There are hundreds of drug documentaries circling around the internet and being shown in independent theatres everywhere. You’ve most likely seen one about weed, cocaine, or LSD while flipping through cable television. For with all this exposure filmmakers still have not dared to craft an informative official documentary that tackles the subject of opium farming and the world’s heroin market. Opium, as a means of getting high, is not as blatantly represented as some of it’s more socially acceptable kin, yet it deserves a fair shot at an accurate narrative within the media machine

Synthetic forms of opium have permeated the prescription drug market from coast to coast. From a soft powder to a cooked down liquid and even a solid pill, opium is a chameleon that begins its existence as a flower, the poppy, a gift from Mother Nature not unlike other mood and mind-altering substances.

Raw Opium is about to hit the streets bringing with it an enlightening look at the commodification and distribution of the drug as well as it’s healing and destructive powers presented through face-to-face interviews with junkies and medical professionals alike. It’s about time that a fearless, educated, and unbiased presentation of the drug’s ability to feed and clothe workers in an opium plant as well as impoverish millions of addicts each day.

Many a war have been fought over control of the crop, civil wars in Afghanistan, domestic struggles with DEA officials and dealers/smugglers, as well as avaricious doctors who give it away like candy to the highest bidder through low-hungry clinics, solidifying its place in the pantheon of profitable harvested goods. The documentary reminds us that the prevalence of heroin, morphine, and other opioids in American culture has endured the test of time as it is still held in “high” regard in the medical field for it’s painkilling properties.

The marginalization and misconception of opiates by popular culture has made it a virtually untouchable topic of investigation….until now. Canadian director, Peter Findlay, asks us to see opium for what it is, an economic force with the capacity to drastically change lives for better or worse. Heroin is hip again, now get jive to it.

- Casper