George Jung: Poster boy for America's failed "War" on Drugs.

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2001)

It was the early 1970's. America was just extricating itself from a war. In Viet Nam. A war that we had lost over 50,000 lives of our sons and daughters supporting a political agenda.
Well, that war is over and we had taken a beating. So Nixon, the shining example of Republican presidents, declares "War" on something else: Drugs.
The War on Drugs would be touted afterwards again by Reagan, who would reinstate harsh penalties for grass that Carter managed to rescind, and Poppy Bush. In light of the recent events of September 11, 2001, we can see that using the word "War" may be politically incendiary, and may be a call to action.
But the story of this DVD, Blow, and George Jung, its main character played with such charisma by Johnny Depp, is the poster story of why the "War on Drugs" is a total, complete, and crushing failure. In this case, the "War" took more lives of its own citizens, of all ages, and put them behind bars for the State to look after until they could go out and support themselves with newly prison-acquired skills, while running the price of a bag of grass from about $10 in 1968 to $250 now.
I loved this movie. It is smart, not cloying. It excuses nothing but explains much. And if you use the "Infinitifilm" extras on the DVD, you will have access to wonderful historical perspective played for you at appropriate times, at the bottom of the screen.
Oh yes, and let's let George Jung out of prison. He never hurt anyone. George is the 'poster boy' for the failed drug war. While his little girl grows up without a daddy, his life burns out behind bars. It is time for a change of paradigm in America. We should all have a grip on our use of language, and the "War on Drugs" became a metaphor for "catch the enemies of the Republican party." The young, minority children, the college kids, anyone who didn't want to join the War. 9/10 stars :-)