Madness Watch: The Moral Panic Observatory

Reefer Madness is the eponym for every moral panic since 1936. This page keeps the tradition under observation: hysteria anywhere, on any subject, faithfully filed by the Bureau of Evidence and updated as the madness warrants.

Currently under observation

  • Minnesota's AI 'nudification' ban survives first court test — A Minnesota judge denied xAI's bid for a temporary restraining order against the state's near-unanimously passed, first-in-the-nation ban on AI 'nudification' apps; the Attorney General's office says it will keep defendi (Minnesota Attorney General's Office)
  • Having lost the fight over kids and social media, politicians target AI chatbots next — Semafor reports US politicians and governors, having failed to keep children off social media, are now moving to restrict kids' access to AI chatbots, spurred partly by fear of AI's classroom push at a National Governors (Semafor)
  • Critics call the new under-16 social media ban 'moral panic,' not protection — As Keir Starmer's under-16 social media ban won public praise, commentators argue the policy is driven by moral panic and won't actually protect the girls it's billed as saving. (AOL)
  • Manitoba moves to ban kids from AI chatbots, not just social media — Manitoba's premier says his province will be first in Canada to ban children from both social media and AI chatbots, while Canada's federal Culture Minister tells a House of Commons committee Ottawa has 'no choice' but t (Michael Geist)
  • Smartphone bans for kids framed as the latest tech panic — Advocacy groups like PAUS are pushing to ban smartphones for children outright, even as researchers note many U.S. school districts are reversing phone bans specifically so students can reach help during emergencies like (The Conversation)
  • History's receipts: comic books, TV, video games, now phones — Today's smartphone-panic playbook echoes the 1950s Senate hearings that pressured the comic book industry into self-censorship after psychiatrist Fredric Wertham told Congress comics endangered children — the same instit (Psychology Today)
  • 'Kids Off Social Media Act' and the addiction narrative — Lawmakers continue pushing blanket tech bans like the proposed Kids Off Social Media Act, which would prohibit under-13s from using social platforms entirely — a policy think tank argues the underlying 'addiction' narrat (ITIF)
  • GUARD Act would require ID checks for AI chatbot users — Sen. Josh Hawley's GUARD Act, advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, would require anyone using an AI chatbot to prove their identity and would ban minors from interac (Reason)
  • Texas bans intoxicating hemp products statewide — Texas's ban on hemp products containing certain intoxicating cannabinoids takes effect today, July 31, 2026 -- the same industry Gov. Greg Abbott legalized in 2019 is now being shut down, with Dallas shop owners like Mol (KERA News / Houston Public Media)
  • Former Trump AG campaigns against loosening marijuana law — A former Trump administration attorney general is publicly warning against federal marijuana rescheduling, adding a fresh 'think of the consequences' authority voice to the reform fight. (Marijuana Moment)
  • Former Attorney General invokes 'rule of law' against easing marijuana enforcement — Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft cited presidents' suspended enforcement of marijuana laws as a threat to the rule of law — 2026's version of reefer-madness rhetoric, dressed up as constitutional concern. (Marijuana Moment)
  • US Senate advances AI-companion ban for minors — A bill from Sen. Josh Hawley to ban children and teens from using AI 'companion' apps advanced out of a Senate Judiciary Committee markup, part of a broader 2026 state-and-federal legislative blitz on AI chatbot regulati (K-12 Dive / State Affairs Pro)
  • "Competency crisis" moral panic over psychiatric bed shortages — 1936-echo MADNESS WATCH: Critics argue the push for more psychiatric beds is itself a moral panic — data shows waitlists exploding anyway (Oklahoma's up 58% in a month; Missouri's more than doubled since 2023) even in st (Mad in America)

The full weekly file arrives in The Reefer Madness Bulletin, free. The Bureau never sleeps. The Bureau occasionally naps.