J.E. Productions has rolled up a doobie - I mean a doozie - of a show with, Reefer Madness, a musical comedy based on the 1936 propaganda flick of the same name.

Set in the care free, all-American days of temperance, the story follows teen sweethearts Jimmy (Lindsay Robinson) and Mary (Ally Caldicott-Levitt) through their short but deadly slide into the cesspool of vice and violence, all brought on by a first, innocent toke of the green monster.

As musical director, Freedom Toast member Trevor Davies had the daunting task of bringing Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney's unorthodox soundtrack to life.

Indeed, with a sparsely decorated stage, it's almost exclusively music that sets Jimmy and Mary's Norman Rockwell lifestyle apart from the depravity of the inner-city drug den. Fortunately, the show is fuelled by a cast of dynamic performers that includes Delean Ellerbeck and Lily Haythornthwaite.

In moments where the cartoonish propaganda seems even heavier-handed than normal, Brandon Newall's over-the-top portrayal of the fire-and-brimstone lecturer brings everything back to its comic roots.

Robinson is fantastic as the dichotomous Jimmy Harmer, effortlessly switching back and forth between the fresh-faced lad of 16, and the drug-addled maniac he becomes after meeting bad apple, Jack, played by Will Strawn.

A simpler villain for simpler times, there is no exploration of Jack's human side; he is simply pure evil, luring innocent kids into a downward spiral of addiction.

Crazed college dropout Ralph is played by Maddison Poppov who, along with Brianna Wiens, co-directed the musical, uniting and inspiring their talented cast to a stellar performance (especially Gillian Cofsky as the Placard Girl - wow).

It's hard to remember that no matter how absurd some of Reefer's anti-cannabis slogans may appear, at one time this was not comedy. Reefer Madness was a serious film produced with the expressed support of the U.S. government, and therefore reflects the official stance of American society at the time.

In the years that followed, Hollywood switched its demonizing to more readily available targets such as Nazis, communists, and the evil of evils - rock 'n' roll. Yes, within 20 years it became possible to ruin your life just as much as a dope-fiend, simply by listening to the devil's music.

J.E. Productions' presentation of Reefer Madness: the musical is a smolderingly sexy, tongue-in-cheek look at homegrown propaganda.

Aside from the laughs though, perhaps the importance of this production is not that drugs are evil or that drugs are good. Maybe it is simply a reminder that we should often judge things more carefully than we do.

After all, you never know which of today's scourges on society will become tomorrow's Reefer Madness.