Documentaries

The best documentaries about the need for change in drug laws. When available there are links to where they can be watched on YouTube or other websites, often multiple links as they don't always last. Please support the official releases of these great works and share your favorites with your communities.
Breaking the Taboo
Many world leaders, actors, and other public figures joined in making this film and say it's time to "break the taboo" of speaking out against the War on Drugs and exploring peaceful alternatives. Narrated by Morgan Freeman and features interviews with Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and presidents from Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, and Colombia.

(2012, 52 min, IMDb, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, iTunes, YouTube)

Watch or download the film at archive.org or Youtube (starts at 5:30).

Originally in Portuguese as Quebrando o Tabu (2011, 1hr 13min): Trailer, Filme Completo 1, source 2, source 3 (multi-language with no subtitles)
The House I Live In
The growing problems of distorted police priorities, mandatory minimum sentencing, mass incarceration, private prison profiteering off the drug war economy, and the human lives in shackles and enslaved all in the name of stopping adults from altering their consciousness.

(2012, 1hr 46min, Website, IMDb, Amazon)

Full documentary on Youtube.
13TH
Slavery and systemic racism didn't end in the U.S. with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. 13TH traces the history of U.S. slavery and violence against minority ethnicities from the Civil Rights movement into the War on (some) Drugs, the era of mass discriminatory incarceration, and police violence and murder of unarmed civilians that continues, often, without consequences.

(2016, 1hr 36min, IMDb, Netflix)
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Watch here or here on Youtube.
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Everyone from comedians Joe Rogan and Tommy Chong, to law enforcement, researchers, doctors, and politicians re-examine the history and costs of cannabis prohibition and the parallels to 20th century alcohol prohibition.

(2007, 1hr 42min, Website, IMDb, Vimeo)

Full documentary on Youtube: Source 1, Source 2.
Grass
Traces the history of myths and propaganda surrounding cannabis and its prohibition in the U.S., from Reefer Madness and Harry Anslinger through Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Narrated by Woody Harrelson.
(1999, 1hr 13min, IMDb, Vimeo)

"I consider marihuana the worst of all narcotics. Under its influence men become beasts. In the future I will impose the heaviest penalties."
- U.S. Judge J. Foster Symes, in giving his sentence of 4-years of slavery and imprisonment to the first person charged under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (quoted at 16:10, full quotation here)

Full documentary on Youtube with Portuguese subtitles.
Bigger Stronger Faster: The Side Effects of Being American
A look at the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in international sport, bodybuilding, wrestling, career, and national law. Viewed from the life of the filmmaker, Chris Bell, and his family who grew up in 1980s USA and who are still trying to thrive in a culture where everyone's using something to get an edge, grab 1st place, achieve fame, or just keep their job.

(2008, 1hr 40min, IMDb, Amazon)

Full documentary available on YouTube and tubiTV.
Prescription Thugs
Chris Bell's documentary looking at the use, poor regulation, and growing problems from opioids and other prescription drugs in the U.S. and within Bell's own personal and family life.

(2015, 1hr 22min, IMDb, Amazon, Netflix)

Watch on YouTube or tubiTV.
Raw Opium: Pain, Pleasure, Profits
For thousands of years opiate drugs have provided pain relief and been part of humanity's medical pharmacopeia, but at a cost. Historical and modern criminalization of unapproved use and dependence has only added to these costs. Raw Opium looks at the impact of our modern prohibition efforts from the boarder patrol of Afghanistan to the doctors helping those addicted in Portugal and Vancouver, Canada.

(2010, 1hr 23min, Website, IMDb, Vimeo)

Only available on Vimeo. It's definitely worth the few bucks.
Cocaine Unwrapped
Latin American leaders speak about the high economic, human, and environmental costs and the side-effects (drug gangs, weapons, violence) cocaine prohibition has brought their countries. From the farmers and hidden factories in Columbia, Bolivia, & Ecuador, in transit through Mexico, into the unregulated market of the U.S. & U.K., and the war effort trying to stop it all.

(2011, 1hr 22min, IMDb, Hulu, Vimeo, YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Journeyman.tv)
Wasted: Beating Alcohol Addiction Through Evidence-Based Treatment
An addiction psychotherapist shares the story of his struggle with alcohol dependence and navigating the many paths to recovery besides Alcoholics Anonymous. Episode of the Canadian documentary series The Nature of Things.
(2017, 43 min)

Watch the episode on Youtube.
Prohibition
A look back to try and make sense of U.S. federal alcohol prohibition, the lessons learned and still yet to be learned from the ''Noble Experiment.'' Based largely on Daniel Okrent's book, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (2011).

(2011, 5hrs, Website, PBS, IMDb, Amazon, Netflix)
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Watch clips on Youtube, at PBS, and preview at PBS.
The Narcotic Farm
A unique prison during the early years of U.S. drug prohibition, Kentucky's "Narcotic Farm" was also a drug addiction treatment hospital as well as an addiction & drug research center. An important chapter in addiction history that involved the country's best jazz musicians, CIA-funded drug testing, the quest for a cure, and questionable ethics practices. Former inmates, patients, and staff share their memories and views on the facility and society's changing responses to it.
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(2008, 53 min, Website, IMDb)

No trailer, but watch on Vimeo.
Film based on the companion book, The Narcotic Farm: The Rise and Fall of America's First Prison for Drug Addicts (2008) by Campbell, Olsen, & Walden. Milking cows was one duty for patients and prisoners meant to keep their hands busy.
Playlist of documentary trailers:
Too many great documentaries to feature them all here. View the full list on Youtube.
Playlist of full documentaries and collected clips:
Many hours of free documentaries. View the full playlist on Youtube.
List of documentaries: ​IMDb.com/list