs us” or “good vs bad” or “criminal vs citizen”. Things are not that black and white. Drug dealers and drug users are not just clear cut criminals like society tells us. They are our neighbors, our sons, our fathers, they hide in plain sight. They exist right under our noses. The world of drugs is often kept in the dark, and I think this show is trying to bring it to light.
Source: Breaking Bad: Season One, directed by Vince Gilligan, AMC Networks, 2008.
