CULT MOVIE: MARIHUANA (1935)

The fact that this is also known as Marihuana, The Weed With Roots In Hell, will give you an idea of the film's attitude to an illicit spliff. A reporter goes undercover to investigate a dope ring when a bunch of teenagers become addicted to marihuana after just a single toke. As a direct result, an innocent summer becomes awash with drowning, alcoholism, heroin addiction, kidnapping, pregnancy and death. But of course! Gloriously inept performances and terrible direction make this a classic among B movies, although the tag line: "Weird orgies! Wild parties! Unleashed passions!" hints that Esper (who had  made a film about an addicted doctor called Narcotic in 1933) may have been considerably more interested in exploitation than social responsibility. For more along the same lines, see Reefer Madness (1936) in which a high-school principal warns students' parents about a couple called Mac and Jack who entice good kids to their apartment and turn them into reefer addicts leading,in one case, to life in a mental hospital. Incredibly, this film is on DVD in a trilogy with the equally astoundingly bad Cocaine Fiends and Sex Madness.
Director: Dwain Esper Cast: Harley Wood, Gloria Browne

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