The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2007) on Netflix

Plot summary

British Columbia's illegal marijuana trade, known by some as The Union, generates an estimated seven billion Canadian dollars a year, with as much as eighty-five percent of the crop sent to the United States. A Canadian documentary explores this underground market through interviews with cultivators, law enforcement, criminologists, economists, physicians, politicians, and celebrities. The film traces the history of cannabis and the reasons behind its prohibition, drawing parallels to alcohol prohibition in the United States during the 1920s. It raises questions about the health effects of cannabis, the gateway theory, the plant's medicinal value, and what legalization might mean for the pharmaceutical industry. The trade continues to operate despite being illegal, and the documentary considers how the business functions and who benefits from its outlaw status.