SOBER MESSAGE CUTS THROUGH HARRELSON'S PRO-POT 'GRASS'

The latest in a series of pro-pot documentaries, "Grass" covers some
of the same territory as "The Hemp Revolution," "Sex, Drugs and
Democracy," "Weed" and a recent PBS special that focused on the
pot-driven increase in the U.S. prison population.

Opening tonight for a seven-day run at the Varsity, "Grass" includes
the expected footage from such hysterical anti-pot movies as "Reefer
Madness" and "Marijuana: Assassin of Youth," plus a short history of
the racist origins of pot prohibition.

Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Reagan and Nixon are all shown
to be pushing an ineffective law that has cost billions, while New
York's mayor, Fiorello H. La Guardia, comes up with a 1940s report
claiming that "the sociological, psychological and medical ills
commonly attributed to marijuana have been exaggerated." (Like a
similar report prepared for Nixon in the 1970s, it was ignored.)

The movie also makes eloquent, sometimes hilarious use of anti-pot
spokesmen who are either chain-smoking themselves to death on
cigarettes, or presenting wildly illogical legal justifications for
drug laws, or appearing to be high on something themselves (Sonny Bono
looks especially suspect).

Because it's narrated by Woody Harrelson, and because it was directed
by Ron Mann, who made the charming pop-culture documentaries, "Twist"
and "Comic Book Confidential," you might expect a featherweight approach.

But "Grass" is often closer to the sobering tone of the PBS show than
it is to the silly "Weed," with its stoned, barely literate potheads
discussing the quality of their dope. Mann, who is Canadian and
sometimes suggests an outsider's approach to the subject, is more
concerned about the devastating legal impact on people who see
marijuana as no worse than alcohol.

"I'm not hurting anyone, I'm not harming myself," says one defiant
woman. "Why should I be punished for it?"