American Drug War: The Last White Hope (2007)

The War on Drugs has become the longest and most costly war in American history, the question has become, how much more can the country endure? Inspired by the death of four family members ... See full summary »

Director:

Kevin Booth

Stars:

Joe Arpaio, Jello Biafra, Osama bin Laden

Cast

Credited cast:
Joe Arpaio	...	Himself (as Sheriff Joe Arpaio)
Jello Biafra	...	Himself - Activist
Osama bin Laden	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jeff Blackburn	...	Himself - Civil Rights Attorney: Tulia, TX
Robert C. Bonner	...	Himself - Former Head of the DEA (archive footage) (as Robert Bonner)
Curt Booth	...	Himself - Psychedelic Movement
Dorothy Booth	...	Herself (archive footage) (as Dorothy Ann Booth)
Kevin Booth	...	Average White Guy
Eddie Bravo	...	Himself
Chico Brown	...	Himself
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Celerino Castillo III	...	Himself - DEA Agent
Paris Chong	...	Himself - Son of Tommy
Tommy Chong	...	Himself - Private Prison Prisoner

Storyline

The War on Drugs has become the longest and most costly war in American history, the question has become, how much more can the country endure? Inspired by the death of four family members from "legal drugs" Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth sets out to discover why the Drug War has become such a big failure. Three and a half years in the making the film follows gang members, former DEA agents, CIA officers, narcotics officers, judges, politicians, prisoners and celebrities. Most notably the film befriends Freeway Ricky Ross; the man many accuse for starting the Crack epidemic, who after being arrested discovered that his cocaine source had been working for the CIA. AMERICAN DRUG WAR shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just dope fiends but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some 'pro-drug' stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are ...

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | drug war | cocaine | reference to rick ross | pot | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Crime

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Американская война наркоторговцев: Последняя белая надежда

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sacred Cow Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by American Drug War 2: Cannabis Destiny (2013)

User Reviews

meh

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.