The point about marijuana is compelling. Anybody who has smoked it knows it’s more manageable than alcohol, but its mention by the Puritans and police in the same breath as heroin very likely has the opposite effect on the young. When they see that their elders lied about marijuana, they very well might conclude they lied about heroin too - and try it due to their adult community’s lies.

There’s an interesting group of law enforcers who have formed a movement to end the War of Drugs and de-criminalize many of them because they saw through the hypocrisy of the war, first, the impossibility of winning it, second, and third, the catastrophic effects it has on American communities.

Thanks, Alec, for opening up the issue beyond the merits of the film (which I still, by the way, think is a great model for teaching film-making in school). I got so caught up in the tech I forgot to think about the philosophy

The issue is the legislation, the “war on drugs”, advertising, pop culture … a society of mixed messages. I spend a lot of time in countries Europe where “underage” drinking doesn’t exist because it is not legislated that way. There is very little abuse in comparison to North American culture. Additionally, the treatment of drugs in North America, the message from parents, schools, and law enforcement, that Marijuana and Meth Amphetamine are equally as bad … when young people try “milder” street drugs, they feel that they’ve been duped by everyone.

There needs to be an honest conversation about alcohol and drugs in schools and our homes. Legislation/taxation must be revisited. Scare tactics don’t work. The role model approach doesn’t work either, especially seeing as young people look beyond their own schools for role models … the Lohans/Cobains/Spears/Hendrix/Cobains, etc, have more effect on young people than we know.