CANNABIS RISING

Tour the Highlands of Holland with Ed Rosenthal

American Film Institute Video Festival


In Amsterdam's famed hash coffeeshops you can order coffee, tea, or...marijuana! Are the Dutch too permissive, or have they found a peaceful, practical alternative to the war on drugs?

CANNABIS RISING is an insider's look at the rapidly growing, quasi-legal cannabis industry in the Netherlands and the issues swirling around it.

Backed by a dynamic musical sound track, we follow Ed Rosenthal, a modern Johnny Appleseed of pot, as he takes the High Road to Holland, where you can buy marijuana in over one thousand hashcoffeeshops. You can roll a joint or fill a pipe, sit out in the open air, and get high. Or you can take your purchase home and enjoy it there. And NOT get busted!



The tour ranges from the greenhouses of Sensi Seed's Cannabis Castle; to Positronics, where you can get everything you need to grow your own marijuana; to lush fields where large-scale hemp production is being subsidized by the European Economic Union; to the hash coffeeshops and hemp boutiques that dot Amsterdam. While maintaining a light hearted approach to a very serious subject, CANNABIS RISING explores the debate raging over medical marijuana; the effects of prohibition and America's failed War on Drugs; and the results of decriminalization on Dutch society. This innovative approach to drugs is discussed by sociologists and experts, marijuana tycoons, drug refugees from the US and elsewhere, and other observers and participants in the Dutch experiment.

Seeing this movie is almost as good as being there!


Ed Rosenthal, our intrepid guide, was recently convicted and faces up to forty years for cultivating starter plants for use by patients using medical marijuana. He was acting as an officer of the city of Oakland under the provisions of California's Proposition 215 which legalized the use of cannabis for medical reasons.

General Ashcroft, taking a break from the War on Terror, decided to bring the full force of federal prosecution down on Ed and the whole issue of medical marijuana. Charles Breyer, the federal judge who presided, would not let the jury hear anything about medical marijuana, Prop. 215, the sanctioning of Ed's actions by the City of Oakland and the State of California, or Ed's reasoning. The judge limited the evidence to the fact that Ed had grown hundreds of plants and would not let the defence present any case as to why he had grown them. He dictated to the jury that they had to only consider what he had allowed to be put before them. And they, being conscientious citizens, returned a verdict of guilty.

Afterwards, when they realized they had been duped and bullied by Judge Breyer, many of them renounced their verdict and have appeared in solidarity with Ed at rallies, press conferences and court appearances. Ed's trial was front page news in the New York Times and even earned a "Free Ed" editorial from that paper which commented on the travesty of justice which had taken place.

 

To find out more about Ed's case and to see how you can help contact GreenAid

Clips from Cannabis Rising were included in NBC's Dateline Report of 2/21/03 on the Trial of Ed Rosenthal. To see more click here


High Times review

420 Review

All Movie Guide Review

Other Reviews & Comments


35 minutes .... color .... not rated



 

Links

Cannabis.com

Cannabis Culture Magazine

Change the Climate

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Cures Not Wars

Drug Policy Alliance

Drug Reform Coordination Network

DrugText

Efficacy

420Times

Harm Reduction Coalition

Hemp Pages

High Times

Human Rights Watch

Marijuana.com

Marijuana News

Marijuana Policy Project

Media Awareness Project

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies(MAPS)

NarcoNews

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

The November Coalition

Reconsider: Forum on Drug Policy

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy

Unitarian Universalists for Drug Policy Reform

The Uses of Marijuana Lester Grinspoon

 

For more information contact:
Green Mountain Post Films

PO Box 229, Turners Falls, MA 01376
(413)863-4754 * * * Fax: (413)863-8248
email: info@gmpfilms.com