Watch this: Super High Me (2007)

Have you seen Super Size Me, that movie with the guy who only eats McDonalds for a month? This movie is pretty much the same concept except replace burgers with bongs, chicken nuggets with weed nugs, and fries with well… just being fried. Of course you also replace Super Size Me’s host and test subject, Morgan Spurlock, with Doug Benson. This is a very good switch because I personally find Spurlock a tad bland. Those of you who aren’t familiar Benson’s name will probably recognize his face. He has appeared on Comedy Central Presents, VH1’s Best Week Ever, was a contestant on Last Comic Standing, and is a very popular “stoner” type comedian.

The premise of the movie started as a joke in his stand up routine, until one day an independent film producer was in the audience and approached him to actually make the movie. A couple months later Benson was preparing himself for the movie. While the premise of Super High Me came from a joke, the actual documentary is not. Before Benson began his 30 days of being “super high”, he had to stay completely sober for a month(no booze, no weed, no nothing). This was to insure that the affects of constantly smoking marijuana in the next month would be properly documented and would have a “normal” set of results to compare the “high” results to. In both months Benson took the SAT, a psychic ability test, and was monitored by his physician to determine the physical effects of marijuana. It is important to note that Benson did not drink in during his “high” or “normal” month so only the effects of marijuana would be shown.

While the main point of the documentary seems to be entertainment, it is also very informative on the topic of medicinal marijuana. Throughout the film Benson interviews many pro and anti medicinal marijuana activists. In fact Benson himself has a prescription for marijuana and is very concerned with the well being of the patients and workers of marijuana dispensaries. The film actually contains footage of multiple raids on dispensaries by government agents working with state police. In my opinion marijuana legalization is quite a sticky and hairy situation. However if pain meds aren’t working on for a cancer patient why not let them use marijuana when doctors have proven it has positive effects on patients. If someone is diagnosed with leukemia and takes tons of pills with terrible side effects that barely stop the pain, why not let them take a medication that allows them to dull out the pain yet still be active and enjoy their lives? Why rob people of their lives when terrible illnesses and diseases already are? I’m not completely sure how the government answers these questions; but whether you have a lot of these same questions as I do or just want to enjoy a movie about pot I encourage you to watch this movie. Check out the trailer, here.