Good documentaries are more than just educational films – they should be revealing, enlightening, and should open your mind up to an entirely new perspective. After watching a good documentary, you should feel ready to dive headfirst into the rabbit hole of knowledge.
In the era of rampant fake news and alternative facts, it’s no surprise that a growing number of people are getting educated from documentaries and blogs. I myself am a fan of documentaries. The presentation – which includes visuals, interviews, and the like – lends an additional layer of credibility compared to something impersonal like reading statistics or case studies.
It’s more than just that, however. In addition to being a wealth of knowledge, documentaries are also entertaining, which seems irrelevant but it really is much easier to digest the information being presented when a film actually grabs your attention. Documentaries also have a point of view, which is what the director is trying to convey with the entire project.
With the recent growth of cannabis business and culture comes an influx of industry professionals who want to share their own points of view, along with important information that can shape the future of this burgeoning market. And there’s certainly a demand for these documentaries, with people eager to learn more about medical benefits, regulatory changes, politics, and developing trends pertaining to cannabis.
We’ve put together a list of our top 9 films to help you get some unique outlooks and objectives on cannabis.
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CBD Nation
CBD Nation focuses on the medicinal side of things, exploring the scientific research as well as anecdotal evidence of using cannabidiol to treat different health conditions. In this documentary, some of the world’s leading cannabis experts are interviewed including Raphael Mechoulam, Sue Sisley, and the DeAngelo brothers. Also profiled are numerous patients who took their healthcare into their own hands and made the choice to start using CBD.
Available on Amazon Prime and YouTube
The Culture High
This film combines the insight of celebrities, former undercover agents, university professors, and many other cannabis industry professionals, as well as consumers, all of whom are discussing the societal impact of the decades-long cannabis prohibition in the United States. Culture High really takes a look at what’s going on the below the surface.
Available on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Vudu
Grass
This 1999 documentary also looks at the United States’ repressive cannabis regulations and how this shaped the public’s opinions on the plant for decades. It’s one of the first pro-cannabis documentaries, and it was released shortly after California became the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana back in 1996 – the first time cannabis was legally acknowledged as anything more than a recreational substance since the 1930s prohibition. Grass is narrated by famed cannabis advocate Woody Harrelson.
Available on Amazon Prime
Super High Me
Arguably one of the most well-known cannabis documentaries on the list, Super High Me was a parody of Super Size Me; but with weed instead of McDonalds. Incase you haven’t seen it, the film Super Size me tracks a healthy, adult male (former) vegetarian who decides to eat McDonalds every day for one month to see what kind of effects it would have on his body. It was disturbing to say the least. But anyway, in Super High Me, comedian Doug Benson detoxes his body, then consumes cannabis every day for a month. His results helped dispel some common misconceptions people have about the effects of cannabis, seeing as how his overall health and even SAT test scores had improved.
Available on Amazon Prime
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Created by the same crew that brought us The Culture High, The Union focuses the financial side of the illicit cannabis market. This film looks at current numbers, projected growth, and some insider aspects of trafficking cannabis. The filmmakers interviewed growers, police officers, criminologists, psychologists, economists, doctors, politicians, and pop culture icons to find out how the cannabis industry continued to grow and legitimize, despite all the legal roadblocks.
Available on YouTube
Weed the People
Weed the People was created by American actress and activist Ricki Lake, with the goal of exposing the life-saving qualities of cannabis. This film features a few different families for which cannabis medicine is a life or death decision. According to Lake, “The inspiration … was a little bit unorthodox because we didn’t really set out to make a film about medical marijuana … we got very involved in helping a little girl who was suffering and undergoing chemo and had a disease where she had tumors all over her body. They were researching alternative and integrative therapies for this little girl … and they came across cannabis oil … and the anti-tumoral effect that’s been studies, and so that really launched the film.”
Available on Netflix
Clearing the Smoke
Most people who have an interest in cannabis, also tend of have a least a basic understanding of some medical benefits and effects. What seems to be less common is knowledge about the actual science behind cannabis and how it works in the human body. Clearing the Smoke takes an in-depth look at how the plant compounds interact with the brain and body, giving cannabis the ability to treat a myriad of incredibly diverse medical conditions.
Available on YouTube
A NORML Life
NORML, The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is one of the oldest and most established cannabis activist groups in the world. Starting as a grassroots organization in the 1970s, this film highlights their efforts to legalize cannabis in the United States and also gives us some insight into how lobbying has happened in Washington D.C. over the years.
Available on Amazon Prime
Grass is Greener
One of Netflix’s excusive documentaries, hip-hop artist Fab 5 Freddy explores the popularity of cannabis in the music scene, particularly jazz. Snoop Dogg, B-Real from Cypress Hill, and Damien Marley all participate in the film as well, discussing how cannabis had a major impact on music and culture, as well as the racially biased nature of the war on cannabis.
Available on Netflix
Final Thoughts
I said it once and I’ll say it again, documentaries are a great way to get an introductory, yet very comprehensive, overview on any given subject. If you’re interested in learning more about cannabis, you can’t go wrong with any of the above films.
Did we miss your favorite cannabis documentaries? If so, drop us a line in the comment section below. To learn more about cannabis and get deals on flowers and other products, subscribe to the CBD Flowers Weekly Newsletter.
