Pubdate: Tue, 11 Mar 2003
Source: Ubyssey (CN BC Edu)
Contact:  http://www.ubyssey.bc.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/706
Author:  Heather Pauls

FILMMAKERS STIRRING THE POT, COMPASSIONATELY

"Crimes of Compassion; Coco Mama: the War On Drugs; Stoned: Hemp Nation On 
Trial in Canada" at the Pacific Cinematheque Feb. 26

Not one punk-ass teenager or washed-out hippie graced the screen at the 
February 26 showing of Crimes of Compassion, Coca Mama: The War on Drugs 
and Stoned: Hemp Nation on Trial in Canada. Okay, the last one had a 
scattering of dreadlocked activists, one of whom seemed very in tune with 
her inner and outer glitter. But other than that, the sprightly mugs of the 
interviewees were clean-shaven scientists, businessmen and even former 
federal Health Minister Allan Rock.

Jennifer Pickford's film Crimes of Compassion focused not on the injustices 
faced by recreational tokers trying to 'find themselves' during tumultuous 
formative teenage years, but 30- to 40-somethings struggling to hold down 
their AIDS medication, stop the common shuddering symptoms of multiple 
sclerosis or deal with the painful effects of cancer treatment. The film 
advocated clinics that provide clean and potent marijuana for those who 
want no part in the sketchy back-alley drug market.

One word dominated the government workers' comments on this subject: 
research. There seemed to be a consensus that before any more marijuana 
liberties are given legal consideration, plenty of sleuthing into the 
substance's immediate effects, side effects and socioeconomic effects will 
definitely need to happen. Whether or not this research will be conducted 
is unknown. "There seem to be simple solutions, but it has been slow to 
happen," Pickford said.

The federal government has promised to research the drug and has spent 
approximately $5 million towards offering 1000 sick persons legal 
permission to use marijuana. This hardly sounds efficient, according to Lucas.

"They haven't even started the research they promised," he exclaimed during 
the post-film question-and-answer period, not without a certain degree of 
frustration. During this portion of the evening, discussion was serious and 
had compassion in mind, at least until one of the interviewees at the front 
of the cinema began confessing that he had "been smoking pot since he was 
knee-high to a grasshopper," and that, as a professional truck driver, "pot 
never affected [his] driving," all in the rhetoric of Beavis and/or 
Butthead. Whoops, he told the audience not to tell anyone and now I've gone 
and published it.

"I am not against the recreational use of pot," shared Lucas, while Riel, a 
representative of the BC Compassion Society--another group providing the 
drug--reasoned that pot "relieves stress, depression and fatigue just as 
one might use Prozac or alcohol."

Candidly, my opinion isn't so different, but this discussion took away from 
the night's main focus: getting pot to those who really need it.

Coca Mama, the second film of the evening, revealed the ineffectiveness of 
the US's 'War on Drugs' as starving farmers abroad are arrested instead of 
the drug lords who act as the hubs of the cocaine industry.

The night's last film, Stoned: Hemp Nation on Trial in Canada, focused on 
Chris Clay, former owner of a London, Ontario hemp store that 
also--surprise, surprise--sold marijuana seedlings. His much-publicised 
court cases were interesting, sure, but not nearly as entertaining as the 
comments by Clay's well-wishing middle class parents. They were really 
cute, while sort of ticked off, creating a brilliant juxtaposition to the 
panoramic shots of pot plantations.
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MAP posted-by: Alex