sol Tracing the "scourge" of marijuana that hit the USA dating back to the early 20th Century "Grass" brings out the sorry record of how the US Government attempted to put an end to the marijuana menace. That noble effort actually backfired with millions of Americans, both young and old, ended up using it.Narrated by actor and cannabis activist Woody Harrelson the film shows the extent of the many feeble attempts, filled with misinformation, that the US Government tried to convince the public that the harmless weed marijuana was far more dangerous then heroin or, starting in the 1970's, cocaine. These "studies" also went so far to show that marijuana was far worse then even alcohol and tobacco which are both considered, by the US Government, to be a legal substance! All that boggles the mind with both alcohol and tobacco being responsible for hundred's of thousands of Americans dying each year with marijuana, since records have been kept, not responsible for a single fatality to the millions of those who use it!Firing the first shot of the war against marijuana in 1937 was the first designated, by FDR, US Drug Czar Harry J. Anslinger of the US Treasury Department. Anslinger used every effort to get the public educated on the dangers of the weed which in fact was really a massive propaganda campaign against any evidence that proved to be favorable to it.Together with the many newspapers and magazines who carried lurid and shocking-as well as false- stories of what marijuana does to the "Youth of America" Hollywood also lent a hand with "educational" films on the subject like "Tell Your Children", or more commonly known as "Reefer Madness", and "Assassin of Youth". Despite the evidence in it's favor in the many studies on the drug that came out over the years the US Government suppressed them in favor of keeping the, that was later to become known, "War on Drugs" going.In the end the war on pot-or marijuana-turned out to be a major disaster for those who advocated it with tens of millions of Americans, including the last three Presidents of the United States, having experimented or having become regular user of it! Even though the use of marijuana is still illegal in many states of the union most of the laws against it have been de-fanged with it's use being decriminalized. And in states like Oregon and Hawaii its use is not even considered to be a crime at all!P.S What would put an end to the debate to either legalize or criminalize marijuana is if its use is to be put on a national ballot before the American Voters and have them have the final say on it. In the some two dozen states where it, the use of marijuana, was put on a state referendum it passed in almost, if not all, of them and it was passed overwhelmingly!

Michael_Elliott Grass (1999) *** (out of 4) Woody Harrelson narrates this documentary that takes a look at marijuana laws in America, which have been enforced for one hundred years even though nothing has ever been accomplished by it. The documentary uses stock footage from those in charge, President speeches and interviews as well as "warning" films such as Reefer Madness, Marijuana and Up in Smoke among others. Seeing the actual history of these laws makes for one funny documentary because of how stupid some of the things trying to be passed off were. I've reviewed Reefer Madness countless times but might have to give it more credit since it was the government passing most of the trash seen in the film. Throughout the film we see various speeches from government people and their opinions on the drug including that of Richard Nixon who ordered a report on the drug and when that report came back not showing the drug to be bad, Nixon simply threw the report away. The documentary never takes itself too serious nor does it ever try to be political but instead just show some facts, which some might want to overlook on purpose.

EdYerkeRobins This is a great documentary, which pieces together old government propaganda videos against marijuana, along with footage of scientific documentation and/or public view to the contrary. While clips from propaganda films ranging over 70 years, including the "classic" Reefer Madness, are funny because the modern audience knows how wrong they are, it's also troubling when the film presents the increased anti-marijuana budgets and bills passed, showing that the leadership of the past really didn't know anything about the drug and believed the government's films and "scientific evidence" (e.g. marijuana causes insanity, marijuana is a stepping stone for heroin) as fact. Featuring almost no commentary, the film comes off as a pro-marijuana documentary only because it shows how uninformed and gullible the government has been, and though it's mostly all official government statistics and films, it's still informing and entertaining, the latter unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

alrupert I find reviews interesting in that they tell us what the "reviewer" got out of the movie. I will try to give a true review, and I believe a true "review" tells what point the movie was making. Of course this would be what I got out of the movie, so is it a true review. Maybe the only way for a person to really know what a movie is about is to watch it and not worry about what someone else thought of it. I think this movie was written as a "documentary" and it documents the propaganda about drug from the beginning of the century. It attempts to show those of us who have seen the current propaganda our how it has been presented over the generations. I saw the point as being how serious the subject is taken now, and how we are told that the current law is based on the facts, when their facts came from a propaganda campaign. And if you look deep enough you will see that that propaganda campaign was perpetrated for the interest of Big Business. The purpose of the "war against marijuana" is not to eliminate the use. It is to prevent the growth of hemp which competes with the cotton industry, petroleum industry, paper industry, etc. It is also interesting that we continue to let the propaganda confuse the marijuana plant with the hemp plant.