Question: Jazz musicians in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century —

Explanation: In the readings, jazz musicians in the early twentieth-century United States were closely associated with marijuana use, which was framed as a tool for creativity, improvisation, and altered musical perception. This association later became racialized and criminalized, as cannabis was linked to Black musicians and portrayed as a threat to social order. The cultural practice of jazz thus played a key role in shaping early American anti-cannabis discourse. (Reading: Breen; Boon). Quote: “Marijuana was widely associated with jazz musicians and understood as enhancing musical creativity and improvisation.” (Breen, The Age of Intoxication).