SnoopyStyle Woody Harrelson narrates this documentary of American official opposition to marijuana. It looks at the start of marijuana imported by Mexican laborers during the beginning of the 20th century. With xenophobia and temperance, governments over the years battle marijuana as part of a federal drug policy led by crusader Harry J. Anslinger.What this documentary does well is that it lays out the history of the drug fight through the use of old footage and anti-marijuana propaganda. I find the first half fascinating probably because I don't know much of the early history. The last half is rather boring as it goes over things that are mostly well known to a modern audience. The attempted humor is not the best and gets repetitive. Nevertheless, the movie gets its point across and that's the main objective.

Andy Carloff (punkersluta) As a documentary, this film is invaluable. It has footage pertaining to marijuana use from 1920's onward. Government-sponsored radio and television ads, footage of medical testing of THC on humans, interviews with scientists, doctors, legislators, senators, lobbyists, and political activists. For the value of the footage alone, I'd rate this as one of the best documentaries on Marijuana -- of course, that's not to say that what you would learn here you couldn't find in the average introduction to any thick Marijuana book. That's just to say that Marijuana documentaries these days are quite limited, mostly due to institutional censorship and an international legal ban on experimentation with Cannabis. At moments, the video sequences of this movie are a bit hokey and overplayed. For a few seconds, there's goofy cartoons as a "hit-meter" counts up the amount of money the government has wasted on the war-on-drugs. They do this every fifteen minutes of the documentary, too. It's the only part of the film I would've left out. As a baseline statistic, it's too insignificant. The amount of suffering caused by America's War on Marijuana is more than just calculable in lost tax dollars. There are patients who have suffered from disease for years, waiting for a medicinal form of THC. There are those rotting in the prisons, our sons and daughters. To keep seeing this statistic of national debt is boring. And regardless -- no respectable documentary should be reduced to using dancing bunny rabbits as its statistics are being generated.Overall, I'd say 8 out of 10 stars.

m67165 This movie has some fantastic archive footage. And it is easy to watch. Well, if you are absolutely against the freedom of other people to consume mind-active drugs, then this movie here will not be that easy to watch. It might even change your mind about the subject. I myself don't care if people are smoking marijuana, as long as they can handle it. And, if they can't, let them get some treatment or go to jail, but only if they act anti-social. Otherwise, it's just society messing up with individual rights, that's what the movie says.It also says that a law that people will not obey is useless. Like prohibiting alcohol: people that really want it will find it, and give money to the Mob for it, when it could be legal and pay taxes. What's more: the authorities will waste lots of tax money to stop what won't stop. The movie would do better to talk about the various industrial uses of hemp but, as defense of human rights, it is both sharp and humorous.

roospam this movie is well worth seeing whether you are for or against legalization.i never heard about this movie, was it even in the theaters? unlike most documentary movies this was is well put together and it was entertaining to watch.if you read a lot of the books out there that explore hemp legalization you will find that they concur with a lot of the points raised in this movie.i found that this movie did not do enough to discuss some of hemps medicinal advantages. also this movie did not discuss it's use as an alternative biomass fuel.it's good to educate yourself and question whether we have been hearing the real truth over the years. check out the emporer wears no clothes. you can probably find a copy at amazon.com. that books discusses in great depth some benefits to legalizing hemp.