DOC DEPICTS THE BLACK CANNABIS EXPERIENCE
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The new BET documentary “Smoke: Marijuana + Black America,” directed by Erik Parker, has attracted plaudits for its frank depiction of the “complications and compromises” of cannabis for Black and brown Americans. It features everyone from vice-president elect Kamala Harris to celebrities to prisoners.
Per Nic Juarez in Weedmaps:
We’re constantly seeing how weed is a part of the culture and a source for expression and creativity, yet it’s stigmatized and criminalized. How cannabis is a relatively safe, inexpensive medicine to help manage the fears and stressors of oppression in America, yet it leads to harsher, more severe oppression from U.S. law enforcement. How cannabis helps create and is the subject of some of the most significant works of art, and yet Black people are the last in line to profit.
- The Washington Post calls the film “sharp and persuasive…equal parts love story, tragedy and outrage“
- WW California has more.
