Using snappy, comic book-like graphics, great newsreel and film footage, stills, and music, GRASS chronicles the history of the American government's relationship with marijuana and marijuana users. A slick, entertaining, witty documentary narrated by known grass activist Woody Harrelson, the film is a fast-paced, coherent (if somewhat biased) illustration of the absurdity of drug laws and the untruthful coercion tactics and propaganda campaigns the government has used since the 1900s to convince the public that pot causes everything from insanity and murder to rape and Communism. The film tells how marijuana was traded by migrant workers over the Mexican border in the early 1900s, and how laws passed to control the drug were also used to control immigrants. Soon, a series of "truths" were set loose on the public by the government to deter people from using grass (shown in the film as hilarious, but true, headlines deemed "The Official Truth": If you smoke it, you will kill people! and, If you smoke it, you will go insane!) More importantly, perhaps, is the film's examination of how drug laws and the drug war were first formed. Rather than passing the problem of drug addiction on to the Health Department, it was relegated to the Treasury Department, which formed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which imposed taxes on marijuana instead of implementing rehabilitation programs for users of the more serious heroine and cocaine.

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Grass (1999)

R

Documentary · 1h 20m · 4/23/2002

    
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Description

Using snappy, comic book-like graphics, great newsreel and film footage, stills, and music, GRASS chronicles the history of the American government's relationship with marijuana and marijuana users. A slick, entertaining, witty documentary narrated by known grass activist Woody Harrelson, the film is a fast-paced, coherent (if somewhat biased) illustration of the absurdity of drug laws and the untruthful coercion tactics and propaganda campaigns the government has used since the 1900s to convince the public that pot causes everything from insanity and murder to rape and Communism. The film tells how marijuana was traded by migrant workers over the Mexican border in the early 1900s, and how laws passed to control the drug were also used to control immigrants. Soon, a series of "truths" were set loose on the public by the government to deter people from using grass (shown in the film as hilarious, but true, headlines deemed "The Official Truth": If you smoke it, you will kill people! and, If you smoke it, you will go insane!) More importantly, perhaps, is the film's examination of how drug laws and the drug war were first formed. Rather than passing the problem of drug addiction on to the Health Department, it was relegated to the Treasury Department, which formed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which imposed taxes on marijuana instead of implementing rehabilitation programs for users of the more serious heroine and cocaine.

Release Country

United States

Barcode

037429167625

Release Date

4/23/2002

Audio

  English     

Studio

Homevision

Video Format

NTSC

Aspect Ratio

1.85:1

Discs

Cast
Person Photo

Woody Harrelson

Narrator (voice)
Person Photo

Harry J. Anslinger

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

George Bush

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Cab Calloway

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Jimmy Carter

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Chevy Chase

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Tommy Chong

Anthony 'Man' Stoner (archive footage)
Person Photo

Nancy Davis

Herself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Gerald Ford

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Jerry Garcia

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Allen Ginsberg

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

John F. Kennedy

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Gene Krupa

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Fiorello LaGuardia

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Timothy Leary

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

John Lennon

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Cheech Marin

Pedro De Pacas (archive footage)
Person Photo

Gertrude Michael

Herself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Robert Mitchum

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Richard Nixon

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Yoko Ono

Herself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Eli Perell

Additional Voices
Person Photo

Josh Perell

Additional Voices
Person Photo

Ronald Reagan

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Harry S. Robins

(voice)
Person Photo

John Sinclair

Himself (archive footage)
Person Photo

Douglass Smith

(voice)
Person Photo

Stephanie Zari

(voice)
Crew
Person Photo

Ron Mann

Director
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Grass

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