About "Savages" and legalizing marijuana

Marijuana is going to be legal in the United States and Canada. Until it’s legal across both countries the violence will continue. I believe there is a race to make as much profits as possible from marijuana before it becomes legal.

When Prohibition ended the international organized crime that Prohibition created organized crime needed another cash cow. They turned to drugs. Will legalizing marijuana stop organized crime? I don't think so. But it will cut their legs off. Until the axe comes down, look for more violence.

Most soldiers came back from Vietnam addicted to heroin or alcoholic or as potheads. With the world like it is maybe drugs would have been common here without the Vietnam War.  But the drugs hit us like a ton of bricks with the Vietnam War. And it hit Coatesville harder than most places.

Oliver Stone's "Platoon" is technically and emotionally accurate because the characters are a mix of real people. Platoon was mostly an autobiographical replay of Oliver Stone’s time in Vietnam. 
Oliver Stone's "Savages" is an anti-"War on Drugs" film.

I don't know if the characters in "Savages" are based on real people. But I think that like Platoon the characters are a mix of real people.

We only see good guys in "Savages" in some fast cuts of medical marijuana clinics. Most of the film is about varying degrees of bad guys.

The premise of the film is; the days of stupendous profits from illegal marijuana are numbered and our heroes/anti-heroes need to make as much money as they can before the illegal plug is pulled.  

For me the peak of the film comes about 20 minutes in. 
Every drug operation needs at least one corrupt public official. Dennis, a high level DEA agent played by John Travolta, is Ben and Chon’s corrupt public official. I transcribed the dialogue that I found important:

O (Ophelia) narrates,  “Without Dennis, Ben and Chon would be out of business.”

Dennis says, “They're killing each other down in Mexico way. That’s why they're moving north. The forks are out and the pie’s getting smaller.”

Chon, “Too many cops with their hands in the pie, Dennis.”

Dennis, “Well that’s just it. We used to keep the animals in the zoo. But now with this war on drugs it’s like the war on Iraq, Chon boy.”

Ben asks Dennis, "Why do they want our business when they put out about 35 million pounds of grass last year?"

Dennis, “Because your THC levels are off the fucking chart. They're like 30%, right?”

Ben, “33%.”

Dennis, “And their swag is like 3 to 5? Come on man they’re Wal-Mart. Man, you’re Ben and Chon. They want a Ben and Chon section in aisle 3.”

Ben, “Fine, have them move their shit indoors and buy some fucking lamps.”

Dennis, “Welcome to the recession boys. You should be very pleased you still have a product people want.”

Chon to Dennis, “So you don't mind if your envelope gets a little thinner then?”

Dennis, “You guys, you guys, you know; you have a clean business, there’s no problems. There ain't no Ben and Chon without Dennis. So my envelope stays the same. Just a matter of time guys before they legalize this shit, don't fuck with Wal-Mart. Why not take the deal instead of the decapitation. Keep banging that sweet California ass. You had a good run, man. Embrace the change.”

Does the film sound fanciful?

Check out this article:

Pot farm pollution:Too dangerous to deal with?

By TRACIE CONE Associated Press Published: Aug 1, 2013 at 7:35 AM PDT Last Updated: Aug 1, 2013 at 12:07 PM PDT

“SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - With parts of Northern California's scenic hillsides illegally gouged by bulldozers for marijuana grows, frustrated local officials asked the state for help to protect streams and rivers from harmful sediment and the chemicals used on the pot plants.

“They hoped to charge growers under federal and state clean water regulations with tougher penalties than the infractions local officials could impose. But they were rebuffed.

It's too dangerous, the state agency in charge of protecting the region's water said in a letter to county supervisors.

‘We simply cannot, in good conscience, put staff in harm's way,’ wrote Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board Executive Director Paula Creedon.

As in many rural counties in California, marijuana farms are becoming more and more plentiful. They proliferate in the high Sierra, where armed Mexican cartel operatives clear wilderness areas, divert creeks and poison wildlife. Other smaller gardens are planted by people operating as collectives by pooling dozens of permits under the state's medical marijuana laws, though many of those are traffickers attempting to skirt the law. State law allows a person with a medical permit to grow roughly a dozen plants…

The issue of large-scale marijuana enforcement and the damage some pot farms cause is not new in a region known as the Emerald Triangle, for the marijuana that has been produced there for decades. Marijuana is the state's biggest cash crop with an estimated $14 billion in legal and illegal sales annually.”

Local communities in Canada are preparing for Canada wide regulation of marijuana for medical use or possibly Canada wide decriminalization of marijuana by creating zoning for growing marijuana:

Keep farmland free ofmedical pot growing: Chilliwack

A long time ago I came to the conclusion that drugs are illegal because public officials profit from illegality. Marijuana will be legal. A lot of people will die and be maimed so that dealers and public officials can rack up profits before prohibition ends.