Once again, Mr. Burns is used to parody Howard Hughes. In "$pringfield," he developed obsessive compulsive disorder and had a model plane called the "Spruce Moose." In this episode, he actually flies a giant wooden plane, called the "Plywood Pelican."
The bit where Krusty urges his viewers to go to their parents' medicine cabinets and send him their drugs was inspired by a joke that comedian Soupy Sales ad-libbed on his TV show. On New Year's Day 1965, he jokingly urged his young audience to find their sleeping fathers' wallets and mail Soupy the "little green pieces of paper" (money) they would find inside. Soupy would later joke that he netted $80,000. In truth, he only received a few real dollars and a lot of play money, and his show was suspended for two weeks.
When Canadian Ned offers Flanders marijuana he states "It's legal here." In 2018, 13 years after the episode's airing, Canada legalized the use of marijuana.
It is revealed Ned is against drugs when he is offered a "reeferino" only to decline.