This summer we heard and watched a number of movies
and among which
Man of Steel,
The Lone Ranger, and
Fast
& Furious 6 to mention a few but are not rated to be one of this summer and surprisingly It's
a new documentary called
How to Make Money Selling Drugs, which will be
released in theaters and on petition on June 26.
This movie is loosely structured as a satirical
how-to, showing how easy it is to make a ton of money as a player in America's
war on drugs. And though the film mainly focuses on the stories of former drug
dealers, along the way it lays bare the complicity of law enforcement, our
justice system, and our political system. It also features interviews with,
among others, Susan Sarandon, 50 Cent, The Wire creator David Simon,
HuffPost senior writer Radley Balko, and Russell Simmons. (And, full
disclosure, a cameo by me.)
Now, when I say "biggest," I'm not
talking about budget size or box office receipts -- I'm talking impact and
importance. Written and directed by Matthew Cooke, and produced by Bert Marcus
and Adrian Grenier, How to Make Money Selling Drugs exposes the
hypocrisy, insanity and destructiveness of America's drug war. Of course, the
problem with saying a movie is "important" is that it can leave the
impression that it isn't entertaining. That's certainly not the case with this
film. Indeed, Cooke's goal is, as he put it, borrowing from Malcolm X, to bring
about change "by the most entertaining means necessary." Or, as
Hamlet said, "The play is the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of
the king." Or, in this case, the conscience of the public, which will in
turn hopefully catch the conscience of the king -- aka our leaders.
But the reason the film truly feels like a
blockbuster is that you can't leave the theater without being shocked and
outraged by what you've seen. Even if you go in feeling like you're well-versed
in the insanity of the drug war, you'll walk out stunned.
That's what happened
to me. I've been passionate about this issue for years. In fact, the injustice
of the war on drugs has been one of The Huffington Post's core issu
es since its
founding. It's also why this week we've been running a dedicated series of blog
posts in conjunction with the movie's release.
On no issue is the cowardice and hypocrisy of our
elected leaders write larger than on the drug war with staggering consequences
in lives and in money. Not only is the war on drugs America's longest-running
war, it's also arguably its most destructive. The statistics, as laid out by
the film's producers, give a sense of the magnitude of the epic failure of the
drug war: