>From restore-L GRASS RIGHTS SUPPORT: Posted by FoM on June 07, 2000 at 06:44:04 PT Filmmaker Ron Mann stands up for pot Source: Toronto Sun Ron Mann says says he's happy the Ontario Film Review Board "has sobered up and come to their senses" by giving the green light to his marijuana documentary, Grass. But the Toronto filmmaker yesterday questioned the motivation behind last week's initial ruling that the film violated the Theatres Act by showing animal abuse -- a few seconds about government testing showed brain-wired chimpanzees being forced to smoke marijuana. The ruling was reversed Monday. The movie opens June 16. "In our society we have temperance outbreaks in which small groups of people decide to protect others from doing things for pleasure," said Mann, whose film pounds home the huge cost and insane commitment to marijuana prohibition. "I think that was the real agenda behind the censorship. It couldn't be for what they said it was. I mean, you'd have to ban King Kong if you followed that logic. They abused him." Mann, whose quirky documentaries have included Comic Book Confidential, Twist and Poetry In Motion, said as a filmmaker "there are two basic emotions -- to turn people on to something like I did in Comic Book Confidential, or anger. In this case I really hated what I learned about drug policy. "A friend of mine in New York City got arrested during a cleanup at NYU. An innocent kid thrown in jail for simple possession -- one of 600,000 pot arrests last year. Once you put a face on a number, you say, 'Man, this is really wrong.' It's not about marijuana, but about personal freedom." Narrated by hemp activist Woody Harrelson, whose services were offered for free, Grass follows the criminalization of the weed from its earliest days, as a means of keeping tabs on Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Southwest. The movie barrages the viewer with now-ludicrous government propaganda (remember when pot was supposed to affect your chromosomes?) and frightening statistics, including the fact that the U.S. in the '90s spent more than $200 billion on investigation, conviction and incarceration of marijuana offenders. Ignored is the equally bizarre history of drug prohibition in Canada, which used as a template the work of Emily Murphy, whose book The Black Candle claimed marijuana was part of a plot by black men to enslave white women. "I really just told the American story," Mann said. "It's the legislative history of the U.S., because the U.S. has so much influence on drug policy around the world. I didn't go into what's going on in Amsterdam, or industrial hemp, or medical marijuana. "It was too much of an epic story to begin with, y'know, starting with Harry J. Anslinger, the first U.S. drug czar who wanted to throw pot smokers in jail and throw away the key. "That $200 billion does not include the social cost. Someone fails a drug test and suddenly their whole life, all their civil liberties are taken away. The reason I made this film is because I don't believe marijuana smokers are criminals. They're responsible, hard-working people, adults with families. It's the recreational drug of choice for a lot of people." We mention that the timeline of his film stops at the present, without positing the future. "People want there to be a happy ending, but there isn't one," he said. "On the other hand, when I hear (T.O. Police chief Julian) Fantino talk decriminalization, I think marijuana laws could be like the Berlin Wall. Someday, all of a sudden it'll just fall down and we'll forget why it was there in the first place." A father of four -- ages two to 9 -- Mann knows kids are often used as debate fodder in drug-war talk. "When they grow up, if they choose to smoke marijuana, they should have the right to make that decision," he said. "What I hope is they never get arrested for it." By Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun www.cannabisnews.com _________ earthradioTV.com - Alternative News Portal for ecology, politics & consciousness. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] earthradioTV.com MIRROR SITES: USA http://www.earthradioTV.com/ CZECH http://mujweb.cz/www/ecologynews/ UK http://members.tripod.co.uk/ecologynews/ Canada http://www.ecologynews.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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