High Power

Recreational cannabis use is legal in Washington, D.C. Recreational cannabis sales are not. Higher Power is the story of Black Washingtonians navigating this in-between space while looking to build their futures through participation in the legal cannabis industry. Higher Power uses the complex past (and present) of cannabis legalization in Washington, D.C. to tell a larger story about the disenfranchisement of 700,000 U.S. citizens and the pressing need for D.C. statehood. We are documenting, in real time, the fight to end the criminalization of our communities, for reparations from the war on drugs, and for full citizenship rights for D.C. residents. Higher Power chronicles how Black Washingtonians are both affecting, and affected by, cannabis legalization. The film follows Black medical cannabis business owners who have succeeded against the odds; traditional (illegal) cannabis entrepreneurs who have been shut out of the legal economy; and activists, legislators and policy makers working for (and against) legalized recreational cannabis sales. The legislation at the center of Higher Power's story is Initiative 71, the ballot measure that legalized cannabis for adult use in 2014. After D.C. voters approved Initiative 71, Andy Harris (R-Maryland) inserted a rider into Congress' budget that prohibited the city from implementing a tax and regulation system for recreational cannabis. Why would he do this? To truly understand this injustice, we must go back to 1973 and the passage of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

• 2023
• english
• 2 hrs 30 min
• 6 (IMDb)