If you’ve been following Big Easy Magazine since day one, you understand our stance on cannabis legislation. You understand how we feel America can adapt and evolve with marijuana, from medicinal and recreational uses to reducing the prison population by means of expunging and retroactively forgiving some (if not all) records. Netflix, the movie and tv streaming monolith, has released a documentary that appears to agree.

Grass is Greener, hosted and directed by musician Fab 5 Freddy and featuring interviews with many other acts such as Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion), pulls us into the cultural importance weed has played in our country. Jazz legends like Louis Armstrong? Loved weed. Used weed. Were inspired by weed. In the trailer (embedded in this article), a video graphic shows how marijuana spread through this country, focusing (believe it or not) on the Gulf South and New Orleans regions as points of entry, with New Orleans featuring prominently throughout.

Musical coincidence? Racial coincidence?

Greener looks to also take a political turn, describing the war on drugs as a war on black and Hispanic people (where you couldn’t because of race, you could because of drugs). Nixon and Reagan pop in as harbingers of horrible policy and action, with the creatives being (as always) speakers of truth. Images of young (black) men in prison and protesters being hauled away are shown with eggs frying in a pan and other propaganda. Effect and cause of a terrible condition.

Now available on Netflix, Grass is Greener seeks as many eyeballs and minds as possible, hoping to change hearts and laws in equal measure. Stand with Big Easy Magazine and progressives all over by watching and talking about this movie and most important issue.

Bill Arceneaux has been an independent writer and film critic in the New Orleans area since 2011, working with outlets like Film Threat, DIG Baton Rouge, Crosstown Conversations, and Occupy. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and is Rotten Tomatoes approved.