California High

The creator of this is one talented individual with a very promising future - what a documentary! I just finished and want to run and tell all my friends. A must watch.

I really liked that they pulled top experts from both sides of the issue. The transition music they use makes it seem really upbeat even though this is a heavily debated topic. I didn’t come here to have my opinion changed, but if I had this would have only given me the facts in order to create my own opinion. That is something that I genuinely appreciate in this day and age. Well worth the $5

I love to watch documentaries. I like to be challenged by things I'd never thought about before. This movie definitely scratched that itch. My favorite part is that it fairly balanced pro and against opinions. Myself, even after watching the movie, I'm not sure where I stand 100%, but I appreciate how intelligently it presents the issues. Intelligent is a great word for this movie. Sure, there were a "character" or two and some standard mj information. There were some opinions I could see myself completely agreeing with, and others that I couldn't wrap my head around, but I respected that the opinions were even presented, so that I could think about them for myself. It took a look at the history & future of laws and the importance California plays in what other states will do. This is a current conflict in the US. I even enjoyed looking at the beautiful California cinematography. As a teacher, I can see this being used in a variety of classroom setting--health, debate, history, writing, and more. Recommended, engaging movie you will continue to think about.

Marijuana legalization documentaries are hard to judge, sometimes. Mainly due to the inherent bias of smokers vs non-smokers. However, California High manages to dodge the stereotypical leanings of other notable films like "The Union". The most important decision in watching this film is the base content. The information given isn't skewed, slanted, or taken out of context. The film touches on the political issues of marijuana quite a bit, but also inspects the legalization issue from a focused lense. This documentary is not only about marijuana, but also about the effect that large states like California have in law reform. You also get to hear from both sides of the argument, some more extreme than others. It's factual, informative, objective in viewpoint, and fair. When dealing with hot button issues like marijuana, anything that does that is well worth it.

Using its brief 80 minutes really well, California High achieves its purpose: to organize, contextualize and discuss interesting facts and opinions about the (legal and illegal)marijuana industry in the highly influential State of California. Although at times the documentary seemed to lean toward the anti-marijuana side (I blame the use of not-so-subtle melodramatic images of glass breaking or fire destroying children's balloons while people discuss the effects of marijuana), towards the end California High does tend to neutrality. It does this by distancing itself from (but not omitting entirely) the medical cannabis debate and focusing specifically on a concrete reality: Marijuana use is widespread and as such, the criminalization or legalization of this substance has very far reaching implications.

California High is a highly informative documentary about, of course, marijuana, its history, and the current legalization battles that are affecting much of the United States right now. Of course, there are tons and tons of documentaries about marijuana all over the place, free to view on YouTube or viewable with a subscription to services like Hulu or Netflix. I’ve seen quite a few of them, and, as a United States citizen, the battle to legalize marijuana is something that I have been aware of and following for my entire adult life. There are aspects of this documentary, however, that I have found to be different than what one would normally see in “yet-another-pot-doc”, as my husband described them when I suggested we watch California High. After viewing, we both agreed this film was anything but. Of course there is information overlap, because the purpose of most of these documentaries is aimed at presenting the truth. I have to say, this documentary, or at least the makers of this documentary, really went out of their way to remain neutral. What I mean by this is simply that both sides are clearly represented in this film, with no heavy-handedness either way. It is abundant of opinions, but these opinions are all sorts, all mixed together, again, in a pursuit of truth. I didn’t feel like I was being proselytized to by the Church of Legalize It or Reefer Madness types. I felt as though I was learning more about a sensitive issue that affects all of us in some way, whether or not we choose to acknowledge or even realize it. If that’s what you’re looking for, then you can feel safe in purchasing or renting this film. No holds barred information, personal testimonies, the lives of real people, on both sides of the issue, laying their own truths bare.

Surprisingly evenhanded doc that acts as a forum for both sides of the argument to voice their platforms, and oops at the issue of legalization from an astonishing number of angles. Equips the viewer with more than enough knowledge to arrive at an informed opinion on the matter

A truly amazing & unbiased film that the digs deep into the entire marijuana legalization debate and dares to go way beyond any others before it. I thought I knew just about everything about the pot legalization and after watching this I actually found out he small my knowledge actually was. This film lets you find your own truth and is really cool to watch,