RxCannabis show player

Watch all 4 clipisodes and the trailer below!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Is it the drug or the person?

I’m looking at a pile of tapes about drug abuse and addiction.

The two sides tell TOTALLY different stories. One side says marijuana is not a big deal, or that it’s about the RELATIONSHIP between you and the drug--which can be okay, or fucked up. The other that MJ is that classic “gateway” to stronger drugs that will lay waste to your life.

On the, uh, far right side of the ring are John and Roger. Both work in prevention. John tells about how he was addicted to cannabis and other drugs; Roger about the tragedy of his two stepchildrens’ descent into abuse. Roger has a big loud dog that attacked my car when I went to visit him.

On the left side I’m looking at tapes of Rick Doblin, who directs MAPS, the
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies;
Ryan (Tori’s teen son, who says marijuana is uncool, and that he’s not tempted by it being around the house); and Brittany, an astute 18-yr old patient.

It’s SO easy for me to dislike the prevention folks. They have a whiff of being Christian, of puritanism (if it feels good, it’s gotta be bad!), of being all the things I love to hate.

And it's SO easy for me to feel comfortable with the cannabis folks. Ryan, Tori’s son (you can see both of them in the trailer below), talks about when he and his mom break their vegan routine with a “dairy exception”, they get pizza from a great “family owned small business, way better than corporate pizza, Dominoes, etc.”

Somewhere in the middle, are two tapes with young women from ShaktiRising, a progressive treatment organization. ShaktiRising doesn’t demonize drugs, but takes a more holistic, almost New Age (yoga, massage, self love) view of treatment for their recovering addicts.

Watch for clips or a webisode on all this in the next few days. Aloha...

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

New videos online

We've posted some new videos with some interactive features that you can watch at www.rxcannabis.pbwiki.com. More to come soon...

If you click on "comments" at the bottom of the player, you can add text, audio or video comments into the video!



This player allows you to edit your own version-just click "edit" on the bottom right to try it out.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Cannabis & Chronic Pain. Prevention. Addiction. ???

Okay. Just to sum up—over the last 10 months we’ve shot over 125 hours of footage for our feature film “RxCannabis”, about the struggle for medical marijuana. We’re now busy editing, making webisodes, and basically reaching out for feedback from you to help shape our direction from here.

The microcosm of our story is San Diego, where the forces, both pro and anti, are particularly strong for some reason. Since July, 2006, the Feds (with big guns) closed down ALL medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego County, which means that over 3000 patients need to either get their cannabis “on the streets”, or make a 3 hour drive to a dispensary in LA County or beyond….

Craig, featured in the last posted clip (Webisode 1 – “Craig vs. Bill”) has become the protagonist of the whole story. He’s just a regular guy with a family to support. He’s in almost constant pain from his spine being crushed in an industrial accident. The San Diego County government wants to make it harder for Craig to get and use medical marijuana to treat his pain, but Craig has been fighting back.

My first meeting with Craig was in his shop – Old Toy Soldier Home - which is a whole amazing world – check out his site and buy some soldiers! You can see a lot of shots of his soldiers in Webisode 1.

Where are we headed next? The next tapes I’ll be editing will be about “the other side”, and about that slippery concept “addiction”. You’ll meet John, who ironically, works in a “prevention” organization about 10 minutes from Craig’s store!

My sympathies are obviously on Craig’s side, but as a documentary filmmaker, I need to at least TRY to “love all my characters” (otherwise it’ll just be all propaganda). I’m trying….help me – have you had experiences with cannabis addiction? Is it the drug or the person?? What do we do when one group swears by cannabis, and the other thinks it’s the devil incarnate???? Here’s an interesting site on cannabis pros and cons.

Till next time.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The DEA hits again

Tuesday, February 06, 2007



A friend of mine is a cannabis doctor in Southern Cal. His son is a patient, uses it for severe back pain.
My friend told me last week his son—I'll call him John—and daughter-in-law were fast asleep, 7 a.m., when the front door of their house was battered down. Seven DEA agents burst in, guns of all sizes drawn. They immobilized John.

The agents searched the house. Finding John's grow room (as a patient, he can legally grow up to nine plants), they tore out the flowering plants, stuffing them in black trash bags. There was one local cop there, which by law there has to be during raids. According to John, his head was down, looking embarrased during the whole thing.

They didn't charge John with anything. As they left, one of them turned to John, grinned and said, "We know about your father".

The kicker is, my friend and his son are (of course) freaked out. So freaked out they don't want to tell me their story on camera, even if I black out their faces.
That's the effect of the fear that the DEA is spreading. Scares people into silence.

I'm still working on my friend and his son. I'll even process John's voice so it's unrecognizable. We'll see…

PS: If you want to buy a DEA mug, golf balls or other necessary paraphernalia, check out their
product page.