VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Blink18teetoo As much as I despise the Drug War and think there is a great need for films truthfully portraying the subject, I must say I had a few problems with this doc. They didn't cite enough sources, or present enough hard Facts, and weren't objective enough for me, overall. Lack of objectivity is part of what helped create this mess. They had a lot of interviews where people said whatever and you feel that it was supposed to be taken as fact. And a lot of the interviewers didn't come off as very knowledgeable or truthful-like the gangster types talking about the government as if they are some kind of authority on the subject. And the Tommy Chong interview, I'm almost 100% sure, was guided. He pretty much regurgitated what the film had been saying- word for word. I was also unhappy with some of the editing-for instance-when they asked a guy if jail was helping him with his meth addiction he looked over as if to think for a moment and they quickly cut away, as if to make it look like he was saying 'no' with his body language. I imagine he said yes, and they decided to just edit to make it suit their purposes. It seemed like the guy who was on PCP was making more sense than the film at some points. "Church will pimp a whore backwards"...thought provoking. There were some good interviews though, and some good points, but not much that people who have followed the drug war didn't already know. I wish someone would give me some money to make an anti-drug war movie, because I'm sure I could do much better than this. Still-I gave it a 7/10 because I'm just happy to see films covering this subject.

iscream22 This is an excellent documentary about a controversial current topic that is not discussed nearly enough. There are billions of dollars being spent on the war on drugs each year and what is the outcome of all that funding? The American Prison system. There are hundreds of thousands of mostly non-violent pot smokers being locked up for harming no one. This documentary shows how companies like the partnership for a drug free America show commercials on television that are used as scare tactics to make us think that if someone buys a dimebag of grass to unwind that they are now a "terrorist" because they are supporting drugs. How are they supporting the war on drugs when the majority of marijuana in the country is grown in the United States. It also shows how the CIA sold tons of cocaine to Freeway Ricky Ross to distribute within the United States. Why is our country cracking down on marijuana smokers when we have a horrible crystal meth epidemic in the Midwest, which does lots of harm to communities and families. And is prison the right answer? Many times when a addict gets out of jail they will get right back on drugs. Drug addiction is a disease and needs to be treated like one, if the person is not treated for the disease, how can they be cured?And why has our government not decriminalized and out and out legalized marijuana. Whether it is legal or not people are going to continue to smoke marijuana. marijuana is a cash crop that brings in billions of dollars every year in the US alone, why not keep prices the same and use all of that profit for taxes? Marijuana can also be used for ethanol to make gasoline (and it makes it much more efficiently than corn). Hemp also can yield 4 times as much paper as normal lumber and hemp doesn't harm the environment.The war on drugs is ridiculous and this DVD shows how the United States' position on drug use is ridiculous.Please watch this film and show it to others. The message needs to get out and the tyranny needs to end.

gingerfreibrun I just happened to tune in to "American Drug War" on Showtime one morning and I was immediately sucked in. My eyes and ears were on sensory overload. I never knew our government was dealing with our "war on drugs" in such a way. What impressed upon me most was that that 50% of all current US prison inmates are non-violent drug offenders! Our government has made it a business to lock up drug offenders instead of treating their bad habits as a social problem and perhaps getting them treatment.I have watched this documentary at least 5 times now and still bought it so I could share it's content with family and friends. The producer of this piece put a lot of heart into it and did his homework. We should all spread the word about it's content.

lastliberal While Tulia with Halle Berry and Billy Bob is still in pre-production, this documentary serves as an excellent report on the drug war in the United States and has devoted a significant amount of its time to the incident that occurred in that town, with a great interview with Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn, who led the fight to free the Tulia 46.It is so much more than that, as it gives a history of the CIA involvement in the crack epidemic in the US, and also presents facts that will leave no doubt that the government used drugs to finance the illegal war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, but they continue to use them to suppress people of color in this country.It is also clear that the ban on medical uses of marijuana is a conspiracy to benefit the pharmaceutical industry.One things that was presented that is of considerable interest is that the drug war is unwinable due to the fact that once you ban certain drugs, people will develop new ones to satisfy their need. Just as bathtub gin was created during prohibition, crystal meth and newer drugs have been developed in this country in response to the decreased drugs coming from Mexico.Those opposed to decriminalization of drugs would do well to realize that 700,000 people die every year from alcohol (not counting traffic deaths), tobacco, and legal pharmaceuticals, while only 10,000 die from drug use, and no death has every been reported from marijuana.Do you know where 85% of the heroin distributed throughout the world comes from. The answer may surprise you, but not shock you after seeing this film.