Cheap Grass (DVD) (Ron Mann) Price

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Customer Reviews of Grass

One Toke Short Of The Mark
The United States of America has spent untold billions to search out, arrest, prosecute, and imprison people who use marijuana; all the time, money, and effort that has gone into this has had very little effect; and it does seem odd, particularly given evidence that alcohol and nicotine are much deadlier, that we put so much emphasis on the clearly futile effort to eradicate its use. It is a situation ripe for a documentary that combines hard fact with witty satire, and this is precisely what GRASS attempts to do.

But "attempts" is the operative word here. While the film is accurate re the facts it presents, it tends to ignore facts it doesn't like--chief among them that any drug, all the way from cough syrup to heroin, can be abused, and marijuana is no exception to the rule. Ron Mann's failure to acknowledge this tends to undercut his own argument, and what ultimately emerges is a film that argues FOR the legalization of marijuana TO people who are already in favor of it.

That said, while the film presents plenty of amusing graphics and often hilarious snips of vintage films such as the notorious REEFER MADNESS, the pace is just a shade too laid back to hold the narrative together. When all is said and done, it lacks both the informational and visual spark of a truly first rate documentary. Worth watching once, but only if you don't expect too much from it.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

A powerful teaching tool!
The thesis that Ron Mann presents the viewer with in this well-crafted and colorful documentary is: that Government has always profited from laws against Marijuana; and, ergo, has refused to legalize the drug in spite of the fact that it has (arguably) been medically proven to be less harmful and addictive than alcohol. That thesis is examined thoroughly from a historical vantage point and addressed brilliantly with qualitative data, (mainly consisting of historical film footage and historical facts). Although, at times, the presentation of statistical data is somewhat dubious (Specifically, I would deduct one-half star for Mann's consistent referral to Government spending in the general "War on Drugs" as the "War on Marijuana").

I agree with most of the reviews of this film and would add that whether the viewer's position is pro-legalization or anti-legalization there is a lot of insight to be gleaned from knowing the history of Marijuana legislation in America. I would highly recommend this film for college professors concerned with teaching students about either: a) the role of political and economic power in the creation of a body of laws; or b) the power of government-sponsored propaganda with regard to the creation of sub-groups of social deviants. There is also a lot to be learned about the making of a documetary from examining the presentation of the thesis.

The most laudable aspect of this documentary, which is narrated by Woody Harrelson, is its historical "linearity" in presenting the events that eventally led to status of Marijuana in today's society. The documentary begins by showing us some footage from the early 1900's that seems to confirm that the earliest attempts to criminalize pot-smoking in America came about largely as the result of predjudice and fear toward Mexican immigrants to the US. Footage from the 1920's and 1930's seems to confirm that the government had effectively mastered the power to control other disenfranchised segments of the population (such as African Americans) indirectly through the passage of laws aimed at behaviors associated with those segments. Likewise, footage from the 1950's and 1960's indicates that the pot laws similarly geared to target first "communists" and then anti-war hippies. Footage from more recent decades seems to confirm that although by the 1970's most of the American popualtion were aware that pot was generally an innocuous distraction from reality, the demonization of grass had become so embedded in American culture that legalization was not an option.

While the presentation of the 1900-1950 data from the film is often punctuated by scare-film clips (ie: clips from "Reefer Madness", etc.) which provide the viewer with some chuckles, with regard to the substatiative content of the film, there are some particularly powerful moments that can not be disregarded. First, there are film clips taken from 1960's medical experiments, which actually show the effects of marijuana on experimental groups to be harmless. Second, evidence is presented that seems to confirm that the results of these experiements were systemically disregarded by lawmakers (especially by Richard Nixon who, in spite of medical evidence, decided to step-up efforts to punish marijuana criminals). Finally, Mann's presentation of legislation dictating the use of cannabis, accentuates the progressively counterintuitive body of law related to the drug.

In sum, although the film was produced by NORML, this is not the "government bash-fest" that I would have expected. While I otherwise liked the review, I strongly take exception to the reviewer who claimed that is "...this video is propaganda for fans of grass...". The tone of the documentary is suprisingly objective most of the time and highly academic in its presentation of historical fact and lawmaking. It really doesn't even come across as pushing a political agenda - much less as "ramming one down your throat". Show it in the classroom and see what the students think.