Grass Is Greener

Fred Brathwaite, known as Fab 5 Freddy, grows up in Brooklyn surrounded by artists, good food, and quality cannabis. latestnetflix.com's view is that Remembering his father's friends smoking while discussing politics and culture, he traces the history of cannabis prohibition and its deep ties to American music, starting with jazz musicians who used the plant to find their creative rhythm.

Cannabis roots trace back to New Orleans, a melting pot and the birthplace of jazz. Louis Armstrong smokes weed daily throughout his life, famously declaring to his manager: "All I want is a permit to carry that good shit." Despite such sentiments, 1930s America shifts toward prohibition, driven by Harry Anslinger, the first head of the Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger uses xenophobia, sensationalized propaganda, and racial anxieties to link marijuana to minorities and justify harsh enforcement.

Under Anslinger's leadership, lurid stories fill newspapers and films like *Reefer Madness*. The 1937 Marijuana Tax Act effectively bans cannabis. Mayor LaGuardia's comprehensive 1944 report dismantles Anslinger's claims, confirming cannabis does not cause insanity or criminality, but the government ignores the science. Instead, prohibition becomes a tool to suppress integration and disrupt jazz clubs where black and white people gather.

In Harlem, Mezz Mezzrow becomes a legendary white dealer supplying top-quality cannabis to jazz greats like Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow's culture inspires the Beat movement, which later heavily influences the 1960s counterculture. As hippies embrace cannabis, Allen Ginsburg begins agitating for legalization, noting how cannabis laws disproportionately assault the rights and culture of African Americans.

Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and later administrations escalate the war on drugs through mandatory minimums and the Controlled Substances Act, placing cannabis on Schedule I alongside heroin. Nixon's own staff later admits that the drug policy was weaponized against anti-war protesters and black communities. Despite the Shafer Commission recommending decriminalization, Nixon doubles down on enforcement.

In Jamaica, Rastafarians use ganja as a spiritual sacrament. Reggae artists like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh popularize the plant globally through music, with Tosh demanding leaders "Legalize it." While the federal government quietly establishes a medical cannabis program for specific conditions, enforcement in communities of color continues aggressively.

In the 1980s, the crack epidemic and Reagan's policies devastate inner cities, while hip hop emerges from the Bronx to document the devastation. Rappers like Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill, and Wu-Tang Clan celebrate cannabis openly, creating a new counterculture where weed is synonymous with coolness. Harlem's Branson becomes a legendary neighborhood dealer mentioned in over 70 rap songs, supplying big names like the Notorious B.I.G.

Despite changing attitudes and legalization in several states, strict laws destroy millions of lives. In Louisiana, Bernard Noble receives a mandatory minimum sentence of 13 to 15 years under multiple-bill statutes for possessing a tiny amount of marijuana. His family suffers through years of separation while Noble serves time in prison. Activists and lawyers point out that the legal cannabis industry is now booming into a multi-billion-dollar market, yet people of color—who bore the brunt of the drug war—own less than one percent of dispensaries and struggle to access capital.

As cannabis goes mainstream, prominent figures, athletes like Cliff Robinson, and entrepreneurs like Jesce Horton enter the legal market. However, advocates argue that legalization without reparations or expungement leaves systemic injustices unaddressed. The film concludes in Louisiana, where Bernard Noble finally walks out of prison after eight years, embracing his family as a free man while wondering how minor possession led to such a severe sentence.