AMERICAN DRUG WAR: THE LAST WHITE HOPE
WAR ON DRUG POLICY Series
Directed by KEVIN BOOTH
Runtime 122 minutes
35 years after Nixon started the war on drugs, we have over one million non-violent drug offenders living behind bars.
The War on Drugs has become the longest and most costly war in American history, the question has become, how much more can the country endure? Inspired by the death of four family members from "legal drugs" Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth sets out to discover why the Drug War has become such a big failure. Three and a half years in the making, the film follows gang members, former DEA agents, CIA officers, narcotics officers, judges, politicians, prisoners and celebrities. Most notably the film befriends Freeway Ricky Ross; the man many accuse for starting the Crack epidemic, who after being arrested discovered that his cocaine source had been working for the CIA.
AMERICAN DRUG WAR shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just drug pushers and dope fiends, but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some 'pro-drug' stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it.
As the War on Drug Policy series concludes the dialogue created must continue. Drug policy reform is making headlines and advances but to insure change we need to continue the critical mass. Rocky Anderson and Suzanne Cunningham have agreed to lead a post film discussion following the final film AMERICAN DRUG WARS: THE LAST WHITE HOPE. Both speakers have been on the font lines of the war and can speak to the advances and hurdles we still face as a nation.
Rocky Anderson was Mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000-2008, and is the founder and Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights. Rocky has been a fierce opponent “war on drugs” and of failed drug programs like DARE, which he eliminated in Salt Lake City when he was Mayor. Rocky has written several published articles about the failed drug policy of the United States and, because of his advocacy for legal reforms, received the Drug Policy Alliance Richard J. Dennis Drug peace Award.
Suzanne Cunningham, P.C., is a Criminal Justice Reform Advocate. Having represented the Citizens for Penal Reform, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Drug Policy Alliance, The Sentencing Project, Jedi for Women, Open Society Institute and Western Prison Project.
We’d like to thank our series partners and panelists without whom this series would not have been possible: High Road For Human Rights; ACLU of Utah; Utah AIDS Foundation; L.E.A.P ( Law Enforcement Against Prohibition); Students for Sensible Drug Policy; JILL SHEINBERG, BROARD MEMBER OF THE ACLU OF UTAH, JENNETTA WILLIAMS, HEAD OF THE UTAH NAACP, Paul M. Gahlinger, M.D.; David Doddridge; Steven P. Cunnigham, Suzanne Cunningham; and Rocky Anderson.
Austin Chronicle - Josh Rosenblatt
"Any movie that features interviews with comedian Tommy Chong, a former drug czar, and the founder of the Bloods street gang is doing something right."
Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice - Rick Turner
"I haven't seen a film that covered the breadth of a topic like this one in a very long time."
High Times Magazine - Mary Ought Six
"Brace yourself for Afghani opium, interviews with a former drug czar and Amsterdam's lone crack connoisseur, and basic bad-guy bedlam in this informative documentary"
Cinephelia - C. Dempsey
"Kevin Booth has constructed a film that is worth more than a watch. "AMERICAN DRUG WAR" is worth some serious frontal lobe absorption. This is a documentary that will show you just how well the war on drugs is going. And let me tell you it really seems to be going great. Drug use is up, education is down and all while you the taxpayer keep pouring the money in."
