Scorgie at career high with follow-up doc to cult fave

The Global Visions Film Festival is kicking off its winter screening series with the follow-up to what is widely considered one of the most successful and popular Canadian documentaries of all time.

The Culture High is Edmonton-based producer Adam Scorgie’s continuation of the examination of marijuana and its place in world culture. He started the in-depth examination with his sleeper-hit documentary The Union: The Business Behind Getting High, which came out seven years ago.

“We call it a follow-up because it’s very different from the first one,” Scorgie clarified.

One of the biggest ways in which it’s different is that the audience demanded it.

“The fans just kept saying, ‘You have to do another one.’ We didn’t want to do another film that was pot related. [They] kept saying there’s so much change in the drug policy around the world, you guys have to do another one.”

To gauge how much support there actually was for another film he set up a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. That brought in $240,000 in 40 days, and that was all the proof he needed.

Scorgie originally considered getting into the pot business himself because some people he knew were wealthy from their own enterprises. He was told that they were in ‘The Union,’ meaning they grew pot plants. It turned out that the industry has created collaborations in other areas of the economy.

“I looked at buying a house and was going to set it up for a grow op. That’s when I realized how many people, indirectly, are involved in the business. You had realtors who knew exactly what you were looking for. They would point out bi-level houses where it would be easy to splice the power with no neighbours. It was weird. ‘Why are you pointing all that out to me?’”

Some realtors even suggested to him that they sell so many houses that turn into grow ops that they considered the phrase ‘If you’re growing, I’m showing” on their business cards.

Instead, he used his film school training to make the documentary that launched his career as a film producer. Fast forward to 2014 and there are some notable advancements in how the world is changing in regards to how it views marijuana and cannabis. For one thing, he talked about how our country’s federal drug policy allows for cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes and opened the doors for commercial companies to get involved.

“The people that are coming out and speaking about it as you see in the film – people like Sir Richard Branson, former drug czars and ex-law enforcement – have really seen that prohibiting a substance that’s in demand is doing far more damage to society than it is helping. How we ever thought that incarcerating our way out of people with addictions was ever going to help society is beyond me.”

The two-hour documentary covers all of the bases of the history, the politics, the media, the legalities and other facets of our society and culture as they pertain to marijuana. It’s slick for sure but doesn’t come across as ‘the anti-Reefer Madness’ propaganda, containing a wide variety of expert commentators to balance out the message of the film. Interviewees include Branson, psychiatrist Dr. Lester Grinspoon, addictions specialist Dr. Gabor MatĂ©, among many others. Yes, Snoop Dogg, Joe Rogan and Wiz Khalifa are in there too, for good measure.

It starts out with video of an American police raid on a house that was suspected to have a large amount of marijuana. Instead, a small amount of the drug was discovered along with a pipe. The police shot and killed the family’s dog during the raid. A voiceover then says that we can’t live in a society that is both free and drug-free.

According to Scorgie, it was made with the most care for a reason and is geared toward an intelligent audience. He said that it has had a profoundly emotional impact on many viewers, including some unlikely proponents.

“The audiences were blown away. People were crying. We had some very, very tough critics in the film industry… they were crying. It is really shaking audiences.”

Guy Lavallee, program director with Global Visions, is pleased to have this premiere come to Edmonton, especially since The Union had a strong reaction from local viewers.

“When they screened it here, the response was incredible. They didn’t necessarily set out to make another drug film but there was so much demand for it. The Union was an all-encompassing, thorough examination of the debate. But the variety of topics that this one ends up covering that are all directly related to this whole debate is quite breathtaking. It’s a very, very well made film. It far surpassed my expectations.”

The next screening in the film festival’s winter series is anticipated to take place in December. That film will likely be announced during Wednesday’s event.