As much as I despise the Drug War and think there is a great need for films truthfully portraying the subject, I must say I had a few problems with this doc. They didn't cite enough sources, or present enough hard Facts, and weren't objective enough for me, overall. Lack of objectivity is part of what helped create this mess. They had a lot of interviews where people said whatever and you feel that it was supposed to be taken as fact. And a lot of the interviewers didn't come off as very knowledgeable or truthful-like the gangster types talking about the government as if they are some kind of authority on the subject. And the Tommy Chong interview, I'm almost 100% sure, was guided. He pretty much regurgitated what the film had been saying- word for word. I was also unhappy with some of the editing-for instance-when they asked a guy if jail was helping him with his meth addiction he looked over as if to think for a moment and they quickly cut away, as if to make it look like he was saying 'no' with his body language. I imagine he said yes, and they decided to just edit to make it suit their purposes. It seemed like the guy who was on PCP was making more sense than the film at some points. "Church will pimp a whore backwards"...thought provoking. There were some good interviews though, and some good points, but not much that people who have followed the drug war didn't already know. I wish someone would give me some money to make an anti-drug war movie, because I'm sure I could do much better than this. Still-I gave it a 7/10 because I'm just happy to see films covering this subject.

I loved this documentary! Wonderfully done! Lots of amazing and aggravating information in this movie. Watch it and watch it again! I was surprised to find out that 85% of Americans who say that they use illegal drugs say that they only use marijuana. I was also surprised to find out that according to a Gallup poll several years ago 80% of Americans do not think that marijuana is dangerous. It's pretty amazing in the context of those statistics that it's still illegal. I thought that the way this documentary is done is particularly well though. Lots of different perspectives, lots of former drug fighters talking from experience. The director puts a lot of things into proper perspective. Highly recommended!

I just happened to tune in to "American Drug War" on Showtime one morning and I was immediately sucked in. My eyes and ears were on sensory overload. I never knew our government was dealing with our "war on drugs" in such a way. What impressed upon me most was that that 50% of all current US prison inmates are non-violent drug offenders! Our government has made it a business to lock up drug offenders instead of treating their bad habits as a social problem and perhaps getting them treatment.I have watched this documentary at least 5 times now and still bought it so I could share it's content with family and friends. The producer of this piece put a lot of heart into it and did his homework. We should all spread the word about it's content.

While Tulia with Halle Berry and Billy Bob is still in pre-production, this documentary serves as an excellent report on the drug war in the United States and has devoted a significant amount of its time to the incident that occurred in that town, with a great interview with Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn, who led the fight to free the Tulia 46.It is so much more than that, as it gives a history of the CIA involvement in the crack epidemic in the US, and also presents facts that will leave no doubt that the government used drugs to finance the illegal war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, but they continue to use them to suppress people of color in this country.It is also clear that the ban on medical uses of marijuana is a conspiracy to benefit the pharmaceutical industry.One things that was presented that is of considerable interest is that the drug war is unwinable due to the fact that once you ban certain drugs, people will develop new ones to satisfy their need. Just as bathtub gin was created during prohibition, crystal meth and newer drugs have been developed in this country in response to the decreased drugs coming from Mexico.Those opposed to decriminalization of drugs would do well to realize that 700,000 people die every year from alcohol (not counting traffic deaths), tobacco, and legal pharmaceuticals, while only 10,000 die from drug use, and no death has every been reported from marijuana.Do you know where 85% of the heroin distributed throughout the world comes from. The answer may surprise you, but not shock you after seeing this film.