FILMMAKERS STIRRING THE POT, COMPASSIONATELY

"Crimes of Compassion; Coco Mama: the War On Drugs; Stoned: Hemp Nation On
Trial in Canada" at the Pacific Cinematheque Feb. 26

Not one punk-ass teenager or washed-out hippie graced the screen at the
February 26 showing of Crimes of Compassion, Coca Mama: The War on Drugs
and Stoned: Hemp Nation on Trial in Canada. Okay, the last one had a
scattering of dreadlocked activists, one of whom seemed very in tune with
her inner and outer glitter. But other than that, the sprightly mugs of the
interviewees were clean-shaven scientists, businessmen and even former
federal Health Minister Allan Rock.

Jennifer Pickford's film Crimes of Compassion focused not on the injustices
faced by recreational tokers trying to 'find themselves' during tumultuous
formative teenage years, but 30- to 40-somethings struggling to hold down
their AIDS medication, stop the common shuddering symptoms of multiple
sclerosis or deal with the painful effects of cancer treatment. The film
advocated clinics that provide clean and potent marijuana for those who
want no part in the sketchy back-alley drug market.

One word dominated the government workers' comments on this subject:
research. There seemed to be a consensus that before any more marijuana
liberties are given legal consideration, plenty of sleuthing into the
substance's immediate effects, side effects and socioeconomic effects will
definitely need to happen. Whether or not this research will be conducted
is unknown. "There seem to be simple solutions, but it has been slow to
happen," Pickford said.

The federal government has promised to research the drug and has spent
approximately $5 million towards offering 1000 sick persons legal
permission to use marijuana. This hardly sounds efficient, according to Lucas.

"They haven't even started the research they promised," he exclaimed during
the post-film question-and-answer period, not without a certain degree of
frustration. During this portion of the evening, discussion was serious and
had compassion in mind, at least until one of the interviewees at the front
of the cinema began confessing that he had "been smoking pot since he was
knee-high to a grasshopper," and that, as a professional truck driver, "pot
never affected [his] driving," all in the rhetoric of Beavis and/or
Butthead. Whoops, he told the audience not to tell anyone and now I've gone
and published it.

"I am not against the recreational use of pot," shared Lucas, while Riel, a
representative of the BC Compassion Society--another group providing the
drug--reasoned that pot "relieves stress, depression and fatigue just as
one might use Prozac or alcohol."

Candidly, my opinion isn't so different, but this discussion took away from
the night's main focus: getting pot to those who really need it.

Coca Mama, the second film of the evening, revealed the ineffectiveness of
the US's 'War on Drugs' as starving farmers abroad are arrested instead of
the drug lords who act as the hubs of the cocaine industry.

The night's last film, Stoned: Hemp Nation on Trial in Canada, focused on
Chris Clay, former owner of a London, Ontario hemp store that
also--surprise, surprise--sold marijuana seedlings. His much-publicised
court cases were interesting, sure, but not nearly as entertaining as the
comments by Clay's well-wishing middle class parents. They were really
cute, while sort of ticked off, creating a brilliant juxtaposition to the
panoramic shots of pot plantations.