Blogs > Liberty and Power > Drug Prohibition Exposed

Mar 6, 2008

Drug Prohibition Exposed


by Liberty and Power


The Showtime cable network is now showing a powerful documentary titled American Drug War: The Last White Hope. It includes some especially insightful comments from Judge James Gray and former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson.

When asked in an interview about motivation for making the film auteur Kevin Booth replied, “when my mom was dying from liver failure, she was in an ICU unit with several others facing the same fate, all from a life of hard drinking. I was hit with this horrible smell that sickened me so deeply that I instantly lost my appetite for alcohol. After attending my third funeral in a row, I realized that the corporate culprits, Smirnoff, Dewar's, RJ Reynolds, DuPont and others, would never be punished.” You can view the entire film here.

Cross posted on The Trebach Report


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More Comments:

Greg Newburn - 3/10/2008

Right. According to the film, Dewar's and prescription drug companies are "corporate culprits," but notorious crack dealer Ricky Ross is just an innocent "opportunist."

David J. Rossie - 3/10/2008

Corporate culprits for his mother's life of hard drinking? Please.

Greg Newburn - 3/9/2008

That film was terrible. For something as awful as the drug war, there is plenty of material. Hence, one shouldn't need to spend an hour trying to indict the CIA for smuggling crack into L.A.

Use the same time to cover Cory Maye or SWAT abuse generally, or interview some economists who can explain the connection between prohibition and high prices.

And can we please stop interviewing Jello Biafra as if he's an expert on anything? Same goes for Chong. Sure, he's a victim, but let's find someone else to indict Ashcroft et.al.

Finally, I thought the film was downright disingenuous at times, and in the final analysis the argument just wasn't compelling. As soon as the former LAPD officer starts rambling about how the Afghanistan attack took place in October '01 because of the poppy seed harvest, and calling the administration the people who "lied on 9/11," he lost all credibility (which is a shame, because he was otherwise powerful).

I'm still waiting for libertarians to make powerful documentary films. Give my friends and me some cash and let us make you proud.

"The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended."--Frederic Bastiat