'We really aren't as far away from 1936 as we think, both on screen and in real life. But if moviemakers and showrunners can give us more than stoner comedy tropes, if they can stop giggling for long enough to give us more even-handed, realistic representations of a mostly harmless intoxicant, then society at large will follow.'
- Mashable
'"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world."
"There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana.
It's not surprising, he said.
"Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."''
- Cheech Marin
'However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!'
- Morgan Freeman
- Mashable
'"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world."
"There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana.
It's not surprising, he said.
"Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."''
- Cheech Marin
'However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!'
- Morgan Freeman
“Showing cannabis use in Hindi films hasn't changed or increased. I
guess a few more youngsters who smoke are making films now. It's just
that since so many white skinned people came to India to smoke it, it
suddenly became cool and was no longer considered only a "dhobiyon ka
nasha". Maybe the discovery that it's also actually present in their own
homes has made the tight asses of our industry a little more accepting.
Considering the film industry's propensity for the bottle, it's not
surprising marijuana wasn't considered classy enough."
- Naseeruddin Shah
The film industry plays a very important role in shaping perceptions,
reflecting the social and cultural landscape of a place and time. The
nature of films, the images they portray and the messages that they
carry, sometimes leave lasting impressions on the minds of people who
view them. Film is, in many instances, much more powerful than other
media - such as print and electronic, as well as literature and other art
forms - reaching much larger audiences. Film actors in many cultures
become gods. People willingly follow their words and are sometimes even
ready to die for them or the characters that they portray on screen,
often blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Commercial cinema is entirely funded by big producers. These big producers pump in money earned from other areas - legal and illegal - into film making. Through their money and influence they control the script and who plays the leading roles in the film. Quite often the script is created that will glorify the producers themselves, or bloat the egos of the entities that protected them while they made their money - the authorities and upper classes. Many producers see the commercial film as an investment, calculating how much they can put in and how much they will reap. There are some standard formulas that will appeal to the herds - a film star who the masses think is god, a juicy heroine who will reveal some flesh, the reality-defying stunts that the hero performs to ultimately win the victory of good over evil, and the ultimate prize of the swooning heroine melting in the hero's arms. There are the standard sub-plots that are a must: poking fun at entities that the film makers and producers consider as the other; song-and-dance sequences with good measures of pelvic thrusting at some distance - not too far so that the audience can fill up the gaps in distance and imagery; exotic locales in overseas destinations that the producers and film makers wish to promote; and attire and possessions that will spark the imagination of the herd and make it work harder for its bosses - who include the producers of the film. Commercial cinema caters to the fantasies of those aspiring to be part of the ruling upper classes (making it very clear that upward movement along caste lines is prohibited), stamps the authority of the upper classes and castes over the rest of society, enables governments to sway public opinion in its favor by glorifying such things as patriotism, religion, wealth, hatred towards minorities, etc. Films are a powerful means of swaying public opinion. Leo Tolstoy wrote in The Kingdom of Heaven and Peace Essays that 'The
power of the governments rests on public opinion and possessing power
they can always support the sort of public opinion they require by their
whole organization, officials, law courts, schools, the Church, and
even the Press. Public opinion produces power, power produces public
opinion; and it seems as if there were no escape from this position.' What Tolstoy said in the 19th century about the sources of influence shaping public opinion can be applied to films as well.The lifestyles portrayed in commercial cinema are essentially the lifestyles of about 10% of the population - the elites. Everybody contributes to the success of the film, and the reinforcement of class and caste hierarchies. The cast - especially the leading heroes and heroines - are like a stable of thoroughbred horses that will only run for their elite masters, since it is only the elites who can afford their fees. Not only will they cast themselves in any role that the film maker and producer desire, they will mouth anything and everything that the film makers and producers offer them. The influence of these heroes and heroines on the masses is such that the people will worship the ground that they walk on, and lap up everything that they have to say - believing it to be the ultimate truth - forgetting that all this is a make-believe fantasy created to fool them and keep them chained to the wheel.
Patriarchy is strongly portrayed in most Indian commercial cinema, besides the reinforcement of the class and caste systems. The heroine, in most movies, portrays a wild, sexual object till she is tamed by the hero, thus providing the doses of titillation that the audience craves. Once married, she is sidelined from the rest of the script, relegated to household tasks and being the pious Indian naari. Just in case the audience starts getting bored, there is always the vamp to add some sizzle and raise the temperature at suitable points. Typically, the hero never ages in Indian commercial movies, especially if he enjoys superstar status with legions of gibbering fools ready to even die for him. So, even as the woman who played his heroine in the early days, slowly morphs into his mother, and sometimes even his grandmother, the hero with wig or hair dye continues to play the role of young man just out of college. As I watch to see if the tottering old fool will break any bones doing his pelvic thrusts and playing superman, mobs of raucous fans whistle and cheer him on as he chases the girl to get her and does action scenes in slow motion.
Independent cinema is generally funded by few individuals, and is typically low budget as compared to commercial cinema. The independent film making industry usually has its roots in renowned film making institutes and theater groups. Them I consider to be the real artists in film making. Many of the products of these excellent schools desire to make meaningful, impactful cinema that bring into focus the beauty and harshness of reality. They rarely veer into the areas of plastic, delusional fantasy. Many of the subjects of independent films are the marginalized in society, and environmental damage and activism. Independent films explore concepts such as truth, equality and justice, and aim - through the medium of cinema - to improve the lot of human society and the planet. Those involved in the independent film making field spurn lucrative careers in the commercial film making industry to take the rough-and-tumble path where they themselves struggle to create the film, and quite often have nothing financially as a result to show for their efforts. Their satisfaction, however, does not draw from the profits earned monetarily, but from the recognition of their art by discerning members of the audience. They prefer invoking thought in even one person regarding the subject of their film to millions of cattle mooing in appreciation after a commercial success that will be forgotten before the audience leaving the theater reach their homes. Fortunately for the independent film maker, these days there are various platforms where they can showcase their talent and reach wider audiences. Numerous independent film festivals abound today. Newer technology platforms like OTT and You Tube enable the independent film maker to complete the journey of taking the film to the audience, without having to show financial muscle to find a slot in the theaters for their films among the big money producers, distributors, film stars and film makers who are already deep in ego battles among themselves.
Since the focus of commercial cinema is to strengthen the existing class and caste hierarchies - besides profit maximization - and that of independent cinema is to highlight social issues and provoke changes for the better in society, it is hardly surprising that whatever cannabis related content one finds in cinema is likely to emerge from independent films. The way that commercial cinema treats cannabis is with about as much maturity as a teenager, often portraying people smoking ganja in hiding, late at night, especially when the house help and the middle aged are not around. A few commercial cinema makers slip in a ganja smoking scene - much like a kiss - in the middle of all the tomfoolery, and if they are lucky this will escape the moral policing of the censor board who, in most places, pursue their tasks with the religious zeal of a priest. Most of these discretely slipped in scenes that finally make it to the big screen completely miss the audience, along with the censor board. The audience is, in general, brainwashed to such an extent that cannabis is evil, that they will miss the ganja smoking scenes because they cannot bring themselves to believe the reality of ganja, and that their adored heroes and heroines could indulge in such a base and despicable act. You are more likely to find scenes like the Dum Maro Dum song from Bollywood where a cigarette smoking and whiskey drinking Dev Anand - pretending to be India's James Bond - tries to rescue the chillum-smoking damsel from the clutches of hippies and Nepalis who have scant regard for the Bharatiya naari...
In most cases where cannabis is part of a film, its user is portrayed as silly, bizarre, funny or downright crazy, thus further fueling the propaganda that cannabis causes insanity, is used by criminals and the lower classes, destroys the youth, makes women immoral, and is responsible for sexual and violent crimes in society. The upstream and downstream relatives of the film industry - theater and television soap operas - reflect the same tone of anti-cannabis propaganda. The typical film portraying cannabis is steeped in all the misinformation and propaganda that has existed around it for a long time. The Hindu reports, regarding a typical film that 'The filmmaker even manages to showcase the drug-induced trip through his camera work but with such a shoddy script and a murderer Bhangiranga as its son of god, the film is difficult to sit through. At its core, the ideology of the film believes in warning the youth from going overboard but who will tell the filmmaker that he went overboard too?' The Hindu reports, in its review of another film called Idukki Gold that, 'For a film which carries the name of a popular variety of marijuana, there is ample amounts of smoke and drinks to get overtime wages for the ‘smoking is dangerous’ announcements. The only sad part is that some of the smoke seems to have been used to fill the gaps in the script too.' Recently, we see the trend of glorifying the wrong people in films when it comes to cannabis. Many OTT series and commercial films feature drug lords involved in the illegal trade of drugs - with cannabis usually being just the starting point in the ever-escalating life of crime. The films portray the drug lord as a hero - making many of today's youth to aspire to be like him - failing to see the dishonesty and unreasonableness of this path which only exacerbates the problems of the world. Even though most of these gangster movies end up showing the main character ultimately succumbing to the law, this point is most often overlooked by aimless youth who see the gangster as a role model, living the rich lifestyle of cars, women, power and drugs and earning the respect of an equally misguided society. The complete inability, or reluctance, to distinguish between one drug and another is also at the root of the problem. Most film makers, like society in general, lump all substances under one heading called 'drugs', completely ignoring the potential for harm that each drug signifies. It is most commonly the least harmful drug, cannabis, that is singled out for the moral policing of the film industry, while the real drugs of concern like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are scarcely focused on. Cocaine is the pride of the film industry since it is the rich man's badge of achieving an elevated social and economic status. Alcohol, which causes the most harm in society, is not even considered a drug and most films depict its use as a must to be a man and to be a part of the elites. As a part of anti-drug campaigns by cannabis prohibition advocacy groups, many prominent actors dumbly mouth the 'Say No to Drugs' line made famous by US Republicans Nancy and Ronald Reagan, with cannabis probably in mind. These robots of the ruling establishment will probably go back after the campaign shoot to snort their cocaine, inject their heroin or pop their synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, even as they sip their whisky and smoke their tobacco and dream about how they helped to save the youth in society from cannabis addiction and despair.
It is not that ganja and hashish smoking is uncommon among the commercial film industry. It is quite prevalent. But the usage in the commercial film industry mirrors the usage by the ruling upper class and upper caste elites everywhere. For one thing, ganja or charas is only one of the drugs of the film industry. There is plenty of cocaine, heroin and crystal meth, besides exotic drugs like MDMA, fentanyl, etc., concocted by the pharma industry and priced to massage the egos of the film industry, in addition to the omnipotent alcohol, prescription drugs and tobacco. A commercial film industry member would vastly prefer to be busted with cocaine or heroin than with the ganja of the lowest classes and castes which might dent his public image. The illegal black market supplies all the drugs of desire for the commercial film industry. Many of the producers of commercial films are themselves big players in the illegal drug industry. The artistes enslaved to these industries dare not speak out against the harmful substances or in favor of cannabis. They will be targeted, cut out of the industry, shamed and end up on the streets, which is way more than what most fragile heroes and heroines can handle in reality. While there are players associations in sports who in many places are fighting for their right to cannabis, the artists guild in the film industry is probably only fighting for one thing - more wages. In fact, they will be the first to stigmatize a member of their fraternity for cannabis usage if it becomes public. Thus, it is not at all uncommon for large numbers of artists - successful and aspiring - to die of addiction or overdose to the available drugs for the film industry, and if not, to end up on the streets in penury as a result of their lifestyles.
A few big names in cinema who have threatened to not play by the rules of the elites have found themselves dead, or in prison, for their non-conformity. Hunter S. Thompson writes in Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, that 'But he [William Burroughs] was not the first white man to be busted for weed in my time. No. That was Robert Mitchum, the actor, who was arrested three months earlier in Malibu at the front door of a hideaway beach house for possession of marijuana and suspicion of molesting a teenage girl on August 31, 1948. I remember the photos: Mitchum wearing an undershirt and snarling at the cops with the sea rolling up and the palm trees blowing.' The movie Fear and Loathing in Vegas - based on the book by the same name by Hunter Thompson - shows the ignorance and absurdity of law and drug enforcement, when it comes to cannabis, in the scenes portraying the District Attorneys conference on drugs. What the movie depicts is as applicable to law and drug enforcement anywhere in the world as it is to the US.
The way that the ruling hierarchy keeps its thoroughbred winning horses on a tight leash was on display in India, when Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son was arrested for alleged possession of cannabis during a raid by law enforcement on a private party. One of the senior police officials in Mumbai was arrested for attempted extortion as a result of the widespread media focus on the incident. This appears to me to be an attempt to intimidate the Bollywood superstar , lest he get too big for his boots and bring unnecessary attention to the thriving illegal heroin and cocaine trade that the authorities, film industry and the criminal underworld in Mumbai has been indulging in for decades now. The actor managed to extricate his son out of the sticky situation through assistance from politicians, and was last seen dancing to the tunes of India's petrochemical boss Mukesh Ambani at Ambani's son's obscenely expensive wedding. The average middle class person will end up paying the extortion money in a similar situation and keep quiet. The average upper class person will not even be questioned by the police unless he steps too far out of line, and the average lower class person will sit in jail for a few years for possession of tiny amounts of cannabis, until he is most probably subsequently be recruited into the criminal gangs that operate the black market for drugs.
Bruce Lee, the martial arts god of cinema, was an outsider in the commercial film industry both in the US - for his Chinese background - and in Hong Kong for his American background. His cannabis smoking is almost unknown to the legions of fans that he has, and his premature death under highly suspicious circumstances - as an allergic reaction to a synthetic pharmaceutical analgesic - mirrors that of Jimi Hendrix in the music world. The Hong Kong police tried to pin Lee's death on cannabis, and use it as anti-cannabis propaganda, writes Alex Ben Block in his book The Legend of Bruce Lee. He writes, 'Hong Kong police, it's said, fear local youth might discover the pleasures of grass, and what is currently a minor problem might mushroom. They quickly grabbed the "killer drug" image of cannabis and tied it to Lee as an anti-drug message. Lee's image, of course, suffered for it.' China - one the countries with the oldest traditions of cannabis use - is today one of the foremost opponents of cannabis legalization on the global stage. It has had its cannabis culture completely wiped out by the hammer and sickle wielders, so much so that newer generations are almost completely clueless about cannabis. Opium takes very high precedence in China, of course, thanks to the habit that the British helped develop, and the money that the authorities earn from its trade, legal and illegal. Block further writes in 1974 about Lee's death, 'In Hong Kong however, where there is almost no marijuana use, the drug conjures up images of harder drugs, much as "grass" used to be considered the "devil weed" in the United States before its usage spread in the late 1960s. Police in Hong Kong, even now, tend to pay more attention to hash or grass, it seems, than heroin or opium, simply because the substances are less familiar and have come to be associated with the dreaded "hippie tourist Europeans" (anyone in Hong Kong who is not Chinese, and who has white skin, is called a European, just as all Japanese and Chinese are lumped together in America with Vietnamese and others as Orientals).' Block writes, 'Even as Bruce was being buried in Seattle, more headlines about him were appearing in the Hong Kong press. First lab tests from the autopsy, not done until thirty-six hours after death, were just coming in, and the big sensation was again "cannabis." Eventually the fact that there were traces of cannabis, or marijuana in Lee's stomach was completely discredited as a reason for his death. A doctor later said that it had as much meaning as telling him Lee had drunk a cup of tea the day he died.' Even as the authorities and the press amped up the anti-cannabis propaganda using Lee's death as an example, expert physicians started reporting the truth. How many saw the actual facts, and how many believed the propaganda is probably proportional to the number of people who are hypnotized by commercial films to the proportion of people who watch independent cinema. Block writes 'The top expert brought in on the case was Professor R D Teare, the professor of forensic medicine at the University of London. He ridiculed the theory that cannabis contributed to the collapse the actor suffered on May 10 or to his death on July 20. He said cannabis had been taken in various forms for centuries, and deemed it pure coincidence that shortly before the onset of Lee's collapse in May and his death he had taken cannabis. "It would be irresponsible and irrational to ascribe the causes of death to cannabis sensitivity, if over the years there had been no previous record of such a happening," the professor stated. Professor Teare said that his opinion was that the cause of death was acute cerebral edema (brain swelling) due to hypersensitvity to either meprobamate or aspirin, or possibly the combination of the two, contained in the drug Equagesic.' This was further confirmed by another medical expert. Block writes that 'Clinical pathologist Dr. R R Lycette of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong testified Lee's death could not have been caused by cannabis poisoning, but was more likely due to hypersensitivity to one of the elements of Equagesic. Dr. Lycette, who performed the autopsy on Lee, explained hypersensitivity is an adverse reaction of a body to a foreign substance. "The substance which Lee could have been hypersensitive to might have been contained in Equagesic - a tablet he took - but I can't definitely say which compound in the tablet Lee was hypersensitive to," said the doctor.' China's widespread repression of cannabis has not abated since the time of Bruce Lee. Cannabis is probably the one thing that the ruling party fears the most, as it will upend their entire power structure. So the ruling dispensation makes it a point to widely publicize its cannabis crackdowns, to serve as a lesson to anybody from the public getting wrong ideas about freedom and liberty. The film community continues to face the oppression, with The Hindu reporting some time back on legal action taken against the sion of another martial arts superstar, Jackie Chan. It reports that 'Jaycee Chan, 31, became the high profile celebrity to be ensnared in an anti—drug crackdown by Chinese authorities when he was detained on Aug. 14 along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said a few days later that both actors had tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams of it were taken from Chan’s home.'
The few movies where cannabis plays an important role - like Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice, Fear and Loathing in Vegas and Bob Marley: One Love - are typically only viewed by discerning audiences and never become big commercial successes. They have their cult following of course. They never typically make it to mainstream cinema theaters because that eternal guardian of class and caste hierarchies, that sheriff of moral policing in cinema - the Censor Board - never allows these movies to be screened. They would rather show mindless mayhem, mind boggling thinly draped sexuality and horrendous crimes and dialogues that can permanently damage an adult's mind - let alone a child's - as long as it shows the elites as they desire to be portrayed, and the Censor Board gets its share of the proceedings. The Bob Marley One Love movie symbolizes the hypocrisy of the film industry when it comes to cannabis. While movies like Barbie were banned in repressive patriarchal societies for portraying female liberation, the Bob Marley film was banned from big theaters in most countries, and the only reason I see for this is the cannabis use that was inseparable from Bob Marley and The Wailers. You cannot separate the musician Bob Marley from ganja so censoring the film would have left you with no film at all. So the next best thing was to ban it on the big screens. In India, the whole censorship charade was taken to new levels. I saw the preview or trailer of the movie in the theater stating that it was releasing soon. The movie however never made it to the big screen, depriving large numbers of reggae, Bob Marley, and ganja fans the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful film on the big screen with cinematic sound. After a couple of months the film was released on OTT. Maybe the commercial film industry had visions of dreadlocked rastas, and tramps from the streets, smoking chillums and having orgies in the cinema halls with the wives of the censor board and commercial film producers to the reggae beat. I think the film was released only in a few places in the world in theaters, showing the extent of control that the ruling elites have on the anti-cannabis narrative in society today.
In the past, most commercial directors never tolerated cannabis use on the sets, but they sometimes had to contend with the outlier. Men's Health reports that 'The story goes that while Schwarzenegger and DeVito were on the set of the 1988 comedy (in which they played long-lost non-identical twin brothers), they would hang out between takes, DeVito would make them both pasta for lunch, and they would enjoy a cigar. On one such occasion, DeVito deviously sneaked some marijuana into Schwarzenegger's stogie, rendering the actor incapable of remembering his lines when they returned to set to shoot a scene that afternoon. Schwarzenegger has since recalled that director Ivan Reitman was a good sport about the whole thing, and filmed several close-ups of DeVito that day so that Schwarzenegger could read his lines off a script. "We were lucky this was on Ivan’s movie," he said, "because if this ever happened on a Jim Cameron film, we would have been in real trouble."' Danny DeVito appears to have been one of the flag bearers of the cannabis culture in the sixties. Page Six quotes Micheal Douglas sharing some smoking moments with DeVito when it says '“He says ‘You get high?’ We were both 1967 potheads, so we smoked a joint and that was the beginning of a long, long friendship.”' Some actors, in recent times have been in-your-face cannabis users, seeing no stigma in their usage of cannabis, and making it publicly known. These actors have attained cult stardom for their bold stance. Take Morgan Freeman, as an example. Or Jeff Bridges. Or Joaquin Phoenix. Or Bill Murray. Or Woody Harrelson. Morgan Freeman is quoted by The Hindu as saying 'Asked how he would consume it, he replied, “However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!” Freeman said cannabis is the only thing that can help him manage fibromyalgia pain in his arm after it was shattered in a car crash in 1977. “They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life,” he added. “That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalise it across the board!’”' Woody Harrelson is one of those flying the cannabis banner without guilt or remorse these days, adding to his aura. NORML reports that 'In a recent interview, Woody recounts a private dinner that he attended with Donald Trump and a couple of others in 2002 in which he said he had to step outside to smoke a joint in order to get through the evening. ” It was brutal. I’d never met a more narcissistic man,” Harrelson said during an appearance on Bill Maher‘s HBO show. “He talked about himself the whole time. I had to walk out like halfway through [and] smoke a joint just to like steel myself for the rest of the dinner.” More recently Woody went through a few months during which he claimed he had stopped smoking marijuana. But his friend Willie [Nelson] kept tempting him to start smoking again. And as expected, at one of those poker games at Willie’s place, after he had won a big pot and felt like celebrating, Woody said he could no longer say “no” to Willie’s offer. Once he took a hit, Willie reportedly said “Welcome home!” Woody officially ended his period of abstinence.' Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame, is reported by MLive News as saying, at the eve of Michigan's adult cannabis use legalization, that '"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world." "There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana. It's not surprising, he said. "Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."'' Whoopie Goldberg was prominent in New Jersey's journey to cannabis legalization for adult recreational use. In the build up to adult cannabis use legalization, North Jersey reports her as saying 'For countless adults across New Jersey, myself included, marijuana has never been about getting high just for the sake of it. And, that’s something that lawmakers on Monday need to remember. The unhinged and dire doomsday prophecies of some simply have not come to fruition elsewhere, nor will they in New Jersey. At issue is adult-use marijuana, and treating adults as, well, adults. And, when we do that, what will follow – positive societal change – is much more important than not treating us like petty criminals.'
It is a well known fact that cannabis usage is widely prevalent in the film making and advertising industries.Cannabis is one of the paramount natural medicines in the world, besides being an entheogen and safe intoxicant. Cannabis helps creative thinking because it brings focus and concentration, reducing pain, stress, depression and anxiety. It also enables the film or ad maker to catch a good night's sleep and stay away from the real harmful substances that are widely prevalent in film making and ad agency circles. The Hollywood Reporter says 'He [Jordan Peele] locked himself in a room and started smoking a lot of weed, plotting his revenge, "like a comic book supervillain," he explained. Then it hit him: "I wanted to be a producer," he realized. "These producers are making these decisions about art and comedy and they don't know anything about art and comedy. I want to be a producer and bring my artistry and they'll all be sorry."'
The image of cannabis is undergoing a sea change among the acting fraternity these days in places where cannabis has been legalized. Where once cannabis was considered the drug of the tramps, many of today's leading artists are embracing cannabis, and being public about it, even though for some the realization has only dawned in their old age. Better late than never, I suppose. Breaking News reports that '[William] Shatner told the PA news agency: “I’ve got some aches and pains I didn’t have a few years ago. “But, I’m finding out there are many things that help aches and pains that we didn’t know about just a few years ago. Well, THC and CBD, and that kind of thing.” He added: “Have you used it? It’s magical. I’ve had swollen joints where it hurts, you rub some on and while you’re rubbing it on, the pain disappears. It’s magical.”' Vox reported during the 2019 Oscars that 'On the list of people in the world who have things to worry about, the famous actors and directors nominated at this year’s Oscars make up the very last 25 of those spots. Fine, I am sure some of them have legitimate stressors in their lives, but I also hope that being nominated for the most prestigious award in their chosen field mitigates at least some of that. But despite this, nominees for acting and directing awards will all receive products to help calm them down. This year, the Oscars gift bags will include chocolates infused with THC, CBD skin care, private therapy sessions for “phobia relief,” and, for some reason, a toilet plunger.' The Hollywood Reporter says 'Ever since winning an Oscar for best original screenplay for his 2013 feature film Her, Spike Jonze has rolled out a series of head-turning shorts for big brands, and he's done so with name stars in front of the camera. There was FKA Twigs for Apple's HomePod, Margaret Qualley for fashion house Kenzo and, most recently, Idris Elba for Squarespace. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that he's taking his talents to the cannabis industry, courtesy of MedMen. According to a source, Jonze was on set last week in Los Angeles shooting a short film for the leading marijuana dispensary with Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams along for the pot-focused ride.' Speaking on the subject of the short film, Adweek reports 'Jonze continued: “It was shocking to just sit in all the stories of so many people and so many lives that were unfairly hurt by the prohibition and the fear that was stoked by it, especially people of color. And it wasn’t just their lives, it was their families, too. And now we are starting to come out of it. … I’ve never been into pot much or a huge advocate for legalization, but I’ve always supported it because it seemed absurd for the reasons we all know. And it always felt inevitable.”' As Leafly reports 'Need an easily digestible look at the history of cannabis in America? Check out “The New Normal,” a short that was produced by MedMen, directed by Spike Jonze, and stars Jesse Williams. It’s the first time in a while that a powerhouse cannabis company has outwardly and explicitly acknowledged the realities of the cannabis industry—where prohibition came from, how it has affected certain communities, where it is now, and where legalization should be headed. While the commercial provides an abundance of feel-good vibes about the future, it’s important to understand that we still have a long way to go before the normalization of adult-use cannabis is achieved. The war on drugs is not over, and until the problems of prohibition are corrected, this industry cannot truthfully say that it is. But the future looks bright. Very bright.' When the top directors of the world are only starting to understand what cannabis prohibition is all about, then who can blame the vast majority of film makers who continue to exist in the delusion of reefer madness.
In India, it is very rare to see someone from the film community come out openly about their cannabis usage and love for cannabis. One of the very few has been Naseeruddin Shah, one of the best actors that India has ever produced. He took the long hard path from theater to cinema, and has been involved in both commercial and independent movies. The Hindu reports 'Naseeruddin Shah is arguably the most vocal advocate of cannabis in Hindi film industry — although a large number of filmmakers and actors use it, few are ready to go on record. Shah, who famously wrote in his autobiography, about how he thinks marijuana has made him “more intelligent”, gave us an exclusive. “Showing cannabis use in Hindi films hasn't changed or increased. I guess a few more youngsters who smoke are making films now. It's just that since so many white skinned people came to India to smoke it, it suddenly became cool and was no longer considered only a "dhobiyon ka nasha". Maybe the discovery that it's also actually present in their own homes has made the tight asses of our industry a little more accepting. Considering the film industry's propensity for the bottle, it's not surprising marijuana wasn't considered classy enough. Also, I guess it's tough writing song after song about how comforting it is to ingest! While a student, I was in fact repeatedly cautioned that I'd get no work in the industry if it was discovered I smoke! In India, where it has been smoked for thousands of years, peddling it is illegal, consuming it isn't. And the much more harmful alcohol is not considered a hard drug!"' The Hindu further reports an incident from Shah's biography where he says '“There was a senior actor, who was not a very good actor, nor was he very well known. He and I discovered a common fondness for marijuana ( laughs)… on a location. We were sitting together one day, and I had just won a national award for Sparsh, and we were shooting this film Hum Paanch in Melkote, near Bangalore. We both got nicely high, with our heads in the clouds, and he says to me: ‘I haven’t seen your work, but I can tell you as an actor, if you can recall your grandmother telling you that look at the moon and there is an old woman sitting in the moon, knitting a sweater for you. If you are a good boy, you will get that sweater. You have to retain the faith she would.’”' Naseeruddin Shah featured in an independent film called The Blueberry Hunt about the troubles faced by a cannabis grower in the high ranges of Kerala. The movie did not make a big impact but it was watched by some from the cannabis community. The Hindu reports that 'The Blueberry Hunt focusses on how the Colonel’s plantation of a high-potency variant of marijuana – Blueberry Skunk – gets ready for harvest, but things go haywire at the last moment.'
There seems to be a fairly good understanding of the cannabis picture among some of the emerging film makers in India. One of the better films that came out in India was Udta Punjab highlighting the opium menace in the state of Punjab. The director of the film spoke to the media regarding the drug scene in Bollywood, and India in general, and he seems to know the subject well. The Hindu reports that 'Yes, [the film is] especially anti-heroin and anti-opiate. It’s not so much anti-cocaine if you notice. It’s a party drug that rich kids do it, many great directors like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone have experimented with cocaine, have binged and come out of it. Many Bollywood stars have done the same. Coke is not a big deal. Marijuana doesn’t even qualify. The name of Alia’s character as Mary Jane, a brilliant idea by Sudip, in fact is an allusion to marijuana. I mean any drug is bad per se but doing drugs is a matter of choice if you are 18 and above. But when it becomes a sociological problem, when somebody like Alia’s character or Balli (Diljit Dosanjh’s brother in the film) doesn’t have a choice in the matter, then you have to take a stand. And you have to go out there and do this. Hence, the film is so viciously anti-drug. There is a lot of MDMA and coke abuse in Lokhandwala, Andheri. But that’s not breakdown of society, that’s just people partying. That’s excess, debauched or decadent. But what is happening in Punjab demanded this of the film.' The Hindu reports on Jugal Mody, 'Since, the characters in Toke are into substance abuse, it was only fair to ask him about the legalisation of marijuana. He answered, “I don’t think it should be a question. In Allahabad there is a government ration shop that sells cannabis.” In some parts of the country it is sold on the streets. After thinking for a while, he added, “I don’t think people talk much about it, that’s why all this drama is happening.” Answering a rapid-fire round he said he would write an erotic fiction if people are ready to read it. He would legalise weed in India. He said that he is a big TV fan.' Hindustan Times reports Uday Chopra as saying '"I feel India should legalize marijuana. Firstly, It's part of our culture. Secondly, I think if legalized and taxed it can be a huge revenue source. Not to mention it will remove the criminal element associated with it. Plus and most importantly it has a lot of medical benefits!" he tweeted on Thursday.' The Hindu reports Agneya Singh who made a film called M Cream (short for the legendary Malana Cream hashish), which had Naseeruddin Shah's son in the lead role, as saying 'Though drugs may be at the centre of the narrative, they are neither glorified nor condemned. “The film doesn’t take a moral position on drugs at all. And yet it reflects the life of a young person,” says Singh. “In the 1950s UN Convention, India had opposed the move to ban marijuana, but bowed down to pressure from the United States.”' Anurag Kashyap appears to be another Indian film maker who handles the subject of cannabis maturely. In most cases however, the few who attempt movies featuring cannabis have not delivered, either due to lack of research or impactful scripts. Reviewing the film The Blueberry Hunt, The Hindu says 'The ‘thriller’ boasts of not a single edge of the seat moment. You wait for things to happen but nothing consequential does. The film comes in the midst of a debate about legalisation of marijuana, for medicinal as well as cultural reasons. This could have been a cracker of a film to take the debate forward. But it prefers to remain hazy and tepid in a pointless world of its own.'
The independent film maker typically portrays cannabis as a normal part of the story, showing the reality of cannabis usage for what it is, without blowing it out of proportion to the context of the scene. Cannabis usage in the role portrayed is shown as naturally as smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol, which is all that there is to it. But even among independent cinema, I do not think there has yet been a single film that focused on the issue of the illegal prohibition of cannabis, and the harms that this has done to society - especially the lower classes and castes, the poorest sections of society, the ill, women and the elderly. Suppression of cannabis is easily the biggest crime perpetrated on humanity and the planet by the ruling classes and elites. It has enslaved hundreds of millions of persons world wide to alcohol, tobacco and synthetic drugs - legal and illegal - and it has imprisoned and killed tens of thousands of persons from minority, social and economically backward classes of society. Discrimination against the cannabis user is rampant in society, much more so than discrimination on the basis of skin color, gender, economic and social class, or sexual orientation. Let alone the discrimination against the cannabis user, the discrimination against the plant has meant that hundreds of varieties of natural cannabis have been exterminated from the face of the earth through law and drug enforcement action, and over zealous citizens playing the role of the moral police. Yet this narrative of cannabis suppression in society is completely missing. One of the problems in Indian cinema has been the lack of quality films addressing the issue of cannabis prohibition. The subject has the potential of a national revolution on the lines of India's freedom movement. The freedom movement against the British was easier to achieve since the enemy could be clearly distinguished, and was an outsider to traditional Indian society. In the case of cannabis prohibition, however, the enemy has been around for so long, and has enmeshed himself into the Indian social and cultural fabric so much that it is difficult to distinguish him. The enemy, in the case of cannabis, is the ruling upper castes and classes who have worked with the British to prohibit cannabis and keep the lower classes and castes enslaved. They have more or less dislodged Siva, the god of ganja, himself from the narrative, replacing him with gods and goddesses of the cultures that moved into India and ruled over its indigenous communities after reducing them to the lowest classes and castes. The great freedom movement that is cannabis legalization in India awaits, while film makers continue to milk the anti-British patriotic sentiment even after 77 years paying absolutely no heed to the slavery of India's majority that has gone on for 150 years now. Gandhi, being a staunch Vaishnavite, appears to have not recognized the untouchability that exists around India's cannabis users who belong to its indigenous communities. Even BR Ambedkar, who rallied for Dalit rights and brought the indigenous communities together, did not touch much upon this key form of oppression against India's native populations. I suppose that Ambedkar already had too much on his plate. But missing the cannabis issue was missing an opportunity to truly liberate India's lower castes and classes and restore their rights to safe intoxicant and medicine, their rights to freedom of religion, and their right to sustainable livelihood opportunities that would have lifted large numbers out of poverty and oppression. Film makers do not seem to realize that cannabis legalization will bring about peaceful revolutions not only in the areas of social and economic justice, but also in the areas of affordable universal healthcare, reduction in crime, sustainable agriculture and industry, harm reduction, spirituality and environmental protection.
Patriarchy is strongly portrayed in most Indian commercial cinema, besides the reinforcement of the class and caste systems. The heroine, in most movies, portrays a wild, sexual object till she is tamed by the hero, thus providing the doses of titillation that the audience craves. Once married, she is sidelined from the rest of the script, relegated to household tasks and being the pious Indian naari. Just in case the audience starts getting bored, there is always the vamp to add some sizzle and raise the temperature at suitable points. Typically, the hero never ages in Indian commercial movies, especially if he enjoys superstar status with legions of gibbering fools ready to even die for him. So, even as the woman who played his heroine in the early days, slowly morphs into his mother, and sometimes even his grandmother, the hero with wig or hair dye continues to play the role of young man just out of college. As I watch to see if the tottering old fool will break any bones doing his pelvic thrusts and playing superman, mobs of raucous fans whistle and cheer him on as he chases the girl to get her and does action scenes in slow motion.
Independent cinema is generally funded by few individuals, and is typically low budget as compared to commercial cinema. The independent film making industry usually has its roots in renowned film making institutes and theater groups. Them I consider to be the real artists in film making. Many of the products of these excellent schools desire to make meaningful, impactful cinema that bring into focus the beauty and harshness of reality. They rarely veer into the areas of plastic, delusional fantasy. Many of the subjects of independent films are the marginalized in society, and environmental damage and activism. Independent films explore concepts such as truth, equality and justice, and aim - through the medium of cinema - to improve the lot of human society and the planet. Those involved in the independent film making field spurn lucrative careers in the commercial film making industry to take the rough-and-tumble path where they themselves struggle to create the film, and quite often have nothing financially as a result to show for their efforts. Their satisfaction, however, does not draw from the profits earned monetarily, but from the recognition of their art by discerning members of the audience. They prefer invoking thought in even one person regarding the subject of their film to millions of cattle mooing in appreciation after a commercial success that will be forgotten before the audience leaving the theater reach their homes. Fortunately for the independent film maker, these days there are various platforms where they can showcase their talent and reach wider audiences. Numerous independent film festivals abound today. Newer technology platforms like OTT and You Tube enable the independent film maker to complete the journey of taking the film to the audience, without having to show financial muscle to find a slot in the theaters for their films among the big money producers, distributors, film stars and film makers who are already deep in ego battles among themselves.
Since the focus of commercial cinema is to strengthen the existing class and caste hierarchies - besides profit maximization - and that of independent cinema is to highlight social issues and provoke changes for the better in society, it is hardly surprising that whatever cannabis related content one finds in cinema is likely to emerge from independent films. The way that commercial cinema treats cannabis is with about as much maturity as a teenager, often portraying people smoking ganja in hiding, late at night, especially when the house help and the middle aged are not around. A few commercial cinema makers slip in a ganja smoking scene - much like a kiss - in the middle of all the tomfoolery, and if they are lucky this will escape the moral policing of the censor board who, in most places, pursue their tasks with the religious zeal of a priest. Most of these discretely slipped in scenes that finally make it to the big screen completely miss the audience, along with the censor board. The audience is, in general, brainwashed to such an extent that cannabis is evil, that they will miss the ganja smoking scenes because they cannot bring themselves to believe the reality of ganja, and that their adored heroes and heroines could indulge in such a base and despicable act. You are more likely to find scenes like the Dum Maro Dum song from Bollywood where a cigarette smoking and whiskey drinking Dev Anand - pretending to be India's James Bond - tries to rescue the chillum-smoking damsel from the clutches of hippies and Nepalis who have scant regard for the Bharatiya naari...
In most cases where cannabis is part of a film, its user is portrayed as silly, bizarre, funny or downright crazy, thus further fueling the propaganda that cannabis causes insanity, is used by criminals and the lower classes, destroys the youth, makes women immoral, and is responsible for sexual and violent crimes in society. The upstream and downstream relatives of the film industry - theater and television soap operas - reflect the same tone of anti-cannabis propaganda. The typical film portraying cannabis is steeped in all the misinformation and propaganda that has existed around it for a long time. The Hindu reports, regarding a typical film that 'The filmmaker even manages to showcase the drug-induced trip through his camera work but with such a shoddy script and a murderer Bhangiranga as its son of god, the film is difficult to sit through. At its core, the ideology of the film believes in warning the youth from going overboard but who will tell the filmmaker that he went overboard too?' The Hindu reports, in its review of another film called Idukki Gold that, 'For a film which carries the name of a popular variety of marijuana, there is ample amounts of smoke and drinks to get overtime wages for the ‘smoking is dangerous’ announcements. The only sad part is that some of the smoke seems to have been used to fill the gaps in the script too.' Recently, we see the trend of glorifying the wrong people in films when it comes to cannabis. Many OTT series and commercial films feature drug lords involved in the illegal trade of drugs - with cannabis usually being just the starting point in the ever-escalating life of crime. The films portray the drug lord as a hero - making many of today's youth to aspire to be like him - failing to see the dishonesty and unreasonableness of this path which only exacerbates the problems of the world. Even though most of these gangster movies end up showing the main character ultimately succumbing to the law, this point is most often overlooked by aimless youth who see the gangster as a role model, living the rich lifestyle of cars, women, power and drugs and earning the respect of an equally misguided society. The complete inability, or reluctance, to distinguish between one drug and another is also at the root of the problem. Most film makers, like society in general, lump all substances under one heading called 'drugs', completely ignoring the potential for harm that each drug signifies. It is most commonly the least harmful drug, cannabis, that is singled out for the moral policing of the film industry, while the real drugs of concern like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are scarcely focused on. Cocaine is the pride of the film industry since it is the rich man's badge of achieving an elevated social and economic status. Alcohol, which causes the most harm in society, is not even considered a drug and most films depict its use as a must to be a man and to be a part of the elites. As a part of anti-drug campaigns by cannabis prohibition advocacy groups, many prominent actors dumbly mouth the 'Say No to Drugs' line made famous by US Republicans Nancy and Ronald Reagan, with cannabis probably in mind. These robots of the ruling establishment will probably go back after the campaign shoot to snort their cocaine, inject their heroin or pop their synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, even as they sip their whisky and smoke their tobacco and dream about how they helped to save the youth in society from cannabis addiction and despair.
It is not that ganja and hashish smoking is uncommon among the commercial film industry. It is quite prevalent. But the usage in the commercial film industry mirrors the usage by the ruling upper class and upper caste elites everywhere. For one thing, ganja or charas is only one of the drugs of the film industry. There is plenty of cocaine, heroin and crystal meth, besides exotic drugs like MDMA, fentanyl, etc., concocted by the pharma industry and priced to massage the egos of the film industry, in addition to the omnipotent alcohol, prescription drugs and tobacco. A commercial film industry member would vastly prefer to be busted with cocaine or heroin than with the ganja of the lowest classes and castes which might dent his public image. The illegal black market supplies all the drugs of desire for the commercial film industry. Many of the producers of commercial films are themselves big players in the illegal drug industry. The artistes enslaved to these industries dare not speak out against the harmful substances or in favor of cannabis. They will be targeted, cut out of the industry, shamed and end up on the streets, which is way more than what most fragile heroes and heroines can handle in reality. While there are players associations in sports who in many places are fighting for their right to cannabis, the artists guild in the film industry is probably only fighting for one thing - more wages. In fact, they will be the first to stigmatize a member of their fraternity for cannabis usage if it becomes public. Thus, it is not at all uncommon for large numbers of artists - successful and aspiring - to die of addiction or overdose to the available drugs for the film industry, and if not, to end up on the streets in penury as a result of their lifestyles.
A few big names in cinema who have threatened to not play by the rules of the elites have found themselves dead, or in prison, for their non-conformity. Hunter S. Thompson writes in Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, that 'But he [William Burroughs] was not the first white man to be busted for weed in my time. No. That was Robert Mitchum, the actor, who was arrested three months earlier in Malibu at the front door of a hideaway beach house for possession of marijuana and suspicion of molesting a teenage girl on August 31, 1948. I remember the photos: Mitchum wearing an undershirt and snarling at the cops with the sea rolling up and the palm trees blowing.' The movie Fear and Loathing in Vegas - based on the book by the same name by Hunter Thompson - shows the ignorance and absurdity of law and drug enforcement, when it comes to cannabis, in the scenes portraying the District Attorneys conference on drugs. What the movie depicts is as applicable to law and drug enforcement anywhere in the world as it is to the US.
The way that the ruling hierarchy keeps its thoroughbred winning horses on a tight leash was on display in India, when Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son was arrested for alleged possession of cannabis during a raid by law enforcement on a private party. One of the senior police officials in Mumbai was arrested for attempted extortion as a result of the widespread media focus on the incident. This appears to me to be an attempt to intimidate the Bollywood superstar , lest he get too big for his boots and bring unnecessary attention to the thriving illegal heroin and cocaine trade that the authorities, film industry and the criminal underworld in Mumbai has been indulging in for decades now. The actor managed to extricate his son out of the sticky situation through assistance from politicians, and was last seen dancing to the tunes of India's petrochemical boss Mukesh Ambani at Ambani's son's obscenely expensive wedding. The average middle class person will end up paying the extortion money in a similar situation and keep quiet. The average upper class person will not even be questioned by the police unless he steps too far out of line, and the average lower class person will sit in jail for a few years for possession of tiny amounts of cannabis, until he is most probably subsequently be recruited into the criminal gangs that operate the black market for drugs.
Bruce Lee, the martial arts god of cinema, was an outsider in the commercial film industry both in the US - for his Chinese background - and in Hong Kong for his American background. His cannabis smoking is almost unknown to the legions of fans that he has, and his premature death under highly suspicious circumstances - as an allergic reaction to a synthetic pharmaceutical analgesic - mirrors that of Jimi Hendrix in the music world. The Hong Kong police tried to pin Lee's death on cannabis, and use it as anti-cannabis propaganda, writes Alex Ben Block in his book The Legend of Bruce Lee. He writes, 'Hong Kong police, it's said, fear local youth might discover the pleasures of grass, and what is currently a minor problem might mushroom. They quickly grabbed the "killer drug" image of cannabis and tied it to Lee as an anti-drug message. Lee's image, of course, suffered for it.' China - one the countries with the oldest traditions of cannabis use - is today one of the foremost opponents of cannabis legalization on the global stage. It has had its cannabis culture completely wiped out by the hammer and sickle wielders, so much so that newer generations are almost completely clueless about cannabis. Opium takes very high precedence in China, of course, thanks to the habit that the British helped develop, and the money that the authorities earn from its trade, legal and illegal. Block further writes in 1974 about Lee's death, 'In Hong Kong however, where there is almost no marijuana use, the drug conjures up images of harder drugs, much as "grass" used to be considered the "devil weed" in the United States before its usage spread in the late 1960s. Police in Hong Kong, even now, tend to pay more attention to hash or grass, it seems, than heroin or opium, simply because the substances are less familiar and have come to be associated with the dreaded "hippie tourist Europeans" (anyone in Hong Kong who is not Chinese, and who has white skin, is called a European, just as all Japanese and Chinese are lumped together in America with Vietnamese and others as Orientals).' Block writes, 'Even as Bruce was being buried in Seattle, more headlines about him were appearing in the Hong Kong press. First lab tests from the autopsy, not done until thirty-six hours after death, were just coming in, and the big sensation was again "cannabis." Eventually the fact that there were traces of cannabis, or marijuana in Lee's stomach was completely discredited as a reason for his death. A doctor later said that it had as much meaning as telling him Lee had drunk a cup of tea the day he died.' Even as the authorities and the press amped up the anti-cannabis propaganda using Lee's death as an example, expert physicians started reporting the truth. How many saw the actual facts, and how many believed the propaganda is probably proportional to the number of people who are hypnotized by commercial films to the proportion of people who watch independent cinema. Block writes 'The top expert brought in on the case was Professor R D Teare, the professor of forensic medicine at the University of London. He ridiculed the theory that cannabis contributed to the collapse the actor suffered on May 10 or to his death on July 20. He said cannabis had been taken in various forms for centuries, and deemed it pure coincidence that shortly before the onset of Lee's collapse in May and his death he had taken cannabis. "It would be irresponsible and irrational to ascribe the causes of death to cannabis sensitivity, if over the years there had been no previous record of such a happening," the professor stated. Professor Teare said that his opinion was that the cause of death was acute cerebral edema (brain swelling) due to hypersensitvity to either meprobamate or aspirin, or possibly the combination of the two, contained in the drug Equagesic.' This was further confirmed by another medical expert. Block writes that 'Clinical pathologist Dr. R R Lycette of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong testified Lee's death could not have been caused by cannabis poisoning, but was more likely due to hypersensitivity to one of the elements of Equagesic. Dr. Lycette, who performed the autopsy on Lee, explained hypersensitivity is an adverse reaction of a body to a foreign substance. "The substance which Lee could have been hypersensitive to might have been contained in Equagesic - a tablet he took - but I can't definitely say which compound in the tablet Lee was hypersensitive to," said the doctor.' China's widespread repression of cannabis has not abated since the time of Bruce Lee. Cannabis is probably the one thing that the ruling party fears the most, as it will upend their entire power structure. So the ruling dispensation makes it a point to widely publicize its cannabis crackdowns, to serve as a lesson to anybody from the public getting wrong ideas about freedom and liberty. The film community continues to face the oppression, with The Hindu reporting some time back on legal action taken against the sion of another martial arts superstar, Jackie Chan. It reports that 'Jaycee Chan, 31, became the high profile celebrity to be ensnared in an anti—drug crackdown by Chinese authorities when he was detained on Aug. 14 along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said a few days later that both actors had tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams of it were taken from Chan’s home.'
The few movies where cannabis plays an important role - like Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice, Fear and Loathing in Vegas and Bob Marley: One Love - are typically only viewed by discerning audiences and never become big commercial successes. They have their cult following of course. They never typically make it to mainstream cinema theaters because that eternal guardian of class and caste hierarchies, that sheriff of moral policing in cinema - the Censor Board - never allows these movies to be screened. They would rather show mindless mayhem, mind boggling thinly draped sexuality and horrendous crimes and dialogues that can permanently damage an adult's mind - let alone a child's - as long as it shows the elites as they desire to be portrayed, and the Censor Board gets its share of the proceedings. The Bob Marley One Love movie symbolizes the hypocrisy of the film industry when it comes to cannabis. While movies like Barbie were banned in repressive patriarchal societies for portraying female liberation, the Bob Marley film was banned from big theaters in most countries, and the only reason I see for this is the cannabis use that was inseparable from Bob Marley and The Wailers. You cannot separate the musician Bob Marley from ganja so censoring the film would have left you with no film at all. So the next best thing was to ban it on the big screens. In India, the whole censorship charade was taken to new levels. I saw the preview or trailer of the movie in the theater stating that it was releasing soon. The movie however never made it to the big screen, depriving large numbers of reggae, Bob Marley, and ganja fans the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful film on the big screen with cinematic sound. After a couple of months the film was released on OTT. Maybe the commercial film industry had visions of dreadlocked rastas, and tramps from the streets, smoking chillums and having orgies in the cinema halls with the wives of the censor board and commercial film producers to the reggae beat. I think the film was released only in a few places in the world in theaters, showing the extent of control that the ruling elites have on the anti-cannabis narrative in society today.
In the past, most commercial directors never tolerated cannabis use on the sets, but they sometimes had to contend with the outlier. Men's Health reports that 'The story goes that while Schwarzenegger and DeVito were on the set of the 1988 comedy (in which they played long-lost non-identical twin brothers), they would hang out between takes, DeVito would make them both pasta for lunch, and they would enjoy a cigar. On one such occasion, DeVito deviously sneaked some marijuana into Schwarzenegger's stogie, rendering the actor incapable of remembering his lines when they returned to set to shoot a scene that afternoon. Schwarzenegger has since recalled that director Ivan Reitman was a good sport about the whole thing, and filmed several close-ups of DeVito that day so that Schwarzenegger could read his lines off a script. "We were lucky this was on Ivan’s movie," he said, "because if this ever happened on a Jim Cameron film, we would have been in real trouble."' Danny DeVito appears to have been one of the flag bearers of the cannabis culture in the sixties. Page Six quotes Micheal Douglas sharing some smoking moments with DeVito when it says '“He says ‘You get high?’ We were both 1967 potheads, so we smoked a joint and that was the beginning of a long, long friendship.”' Some actors, in recent times have been in-your-face cannabis users, seeing no stigma in their usage of cannabis, and making it publicly known. These actors have attained cult stardom for their bold stance. Take Morgan Freeman, as an example. Or Jeff Bridges. Or Joaquin Phoenix. Or Bill Murray. Or Woody Harrelson. Morgan Freeman is quoted by The Hindu as saying 'Asked how he would consume it, he replied, “However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!” Freeman said cannabis is the only thing that can help him manage fibromyalgia pain in his arm after it was shattered in a car crash in 1977. “They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life,” he added. “That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalise it across the board!’”' Woody Harrelson is one of those flying the cannabis banner without guilt or remorse these days, adding to his aura. NORML reports that 'In a recent interview, Woody recounts a private dinner that he attended with Donald Trump and a couple of others in 2002 in which he said he had to step outside to smoke a joint in order to get through the evening. ” It was brutal. I’d never met a more narcissistic man,” Harrelson said during an appearance on Bill Maher‘s HBO show. “He talked about himself the whole time. I had to walk out like halfway through [and] smoke a joint just to like steel myself for the rest of the dinner.” More recently Woody went through a few months during which he claimed he had stopped smoking marijuana. But his friend Willie [Nelson] kept tempting him to start smoking again. And as expected, at one of those poker games at Willie’s place, after he had won a big pot and felt like celebrating, Woody said he could no longer say “no” to Willie’s offer. Once he took a hit, Willie reportedly said “Welcome home!” Woody officially ended his period of abstinence.' Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame, is reported by MLive News as saying, at the eve of Michigan's adult cannabis use legalization, that '"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world." "There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana. It's not surprising, he said. "Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."'' Whoopie Goldberg was prominent in New Jersey's journey to cannabis legalization for adult recreational use. In the build up to adult cannabis use legalization, North Jersey reports her as saying 'For countless adults across New Jersey, myself included, marijuana has never been about getting high just for the sake of it. And, that’s something that lawmakers on Monday need to remember. The unhinged and dire doomsday prophecies of some simply have not come to fruition elsewhere, nor will they in New Jersey. At issue is adult-use marijuana, and treating adults as, well, adults. And, when we do that, what will follow – positive societal change – is much more important than not treating us like petty criminals.'
It is a well known fact that cannabis usage is widely prevalent in the film making and advertising industries.Cannabis is one of the paramount natural medicines in the world, besides being an entheogen and safe intoxicant. Cannabis helps creative thinking because it brings focus and concentration, reducing pain, stress, depression and anxiety. It also enables the film or ad maker to catch a good night's sleep and stay away from the real harmful substances that are widely prevalent in film making and ad agency circles. The Hollywood Reporter says 'He [Jordan Peele] locked himself in a room and started smoking a lot of weed, plotting his revenge, "like a comic book supervillain," he explained. Then it hit him: "I wanted to be a producer," he realized. "These producers are making these decisions about art and comedy and they don't know anything about art and comedy. I want to be a producer and bring my artistry and they'll all be sorry."'
The image of cannabis is undergoing a sea change among the acting fraternity these days in places where cannabis has been legalized. Where once cannabis was considered the drug of the tramps, many of today's leading artists are embracing cannabis, and being public about it, even though for some the realization has only dawned in their old age. Better late than never, I suppose. Breaking News reports that '[William] Shatner told the PA news agency: “I’ve got some aches and pains I didn’t have a few years ago. “But, I’m finding out there are many things that help aches and pains that we didn’t know about just a few years ago. Well, THC and CBD, and that kind of thing.” He added: “Have you used it? It’s magical. I’ve had swollen joints where it hurts, you rub some on and while you’re rubbing it on, the pain disappears. It’s magical.”' Vox reported during the 2019 Oscars that 'On the list of people in the world who have things to worry about, the famous actors and directors nominated at this year’s Oscars make up the very last 25 of those spots. Fine, I am sure some of them have legitimate stressors in their lives, but I also hope that being nominated for the most prestigious award in their chosen field mitigates at least some of that. But despite this, nominees for acting and directing awards will all receive products to help calm them down. This year, the Oscars gift bags will include chocolates infused with THC, CBD skin care, private therapy sessions for “phobia relief,” and, for some reason, a toilet plunger.' The Hollywood Reporter says 'Ever since winning an Oscar for best original screenplay for his 2013 feature film Her, Spike Jonze has rolled out a series of head-turning shorts for big brands, and he's done so with name stars in front of the camera. There was FKA Twigs for Apple's HomePod, Margaret Qualley for fashion house Kenzo and, most recently, Idris Elba for Squarespace. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that he's taking his talents to the cannabis industry, courtesy of MedMen. According to a source, Jonze was on set last week in Los Angeles shooting a short film for the leading marijuana dispensary with Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams along for the pot-focused ride.' Speaking on the subject of the short film, Adweek reports 'Jonze continued: “It was shocking to just sit in all the stories of so many people and so many lives that were unfairly hurt by the prohibition and the fear that was stoked by it, especially people of color. And it wasn’t just their lives, it was their families, too. And now we are starting to come out of it. … I’ve never been into pot much or a huge advocate for legalization, but I’ve always supported it because it seemed absurd for the reasons we all know. And it always felt inevitable.”' As Leafly reports 'Need an easily digestible look at the history of cannabis in America? Check out “The New Normal,” a short that was produced by MedMen, directed by Spike Jonze, and stars Jesse Williams. It’s the first time in a while that a powerhouse cannabis company has outwardly and explicitly acknowledged the realities of the cannabis industry—where prohibition came from, how it has affected certain communities, where it is now, and where legalization should be headed. While the commercial provides an abundance of feel-good vibes about the future, it’s important to understand that we still have a long way to go before the normalization of adult-use cannabis is achieved. The war on drugs is not over, and until the problems of prohibition are corrected, this industry cannot truthfully say that it is. But the future looks bright. Very bright.' When the top directors of the world are only starting to understand what cannabis prohibition is all about, then who can blame the vast majority of film makers who continue to exist in the delusion of reefer madness.
In India, it is very rare to see someone from the film community come out openly about their cannabis usage and love for cannabis. One of the very few has been Naseeruddin Shah, one of the best actors that India has ever produced. He took the long hard path from theater to cinema, and has been involved in both commercial and independent movies. The Hindu reports 'Naseeruddin Shah is arguably the most vocal advocate of cannabis in Hindi film industry — although a large number of filmmakers and actors use it, few are ready to go on record. Shah, who famously wrote in his autobiography, about how he thinks marijuana has made him “more intelligent”, gave us an exclusive. “Showing cannabis use in Hindi films hasn't changed or increased. I guess a few more youngsters who smoke are making films now. It's just that since so many white skinned people came to India to smoke it, it suddenly became cool and was no longer considered only a "dhobiyon ka nasha". Maybe the discovery that it's also actually present in their own homes has made the tight asses of our industry a little more accepting. Considering the film industry's propensity for the bottle, it's not surprising marijuana wasn't considered classy enough. Also, I guess it's tough writing song after song about how comforting it is to ingest! While a student, I was in fact repeatedly cautioned that I'd get no work in the industry if it was discovered I smoke! In India, where it has been smoked for thousands of years, peddling it is illegal, consuming it isn't. And the much more harmful alcohol is not considered a hard drug!"' The Hindu further reports an incident from Shah's biography where he says '“There was a senior actor, who was not a very good actor, nor was he very well known. He and I discovered a common fondness for marijuana ( laughs)… on a location. We were sitting together one day, and I had just won a national award for Sparsh, and we were shooting this film Hum Paanch in Melkote, near Bangalore. We both got nicely high, with our heads in the clouds, and he says to me: ‘I haven’t seen your work, but I can tell you as an actor, if you can recall your grandmother telling you that look at the moon and there is an old woman sitting in the moon, knitting a sweater for you. If you are a good boy, you will get that sweater. You have to retain the faith she would.’”' Naseeruddin Shah featured in an independent film called The Blueberry Hunt about the troubles faced by a cannabis grower in the high ranges of Kerala. The movie did not make a big impact but it was watched by some from the cannabis community. The Hindu reports that 'The Blueberry Hunt focusses on how the Colonel’s plantation of a high-potency variant of marijuana – Blueberry Skunk – gets ready for harvest, but things go haywire at the last moment.'
There seems to be a fairly good understanding of the cannabis picture among some of the emerging film makers in India. One of the better films that came out in India was Udta Punjab highlighting the opium menace in the state of Punjab. The director of the film spoke to the media regarding the drug scene in Bollywood, and India in general, and he seems to know the subject well. The Hindu reports that 'Yes, [the film is] especially anti-heroin and anti-opiate. It’s not so much anti-cocaine if you notice. It’s a party drug that rich kids do it, many great directors like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone have experimented with cocaine, have binged and come out of it. Many Bollywood stars have done the same. Coke is not a big deal. Marijuana doesn’t even qualify. The name of Alia’s character as Mary Jane, a brilliant idea by Sudip, in fact is an allusion to marijuana. I mean any drug is bad per se but doing drugs is a matter of choice if you are 18 and above. But when it becomes a sociological problem, when somebody like Alia’s character or Balli (Diljit Dosanjh’s brother in the film) doesn’t have a choice in the matter, then you have to take a stand. And you have to go out there and do this. Hence, the film is so viciously anti-drug. There is a lot of MDMA and coke abuse in Lokhandwala, Andheri. But that’s not breakdown of society, that’s just people partying. That’s excess, debauched or decadent. But what is happening in Punjab demanded this of the film.' The Hindu reports on Jugal Mody, 'Since, the characters in Toke are into substance abuse, it was only fair to ask him about the legalisation of marijuana. He answered, “I don’t think it should be a question. In Allahabad there is a government ration shop that sells cannabis.” In some parts of the country it is sold on the streets. After thinking for a while, he added, “I don’t think people talk much about it, that’s why all this drama is happening.” Answering a rapid-fire round he said he would write an erotic fiction if people are ready to read it. He would legalise weed in India. He said that he is a big TV fan.' Hindustan Times reports Uday Chopra as saying '"I feel India should legalize marijuana. Firstly, It's part of our culture. Secondly, I think if legalized and taxed it can be a huge revenue source. Not to mention it will remove the criminal element associated with it. Plus and most importantly it has a lot of medical benefits!" he tweeted on Thursday.' The Hindu reports Agneya Singh who made a film called M Cream (short for the legendary Malana Cream hashish), which had Naseeruddin Shah's son in the lead role, as saying 'Though drugs may be at the centre of the narrative, they are neither glorified nor condemned. “The film doesn’t take a moral position on drugs at all. And yet it reflects the life of a young person,” says Singh. “In the 1950s UN Convention, India had opposed the move to ban marijuana, but bowed down to pressure from the United States.”' Anurag Kashyap appears to be another Indian film maker who handles the subject of cannabis maturely. In most cases however, the few who attempt movies featuring cannabis have not delivered, either due to lack of research or impactful scripts. Reviewing the film The Blueberry Hunt, The Hindu says 'The ‘thriller’ boasts of not a single edge of the seat moment. You wait for things to happen but nothing consequential does. The film comes in the midst of a debate about legalisation of marijuana, for medicinal as well as cultural reasons. This could have been a cracker of a film to take the debate forward. But it prefers to remain hazy and tepid in a pointless world of its own.'
The independent film maker typically portrays cannabis as a normal part of the story, showing the reality of cannabis usage for what it is, without blowing it out of proportion to the context of the scene. Cannabis usage in the role portrayed is shown as naturally as smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol, which is all that there is to it. But even among independent cinema, I do not think there has yet been a single film that focused on the issue of the illegal prohibition of cannabis, and the harms that this has done to society - especially the lower classes and castes, the poorest sections of society, the ill, women and the elderly. Suppression of cannabis is easily the biggest crime perpetrated on humanity and the planet by the ruling classes and elites. It has enslaved hundreds of millions of persons world wide to alcohol, tobacco and synthetic drugs - legal and illegal - and it has imprisoned and killed tens of thousands of persons from minority, social and economically backward classes of society. Discrimination against the cannabis user is rampant in society, much more so than discrimination on the basis of skin color, gender, economic and social class, or sexual orientation. Let alone the discrimination against the cannabis user, the discrimination against the plant has meant that hundreds of varieties of natural cannabis have been exterminated from the face of the earth through law and drug enforcement action, and over zealous citizens playing the role of the moral police. Yet this narrative of cannabis suppression in society is completely missing. One of the problems in Indian cinema has been the lack of quality films addressing the issue of cannabis prohibition. The subject has the potential of a national revolution on the lines of India's freedom movement. The freedom movement against the British was easier to achieve since the enemy could be clearly distinguished, and was an outsider to traditional Indian society. In the case of cannabis prohibition, however, the enemy has been around for so long, and has enmeshed himself into the Indian social and cultural fabric so much that it is difficult to distinguish him. The enemy, in the case of cannabis, is the ruling upper castes and classes who have worked with the British to prohibit cannabis and keep the lower classes and castes enslaved. They have more or less dislodged Siva, the god of ganja, himself from the narrative, replacing him with gods and goddesses of the cultures that moved into India and ruled over its indigenous communities after reducing them to the lowest classes and castes. The great freedom movement that is cannabis legalization in India awaits, while film makers continue to milk the anti-British patriotic sentiment even after 77 years paying absolutely no heed to the slavery of India's majority that has gone on for 150 years now. Gandhi, being a staunch Vaishnavite, appears to have not recognized the untouchability that exists around India's cannabis users who belong to its indigenous communities. Even BR Ambedkar, who rallied for Dalit rights and brought the indigenous communities together, did not touch much upon this key form of oppression against India's native populations. I suppose that Ambedkar already had too much on his plate. But missing the cannabis issue was missing an opportunity to truly liberate India's lower castes and classes and restore their rights to safe intoxicant and medicine, their rights to freedom of religion, and their right to sustainable livelihood opportunities that would have lifted large numbers out of poverty and oppression. Film makers do not seem to realize that cannabis legalization will bring about peaceful revolutions not only in the areas of social and economic justice, but also in the areas of affordable universal healthcare, reduction in crime, sustainable agriculture and industry, harm reduction, spirituality and environmental protection.
The attitude of the film industry and the film censor boards across the world towards cannabis is downright discriminatory on the basis of race, religion, class and caste. In India, for example, we have films like Kantara and Naan Kadavul that win national awards and widespread acclaim among the audiences and critics. These films depict the hero smoking ganja in chillums - sometimes donning religious attires of saffron - that seems to be acceptable to the censor board and the public. Besides these movies, there are numerous movies depicting the rich upper class elites casually smoking joints without batting an eyelid that makes it to the big screen. What is it about a Bob Marley movie that does not make the cut? Is it the fact that the ganja smoker here is a Black, and a dreadlocked one at that? Racism against Blacks in India is hardly ever spoken about but I believe it to be among the highest in the world. In Bengaluru, most Black persons are suspected to be involved in the illegal trade of drugs, and most drug seizures that make the news in Bengaluru are about Blacks. Even though the drug trade involves many players - including law enforcement and influential persons in society - it is finally only the Black person who is caught and imprisoned with widespread media publicity. The others pay their way out or are themselves part of the law enforcement set up. I am very curious to know the criteria on the basis of which cannabis usage becomes a reason for a film not being released. Is the depiction of the cannabis plant - one of nature's creations growing freely everywhere till it was prohibited - considered not acceptable? Or is it the rolling of a joint using rolling paper instead of a chillum or a palm frond, and the subsequent smoking of it, considered not acceptable? What makes the cannabis usage in other films acceptable? Is it the smoking in a chillum? Is it the saffron attire of the smoker? Is it the fact that the smoker is one of the elites? I believe that any film depicting a Black, or an indigenous Indian tribal, or a person from the lower classes and castes, or a Muslim from the poor classes, or a woman from the lower classes and castes, or a tramp on the streets will be considered objectionable by the censor board and large sections of the audience. It is this discriminatory attitude that, I believe, is behind the non-screening of the Bob Marley film not just in India but in all parts of the world where it was not played in theaters. It is this discriminatory attitude that is at the root of the entire prohibition of cannabis globally.
Film making is the prerogative of the ruling elites and is funded by the ruling elites to keep the narrative that suits them alive in the minds of the audience. Cannabis represents a potent way to upend all existing power structures skewed in favor of the ruling upper classes and castes, including within the film industry. As Mashable reports 'We really aren't as far away from 1936 as we think, both on screen and in real life. But if moviemakers and showrunners can give us more than stoner comedy tropes, if they can stop giggling for long enough to give us more even-handed, realistic representations of a mostly harmless intoxicant, then society at large will follow.'
Film making is the prerogative of the ruling elites and is funded by the ruling elites to keep the narrative that suits them alive in the minds of the audience. Cannabis represents a potent way to upend all existing power structures skewed in favor of the ruling upper classes and castes, including within the film industry. As Mashable reports 'We really aren't as far away from 1936 as we think, both on screen and in real life. But if moviemakers and showrunners can give us more than stoner comedy tropes, if they can stop giggling for long enough to give us more even-handed, realistic representations of a mostly harmless intoxicant, then society at large will follow.'
Related articles
Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above
subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of
reading the article.
Started watching the Bob Marley: One Love movie on Amazon Prime, and it looks quite excellent...Unfortunate that the movie cannot be watched in theaters in India on the big screen, with cinema sound...Thinking of connecting some external speakers to the TV to watch the rest of it...
https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Bob-Marley-One-Love/0JU2QINH6028IS63SSFB6O4BBX
https://www.vulture.com/article/stoner-canon-101-best-trippy-movies-albums-books.html
https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-180/kingsley-ben-adir-relishing-the-challenge-snapshot#axzz8NuXoIeBf
'In a recent interview, Woody recounts a private dinner that he attended with Donald Trump and a couple of others in 2002 in which he said he had to step outside to smoke a joint in order to get through the evening. ” It was brutal. I’d never met a more narcissistic man,” Harrelson said during an appearance on Bill Maher‘s HBO show. “He talked about himself the whole time. I had to walk out like halfway through [and] smoke a joint just to like steel myself for the rest of the dinner.”
More recently Woody went through a few months during which he claimed he had stopped smoking marijuana. But his friend Willie kept tempting him to start smoking again. And as expected, at one of those poker games at Willie’s place, after he had won a big pot and felt like celebrating, Woody said he could no longer say “no” to Willie’s offer. Once he took a hit, Willie reportedly said “Welcome home!” Woody officially ended his period of abstinence.'
https://norml.org/blog/2020/08/27/a-founder-looks-at-50-reflecting-upon-my-times-with-woody-harrelson/
'The story goes that while Schwarzenegger and DeVito were on the set of the 1988 comedy (in which they played long-lost non-identical twin brothers), they would hang out between takes, DeVito would make them both pasta for lunch, and they would enjoy a cigar. On one such occasion, DeVito deviously sneaked some marijuana into Schwarzenegger's stogie, rendering the actor incapable of remembering his lines when they returned to set to shoot a scene that afternoon.
Schwarzenegger has since recalled that director Ivan Reitman was a good sport about the whole thing, and filmed several close-ups of DeVito that day so that Schwarzenegger could read his lines off a script. "We were lucky this was on Ivan’s movie," he said, "because if this ever happened on a Jim Cameron film, we would have been in real trouble."'
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a37919142/arnold-schwarzenegger-danny-devito-marijuana-cigar-prank/
https://www.firstpost.com/india/what-aryan-khan-supporters-need-to-know-about-ndps-act-and-indias-drug-war-10078911.html
'But he [William Burroughs] was not the first white man to be busted for weed in my time. No. That was Robert Mitchum, the actor, who was arrested three months earlier in Malibu at the front door of a hideaway beach house for possession of marijuana and suspicion of molesting a teenage girl on August 31, 1948. I remember the photos: Mitchum wearing an undershirt and snarling at the cops with the sea rolling up and the palm trees blowing.
Yessir, that was my boy. Between Mitchum and Burroughs and James Dean and Jack Kerouac, I got myself a serious running start before I was twenty years old, and there was no turning back. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
So welcome to Thunder Road, bubba. It was one of those movies that got a grip on me when I was too young to resist. It convinced me that the only way to drive was at top speed with a car full of whiskey, and I have been driving that way ever since, for good or ill.'
- Hey Rube! I Love You: Eerie Reflections on Fuel, Madness & Music, May 13, 1999, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson
https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Bob-Marley-One-Love/0JU2QINH6028IS63SSFB6O4BBX
https://www.vulture.com/article/stoner-canon-101-best-trippy-movies-albums-books.html
https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-180/kingsley-ben-adir-relishing-the-challenge-snapshot#axzz8NuXoIeBf
'In a recent interview, Woody recounts a private dinner that he attended with Donald Trump and a couple of others in 2002 in which he said he had to step outside to smoke a joint in order to get through the evening. ” It was brutal. I’d never met a more narcissistic man,” Harrelson said during an appearance on Bill Maher‘s HBO show. “He talked about himself the whole time. I had to walk out like halfway through [and] smoke a joint just to like steel myself for the rest of the dinner.”
More recently Woody went through a few months during which he claimed he had stopped smoking marijuana. But his friend Willie kept tempting him to start smoking again. And as expected, at one of those poker games at Willie’s place, after he had won a big pot and felt like celebrating, Woody said he could no longer say “no” to Willie’s offer. Once he took a hit, Willie reportedly said “Welcome home!” Woody officially ended his period of abstinence.'
https://norml.org/blog/2020/08/27/a-founder-looks-at-50-reflecting-upon-my-times-with-woody-harrelson/
'The story goes that while Schwarzenegger and DeVito were on the set of the 1988 comedy (in which they played long-lost non-identical twin brothers), they would hang out between takes, DeVito would make them both pasta for lunch, and they would enjoy a cigar. On one such occasion, DeVito deviously sneaked some marijuana into Schwarzenegger's stogie, rendering the actor incapable of remembering his lines when they returned to set to shoot a scene that afternoon.
Schwarzenegger has since recalled that director Ivan Reitman was a good sport about the whole thing, and filmed several close-ups of DeVito that day so that Schwarzenegger could read his lines off a script. "We were lucky this was on Ivan’s movie," he said, "because if this ever happened on a Jim Cameron film, we would have been in real trouble."'
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a37919142/arnold-schwarzenegger-danny-devito-marijuana-cigar-prank/
https://www.firstpost.com/india/what-aryan-khan-supporters-need-to-know-about-ndps-act-and-indias-drug-war-10078911.html
'But he [William Burroughs] was not the first white man to be busted for weed in my time. No. That was Robert Mitchum, the actor, who was arrested three months earlier in Malibu at the front door of a hideaway beach house for possession of marijuana and suspicion of molesting a teenage girl on August 31, 1948. I remember the photos: Mitchum wearing an undershirt and snarling at the cops with the sea rolling up and the palm trees blowing.
Yessir, that was my boy. Between Mitchum and Burroughs and James Dean and Jack Kerouac, I got myself a serious running start before I was twenty years old, and there was no turning back. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
So welcome to Thunder Road, bubba. It was one of those movies that got a grip on me when I was too young to resist. It convinced me that the only way to drive was at top speed with a car full of whiskey, and I have been driving that way ever since, for good or ill.'
- Hey Rube! I Love You: Eerie Reflections on Fuel, Madness & Music, May 13, 1999, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson
'Jennifer Aniston Gives JD Advice Before He Smokes Weed for the First Time'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxTytvUrQ4c
Cannabis..the final frontier..
'Shatner told the PA news agency: “I’ve got some aches and pains I didn’t have a few years ago.
“But, I’m finding out there are many things that help aches and pains that we didn’t know about just a few years ago. Well, THC and CBD, and that kind of thing.”
He added: “Have you used it? It’s magical. I’ve had swollen joints where it hurts, you rub some on and while you’re rubbing it on, the pain disappears. It’s magical.”'
https://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/william-shatner-using-magical-cannabis-extract-to-treat-aches-and-pains-1003916.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxTytvUrQ4c
Cannabis..the final frontier..
'Shatner told the PA news agency: “I’ve got some aches and pains I didn’t have a few years ago.
“But, I’m finding out there are many things that help aches and pains that we didn’t know about just a few years ago. Well, THC and CBD, and that kind of thing.”
He added: “Have you used it? It’s magical. I’ve had swollen joints where it hurts, you rub some on and while you’re rubbing it on, the pain disappears. It’s magical.”'
https://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/william-shatner-using-magical-cannabis-extract-to-treat-aches-and-pains-1003916.html
'“There was a senior actor, who was not a very good actor, nor was he very well known. He and I discovered a common fondness for marijuana ( laughs)… on a location. We were sitting together one day, and I had just won a national award for Sparsh, and we were shooting this film Hum Paanch in Melkote, near Bangalore. We both got nicely high, with our heads in the clouds, and he says to me: ‘I haven’t seen your work, but I can tell you as an actor, if you can recall your grandmother telling you that look at the moon and there is an old woman sitting in the moon, knitting a sweater for you. If you are a good boy, you will get that sweater. You have to retain the faith she would.’ The faith that she would. If you retain that faith. It was very profound advice given by somebody I didn’t even have any regard for. That is what keeps an actor going, even though he does something bland, rehearsed but feels that this is something I am doing for the first time. It’s what makes a performance alive.”'
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/naseeruddin-shah-speaks-on-his-autobiography-and-then-one-day-a-memoir/article6599422.ece
'Asked how he would consume it, he replied, “However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!” Freeman said cannabis is the only thing that can help him manage fibromyalgia pain in his arm after it was shattered in a car crash in 1977.
“They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life,” he added. “That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalise it across the board!’”'
'Asked how he would consume it, he replied, “However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!” Freeman said cannabis is the only thing that can help him manage fibromyalgia pain in his arm after it was shattered in a car crash in 1977.
“They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life,” he added. “That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalise it across the board!’”'
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/morgan-freeman-wants-marijuana-legalised/article7190401.ece
'Since, the characters in Toke are into substance abuse, it was only fair to ask him about the legalisation of marijuana. He answered, “I don’t think it should be a question. In Allahabad there is a government ration shop that sells cannabis.” In some parts of the country it is sold on the streets. After thinking for a while, he added, “I don’t think people talk much about it, that’s why all this drama is happening.” Answering a rapid-fire round he said he would write an erotic fiction if people are ready to read it. He would legalise weed in India. He said that he is a big TV fan.'
'Since, the characters in Toke are into substance abuse, it was only fair to ask him about the legalisation of marijuana. He answered, “I don’t think it should be a question. In Allahabad there is a government ration shop that sells cannabis.” In some parts of the country it is sold on the streets. After thinking for a while, he added, “I don’t think people talk much about it, that’s why all this drama is happening.” Answering a rapid-fire round he said he would write an erotic fiction if people are ready to read it. He would legalise weed in India. He said that he is a big TV fan.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/leaves-from-the-past/article4556345.ece
'On the list of people in the world who have things to worry about, the famous actors and directors nominated at this year’s Oscars make up the very last 25 of those spots. Fine, I am sure some of them have legitimate stressors in their lives, but I also hope that being nominated for the most prestigious award in their chosen field mitigates at least some of that.
But despite this, nominees for acting and directing awards will all receive products to help calm them down. This year, the Oscars gift bags will include chocolates infused with THC, CBD skin care, private therapy sessions for “phobia relief,” and, for some reason, a toilet plunger.'
'On the list of people in the world who have things to worry about, the famous actors and directors nominated at this year’s Oscars make up the very last 25 of those spots. Fine, I am sure some of them have legitimate stressors in their lives, but I also hope that being nominated for the most prestigious award in their chosen field mitigates at least some of that.
But despite this, nominees for acting and directing awards will all receive products to help calm them down. This year, the Oscars gift bags will include chocolates infused with THC, CBD skin care, private therapy sessions for “phobia relief,” and, for some reason, a toilet plunger.'
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/18/18229393/oscars-2019-gift-bags-swag
Legalize marijuana China...medicinal plants need to be looked at differently from prescription and synthetic drugs...especially in a country the size of China with a massive need for affordable healthcare for all...
'Jaycee Chan, 31, became the high profile celebrity to be ensnared in an anti—drug crackdown by Chinese authorities when he was detained on Aug. 14 along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said a few days later that both actors had tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams of it were taken from Chan’s home.'
Legalize marijuana China...medicinal plants need to be looked at differently from prescription and synthetic drugs...especially in a country the size of China with a massive need for affordable healthcare for all...
'Jaycee Chan, 31, became the high profile celebrity to be ensnared in an anti—drug crackdown by Chinese authorities when he was detained on Aug. 14 along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said a few days later that both actors had tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams of it were taken from Chan’s home.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/beijing-police-formally-arrest-jackie-chans-son-in-drug-case/article6419372.ece
'"I feel India should legalize marijuana. Firstly, It's part of our culture. Secondly, I think if legalized and taxed it can be a huge revenue source. Not to mention it will remove the criminal element associated with it. Plus and most importantly it has a lot of medical benefits!" he tweeted on Thursday.'
'"I feel India should legalize marijuana. Firstly, It's part of our culture. Secondly, I think if legalized and taxed it can be a huge revenue source. Not to mention it will remove the criminal element associated with it. Plus and most importantly it has a lot of medical benefits!" he tweeted on Thursday.'
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/uday-chopra-wants-india-to-legalise-marijuana-clarifies-he-doesn-t-use-it/story-82e5fMq4JIxYlwthRbLKLN.html
'“He says ‘You get high?’ We were both 1967 potheads, so we smoked a joint and that was the beginning of a long, long friendship.”'
'“He says ‘You get high?’ We were both 1967 potheads, so we smoked a joint and that was the beginning of a long, long friendship.”'
https://pagesix.com/2018/10/24/michael-douglas-and-danny-devito-bonded-over-weed/
'The filmmaker even manages to showcase the drug-induced trip through his camera work but with such a shoddy script and a murderer Bhangiranga as its son of god, the film is difficult to sit through. At its core, the ideology of the film believes in warning the youth from going overboard but who will tell the filmmaker that he went overboard too?'
'The filmmaker even manages to showcase the drug-induced trip through his camera work but with such a shoddy script and a murderer Bhangiranga as its son of god, the film is difficult to sit through. At its core, the ideology of the film believes in warning the youth from going overboard but who will tell the filmmaker that he went overboard too?'
https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/when-moral-police-is-invited-to-party/article7747267.ece
'"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world."
"There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana.
It's not surprising, he said.
"Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."''
'"It's legal in Michigan now, yeah," he said. "Well, that will change the world."
"There's our quest for world peace -- one state at a time." Marin said "30 some states" have some form of legalized marijuana.
It's not surprising, he said.
"Now the boulder is rolling down hill, so it doesn't look like it's going to be stopped. You could get in the way of it, but I wouldn't want to be crushed by a boulder."''
https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/11/the_legalization_of_marijuana.html
'The Blueberry Hunt focusses on how the Colonel’s plantation of a high-potency variant of marijuana – Blueberry Skunk – gets ready for harvest, but things go haywire at the last moment.'
'The Blueberry Hunt focusses on how the Colonel’s plantation of a high-potency variant of marijuana – Blueberry Skunk – gets ready for harvest, but things go haywire at the last moment.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/naseeruddin-will-surprise-everyone-in-the-blueberry-hunt/article8394233.ece
'Yes, [the film is] especially anti-heroin and anti-opiate. It’s not so much anti-cocaine if you notice. It’s a party drug that rich kids do it, many great directors like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone have experimented with cocaine, have binged and come out of it. Many Bollywood stars have done the same. Coke is not a big deal. Marijuana doesn’t even qualify. The name of Alia’s character as Mary Jane, a brilliant idea by Sudip, in fact is an allusion to marijuana. I mean any drug is bad per se but doing drugs is a matter of choice if you are 18 and above. But when it becomes a sociological problem, when somebody like Alia’s character or Balli (Diljit Dosanjh’s brother in the film) doesn’t have a choice in the matter, then you have to take a stand. And you have to go out there and do this. Hence, the film is so viciously anti-drug. There is a lot of MDMA and coke abuse in Lokhandwala, Andheri. But that’s not breakdown of society, that’s just people partying. That’s excess, debauched or decadent. But what is happening in Punjab demanded this of the film.'
'Yes, [the film is] especially anti-heroin and anti-opiate. It’s not so much anti-cocaine if you notice. It’s a party drug that rich kids do it, many great directors like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone have experimented with cocaine, have binged and come out of it. Many Bollywood stars have done the same. Coke is not a big deal. Marijuana doesn’t even qualify. The name of Alia’s character as Mary Jane, a brilliant idea by Sudip, in fact is an allusion to marijuana. I mean any drug is bad per se but doing drugs is a matter of choice if you are 18 and above. But when it becomes a sociological problem, when somebody like Alia’s character or Balli (Diljit Dosanjh’s brother in the film) doesn’t have a choice in the matter, then you have to take a stand. And you have to go out there and do this. Hence, the film is so viciously anti-drug. There is a lot of MDMA and coke abuse in Lokhandwala, Andheri. But that’s not breakdown of society, that’s just people partying. That’s excess, debauched or decadent. But what is happening in Punjab demanded this of the film.'
https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/“I-want-to-make-mainstream-movies-but-not-by-losing-myself-in-the-process”/article14395252.ece
'Naseeruddin Shah is arguably the most vocal advocate of cannabis in Hindi film industry — although a large number of filmmakers and actors use it, few are ready to go on record.
Shah, who famously wrote in his autobiography, about how he thinks marijuana has made him “more intelligent”, gave us an exclusive.
“Showing cannabis use in Hindi films hasn't changed or increased. I guess a few more youngsters who smoke are making films now. It's just that since so many white skinned people came to India to smoke it, it suddenly became cool and was no longer considered only a "dhobiyon ka nasha". Maybe the discovery that it's also actually present in their own homes has made the tight asses of our industry a little more accepting. Considering the film industry's propensity for the bottle, it's not surprising marijuana wasn't considered classy enough. Also, I guess it's tough writing song after song about how comforting it is to ingest! While a student, I was in fact repeatedly cautioned that I'd get no work in the industry if it was discovered I smoke! In India, where it has been smoked for thousands of years, peddling it is illegal, consuming it isn't. And the much more harmful alcohol is not considered a hard drug!"'
'Naseeruddin Shah is arguably the most vocal advocate of cannabis in Hindi film industry — although a large number of filmmakers and actors use it, few are ready to go on record.
Shah, who famously wrote in his autobiography, about how he thinks marijuana has made him “more intelligent”, gave us an exclusive.
“Showing cannabis use in Hindi films hasn't changed or increased. I guess a few more youngsters who smoke are making films now. It's just that since so many white skinned people came to India to smoke it, it suddenly became cool and was no longer considered only a "dhobiyon ka nasha". Maybe the discovery that it's also actually present in their own homes has made the tight asses of our industry a little more accepting. Considering the film industry's propensity for the bottle, it's not surprising marijuana wasn't considered classy enough. Also, I guess it's tough writing song after song about how comforting it is to ingest! While a student, I was in fact repeatedly cautioned that I'd get no work in the industry if it was discovered I smoke! In India, where it has been smoked for thousands of years, peddling it is illegal, consuming it isn't. And the much more harmful alcohol is not considered a hard drug!"'
https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/Smoking-the-peace-pipe/article14244080.ece
'The ‘thriller’ boasts of not a single edge of the seat moment. You wait for things to happen but nothing consequential does. The film comes in the midst of a debate about legalisation of marijuana, for medicinal as well as cultural reasons. This could have been a cracker of a film to take the debate forward. But it prefers to remain hazy and tepid in a pointless world of its own.'
'The ‘thriller’ boasts of not a single edge of the seat moment. You wait for things to happen but nothing consequential does. The film comes in the midst of a debate about legalisation of marijuana, for medicinal as well as cultural reasons. This could have been a cracker of a film to take the debate forward. But it prefers to remain hazy and tepid in a pointless world of its own.'
https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/cinema-reviews/not-quite-smokin/article8448987.ece
'Though drugs may be at the centre of the narrative, they are neither glorified nor condemned. “The film doesn’t take a moral position on drugs at all. And yet it reflects the life of a young person,” says Singh. “In the 1950s UN Convention, India had opposed the move to ban marijuana, but bowed down to pressure from the United States.”'
'Though drugs may be at the centre of the narrative, they are neither glorified nor condemned. “The film doesn’t take a moral position on drugs at all. And yet it reflects the life of a young person,” says Singh. “In the 1950s UN Convention, India had opposed the move to ban marijuana, but bowed down to pressure from the United States.”'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-mumbai/Rebels-without-a-pause/article14498346.ece
This applies to movie makers and television show makers worldwide not just Hollywood...
'We really aren't as far away from 1936 as we think, both on screen and in real life. But if moviemakers and showrunners can give us more than stoner comedy tropes, if they can stop giggling for long enough to give us more even-handed, realistic representations of a mostly harmless intoxicant, then society at large will follow.'
This applies to movie makers and television show makers worldwide not just Hollywood...
'We really aren't as far away from 1936 as we think, both on screen and in real life. But if moviemakers and showrunners can give us more than stoner comedy tropes, if they can stop giggling for long enough to give us more even-handed, realistic representations of a mostly harmless intoxicant, then society at large will follow.'
https://mashable.com/article/stoner-weed-representation-movies-tv-media/#IXBa.iMmePqD
'Ever since winning an Oscar for best original screenplay for his 2013 feature film Her, Spike Jonze has rolled out a series of head-turning shorts for big brands, and he's done so with name stars in front of the camera. There was FKA Twigs for Apple's HomePod, Margaret Qualley for fashion house Kenzo and, most recently, Idris Elba for Squarespace.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that he's taking his talents to the cannabis industry, courtesy of MedMen. According to a source, Jonze was on set last week in Los Angeles shooting a short film for the leading marijuana dispensary with Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams along for the pot-focused ride.'
'Ever since winning an Oscar for best original screenplay for his 2013 feature film Her, Spike Jonze has rolled out a series of head-turning shorts for big brands, and he's done so with name stars in front of the camera. There was FKA Twigs for Apple's HomePod, Margaret Qualley for fashion house Kenzo and, most recently, Idris Elba for Squarespace.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that he's taking his talents to the cannabis industry, courtesy of MedMen. According to a source, Jonze was on set last week in Los Angeles shooting a short film for the leading marijuana dispensary with Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams along for the pot-focused ride.'
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/spike-jonze-jesse-williams-teaming-medmen-short-film-1184558
'Jonze continued: “It was shocking to just sit in all the stories of so many people and so many lives that were unfairly hurt by the prohibition and the fear that was stoked by it, especially people of color. And it wasn’t just their lives, it was their families, too. And now we are starting to come out of it. … I’ve never been into pot much or a huge advocate for legalization, but I’ve always supported it because it seemed absurd for the reasons we all know. And it always felt inevitable.”'
'Jonze continued: “It was shocking to just sit in all the stories of so many people and so many lives that were unfairly hurt by the prohibition and the fear that was stoked by it, especially people of color. And it wasn’t just their lives, it was their families, too. And now we are starting to come out of it. … I’ve never been into pot much or a huge advocate for legalization, but I’ve always supported it because it seemed absurd for the reasons we all know. And it always felt inevitable.”'
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/spike-jonzes-artful-short-film-for-medmen-spotlights-the-unjust-criminalization-of-cannabis/
'Need an easily digestible look at the history of cannabis in America? Check out “The New Normal,” a short that was produced by MedMen, directed by Spike Jonze, and stars Jesse Williams.
It’s the first time in a while that a powerhouse cannabis company has outwardly and explicitly acknowledged the realities of the cannabis industry—where prohibition came from, how it has affected certain communities, where it is now, and where legalization should be headed.
While the commercial provides an abundance of feel-good vibes about the future, it’s important to understand that we still have a long way to go before the normalization of adult-use cannabis is achieved. The war on drugs is not over, and until the problems of prohibition are corrected, this industry cannot truthfully say that it is.
But the future looks bright. Very bright.'
'Need an easily digestible look at the history of cannabis in America? Check out “The New Normal,” a short that was produced by MedMen, directed by Spike Jonze, and stars Jesse Williams.
It’s the first time in a while that a powerhouse cannabis company has outwardly and explicitly acknowledged the realities of the cannabis industry—where prohibition came from, how it has affected certain communities, where it is now, and where legalization should be headed.
While the commercial provides an abundance of feel-good vibes about the future, it’s important to understand that we still have a long way to go before the normalization of adult-use cannabis is achieved. The war on drugs is not over, and until the problems of prohibition are corrected, this industry cannot truthfully say that it is.
But the future looks bright. Very bright.'
https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/spike-jonze-medmen-jesse-williams-cannabis-commercial
'For countless adults across New Jersey, myself included, marijuana has never been about getting high just for the sake of it. And, that’s something that lawmakers on Monday need to remember. The unhinged and dire doomsday prophecies of some simply have not come to fruition elsewhere, nor will they in New Jersey.
At issue is adult-use marijuana, and treating adults as, well, adults. And, when we do that, what will follow – positive societal change – is much more important than not treating us like petty criminals.'
'For countless adults across New Jersey, myself included, marijuana has never been about getting high just for the sake of it. And, that’s something that lawmakers on Monday need to remember. The unhinged and dire doomsday prophecies of some simply have not come to fruition elsewhere, nor will they in New Jersey.
At issue is adult-use marijuana, and treating adults as, well, adults. And, when we do that, what will follow – positive societal change – is much more important than not treating us like petty criminals.'
https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/03/22/nj-legal-weed-whoopi-goldberg-says-legalize-cannabis-in-nj/3247086002/
'The new comedy from Harmony Korine. THE BEACH BUM follows the outrageous misadventures of Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), a rebellious burnout who only knows how to live life by his own rules. Complete with an all-star cast including Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Zac Efron, Jimmy Buffett, and Martin Lawrence, THE BEACH BUM is the wildly original and subversive new comedy from writer/director Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers).'
'The new comedy from Harmony Korine. THE BEACH BUM follows the outrageous misadventures of Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), a rebellious burnout who only knows how to live life by his own rules. Complete with an all-star cast including Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Zac Efron, Jimmy Buffett, and Martin Lawrence, THE BEACH BUM is the wildly original and subversive new comedy from writer/director Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers).'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSALRP1mZNQ
'Matthew and Snoop talk about their new movie The Beach Bum, working together, how they came up with their characters, Jimmy Buffett, and Matthew reveals how high Snoop got him on set.'
'Matthew and Snoop talk about their new movie The Beach Bum, working together, how they came up with their characters, Jimmy Buffett, and Matthew reveals how high Snoop got him on set.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yni2fy-AnQ
'Matthew McConaughey was here last night with Snoop Dogg promoting their new movie “The Beach Bum.” In the movie Matthew plays a guy named “Moondog” who, among other things, is a marijuana enthusiast. So we sent Matthew (dressed as Moondog) out onto Hollywood Boulevard to offer people a variety of cannabis-infused food items which were really just regular food items. There was no marijuana in them at all but did that stop people from pretending to be dazed and confused? We find out in our Moondog McConaughey edition of #HighWitnessNews! #Kimmel'
'Matthew McConaughey was here last night with Snoop Dogg promoting their new movie “The Beach Bum.” In the movie Matthew plays a guy named “Moondog” who, among other things, is a marijuana enthusiast. So we sent Matthew (dressed as Moondog) out onto Hollywood Boulevard to offer people a variety of cannabis-infused food items which were really just regular food items. There was no marijuana in them at all but did that stop people from pretending to be dazed and confused? We find out in our Moondog McConaughey edition of #HighWitnessNews! #Kimmel'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGFWS-St1KA
Yeah, weed does that for you..it gives you clarity.
'He locked himself in a room and started smoking a lot of weed, plotting his revenge, "like a comic book supervillain," he explained. Then it hit him: "I wanted to be a producer," he realized. "These producers are making these decisions about art and comedy and they don't know anything about art and comedy. I want to be a producer and bring my artistry and they'll all be sorry."'
Yeah, weed does that for you..it gives you clarity.
'He locked himself in a room and started smoking a lot of weed, plotting his revenge, "like a comic book supervillain," he explained. Then it hit him: "I wanted to be a producer," he realized. "These producers are making these decisions about art and comedy and they don't know anything about art and comedy. I want to be a producer and bring my artistry and they'll all be sorry."'
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/jordan-peele-says-i-dont-see-myself-casting-a-white-dude-as-lead-us-1197021
'"Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood" (1978) also known as "Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision" is a short documentary produced by BBC Omnibus (basically, arty British tv series). It pictures Hunter S. Thompson in the late 70's, when he was eventually getting bigger than life. It was directed by Nigel Finch. This smoothly directed road trip movie pairs Thompson with his inseparable fellow, famous illustrator, Ralph Steadman. The party travels to Hollywood via Death Valley and Barstow from Las Vegas being closely pictured by BBC crew and certainly interviewed at the spot.'
'"Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood" (1978) also known as "Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision" is a short documentary produced by BBC Omnibus (basically, arty British tv series). It pictures Hunter S. Thompson in the late 70's, when he was eventually getting bigger than life. It was directed by Nigel Finch. This smoothly directed road trip movie pairs Thompson with his inseparable fellow, famous illustrator, Ralph Steadman. The party travels to Hollywood via Death Valley and Barstow from Las Vegas being closely pictured by BBC crew and certainly interviewed at the spot.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mBKVJf-Rw
Legalize it?
'For a film which carries the name of a popular variety of marijuana, there is ample amounts of smoke and drinks to get overtime wages for the ‘smoking is dangerous’ announcements. The only sad part is that some of the smoke seems to have been used to fill the gaps in the script too.'
Legalize it?
'For a film which carries the name of a popular variety of marijuana, there is ample amounts of smoke and drinks to get overtime wages for the ‘smoking is dangerous’ announcements. The only sad part is that some of the smoke seems to have been used to fill the gaps in the script too.'
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