Reefer sanity

>> >> Ron Mann's Grass takes potshots at absurd marijuana laws

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

You may remember a documentary by Toronto's Ron Mann called Comic Book Confidential. With his new--excuse me--"joint" Grass, he's moved up to a more respectable subject: pot smokers. Or rather, as shown through a colourful and hilarious parade of found footage, the absurd history of marijuana as a criminal substance.

Mirror: You chose to focus on the U.S. government's campaign of misinformation and fiscal waste over marijuana.

Ron Mann: It's about the war against marijuana smokers. 72-million Americans smoke it--law-abiding, hard-working folks who raise families. There were 600,000 arrested last year for simple possession and over seven billion spent on throwing them in jail. The U.S. has declared war on an entire section of the population, without reason, and more importantly needlessly destroyed the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands of genuinely good citizens who happen to smoke in the privacy of their own homes.

M: I really liked former NYC mayor LaGuardia's remarks about alcohol prohibition, how it was pointless if society didn't believe in it--a foreshadowing statement.

RM: He's a real hero, one of the first people in New York who didn't stand for [first DEA "drug Czar"] Harry J. Anslinger's false accusations. His claim at the time was that marijuana led to an increase in homicide and insanity. His study, one of the first, was buried. Anslinger completely repressed the report, even ordered copies to destroy them. The conclusion of that commission was that the drug laws were doing more harm than the drugs themselves. Each report, from the '40s or the '70s or even today, recommend decriminalization.

M: You showed the racist roots of pot laws, but you didn't get into Dupont and the petrochemical companies.

RM: I couldn't substantiate that. Honestly, I spent four years researching, and I have a responsibility to history, so I focused on the legislative history and the recreational use, and my conclusion was that Anslinger criminalized marijuana by accident! What he really wanted was a uniform narcotics act to help him download his responsibilities. He only had 300 treasury agents, at the time he took the job, to enforce all narcotics laws in the U.S. He needed the States' support, so he used marijuana as a menace to get frightened voters to put through the act. Unfortunately, the legacy of that is the drug bureaucracy which has grown over the years. All the outbreaks of temperance--like Nixon's re-election campaign--since then have been used for political gain.

Atomic hash café

M: By the same token, Grass is a political artifact, too.

RM: Really, Grass is a bridge to the decriminalization groups. We had a benefit for NORML in NYC two weeks ago. It got a standing ovation, and the founder said it validated 30 years of lobbying. The hope is to politicize people. There was a film in the '80s called The Atomic Café, and it made me an anti-nuke guy. It was irreverent, but it made me aware of the proliferation of nuclear power. Atomic Café looked at cold war hysteria--we're looking at reefer madness. What we want is reefer sanity.

M: Where did you get all that archival footage?

RM: The researcher on Atomic Café was Rick Pralinger, who's a friend of mine. He sent me on a path--the marijuana trail. It took me to hundreds of archives across America. A lot of the material that Rick himself collects is classroom scare films, social guidance or "mental hygiene" films. Stuff you saw in junior high that has exactly the opposite effect of what's intended. So I collected over 400 hours of anti-marijuana movies, the earliest being High on the Range, a marijuana cowboy movie. It's been said that history is in the outtakes of television, so I went to basements of TV stations, to show the propaganda that the government used. Every 10 or 20 years, the myths have to be renewed, and the media works hand in hand, supporting the status quo. It's quite incredible, a dog-and-pony show. It's a merry-go-round, and my point is, we have to get off of it.

Censor board monkey business

M: Tell me about getting banned on your home turf, Ontario.

RM: Oh, God (laughs). That whole thing was really scary.

M: It was over 20 seconds of footage of test chimps smoking pot in a research film.

RM: Yeah, and not the mice or the fish!

M: The mice were funny, falling down and stuff!

RM: The Ontario Review Board objected to the scene...

M: As cruelty to animals?

RM: Well, on the grounds that the scene shows--hold on, let me get the report--"an animal being abused in the making of the film." They wanted me to cut it out, and I refused. I was outraged. I thought we'd get banned in the U.S., but not in Canada. In fact, the monkeys don't look like they're being harmed, but rather like they're enjoying themselves! (laughs) Besides, it was stock footage. I think it was an extreme reaction, though. I don't think anyone was going to go home and try those experiments on their pet chimps.

M: Which are illegal in Canada, anyway. So was it overturned?

RM: The ban was reversed, and I'll tell you something else that nobody else knows. The appeal group saw the film, came outside and said they loved it. They met the original group, and there was a heated argument, yelling back and forth in the hallways of the Review Board. But the story went around the world, which is quite embarrassing for Ontario.

Natural born toker

M: How did you get Woody Harrelson on board as narrator?

RM: Woody's very courageous, a totally commited activist. We sent him the tape, and he wrote back saying the film was awesome. Y'know, this is the first time he's come out in support not just of industrial hemp but of recreational use. He doesn't care about getting arrested--maybe if everyone said, "Arrest me," it would be unbelievable.

M: You had a bit with Robert Mitchum in there, and it reminded me of that famous photo, right after he was convicted for reefers back in the early '50s, and the smug look on his face is so, "What, me worry?"

RM: Y'know, truthfully, Mitchum was the first person we asked to narrate Grass. But Woody is fantastic, and he's helping promote the movie. You get a lot of tension when a Hollywood person agrees to be behind your film, and he's going to festivals, doing press and talk shows. Also, you believe Woody. He's got that voice.

M: You remember him from Cheers. He's too dumb not to tell the truth.

RM: Exactly. He's the voice of the movie, and the voice of reason. Also, remember that I didn't make this stuff up. It's all facts. And really, we're not promoting marijuana use. It's promoting decriminalization. I think people who've never tried marijuana--I've met three, I've been counting--will get it. I didn't make the film with NORML or High Times or anything in mind. It's not a pro-pot film; it's pro-decriminalization. :

Grass opens June 16 at Cinéma du Parc