Waiting to Inhale Banned at HIV AIDS Conference in Palm Springs

This is a first. After 135 screenings and discussions on four continents, and winning five important awards, Waiting to Inhale is NOT being screened and discussed at the Inland Empire HIV AIDS Conference.

I was on my way to screen Waiting to Inhale at the Inland Empire HIV AIDS Conference today in Riverside County. I got a call from Aaron Smith, California Organizer for the Marijuana Policy Project who was to be on a panel with me at 5PM today. He was just called by conference organizers and told that the event was canceled at the request of County officials.

Riverside County is one of a few counties in California that have been opposed to Proposition 215, and who have refused to implement California Senate Bill 420.

As Lanny Swerdlow, director of the THC Foundation Medical Clinic at 647 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501 explained on the phone there is a anti-drug foundation, The Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition , that works with a Dr. Paul Chabot , who have refused to accept the evidence of the NIDA DEA approved studies conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams at UCSF that cannabis provides relief to patients suffering from AIDS related neuropathy (see attached study from Journal of Neurology-exclusive footage from the study is featured in "Waiting to Inhale'), and other international studies of medical efficacy of cannabis for treating serious diseases such as MS, glaucoma and the effects of chemotherapy and radiation on cancer patients. I have been told by Lanny Swerdlow and Aaron Smith that this organization is associated with local law enforcement officials and the Riverside County supervisors. Their mission is to stop legitimate patients from legally obtaining cannabis under California Proposition 215 or Senate Bill 420.

This is the first time in 34 years of making and presenting social issue films that a screening and discussion has been canceled.

Swerdlow is setting up a free public screening tonight, Wed, March 11th at 7PM at the THC Foundation Medical Clinic at 647 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501. Aaron Smith and I will be there to present and discuss the film. However, this screening is 45 minutes away from the AIDS conference site, and many, if not all, of the conference attendees will find it hard to attend.

Ironically, this censorship by local public officials comes on the heels of U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder's statement on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 that ending federal medical marijuana raids "is now American policy."

Celebrating Mary Riffe's Life and Passing

My mother, Mary K. Cowart Riffe, passed away in Dallas on February 5, 2009. I got the news just as I was starting the Fall 2009 Film Tour. With a heavy heart I screened and discussed Waiting to Inhale to large crowds in San Diego, California and Salt Lake City, Utah. In a way these screenings and discussion forums about controversial and important public policy issues are partly due to her influence on me over my lifetime.

Mary was a journalist, but when she moved to East Dallas from Lake Highlands she moved back to the historic neighborhood where we were both born. I was still in San Francisco, California doing grass roots organizing followed by organic farming in Mendocino, California when Mary became an activist for community housing in East Dallas. I moved back to Dallas in 1975. This is when I produced my first PBS broadcast documentary Promise and Practice: Redlining in North America. I purchased a SONY AV 3400 Porta Pack, and she bought my first videocam tripod and the first box of reel to reel tapes. Mary was one of the three lead organizers focusing on fighting "redlining" and on housing and community development and preservation. Mary's work lead to her being one of the main characters featured in Promise and Practice.

As all my films are about social justice issues, over the years Mary enjoyed being at the premiere of each documentary, particularly the community screenings.

It's hard to let go of Mary. Her husband and my dad Norman Jerry Riffe, Jr. died in 1966 at the age of 42. I was already on my own, married to Susan Kreager, and working my way through college by managing the school newspapers and working for Bob Campbell & Associates. She became the matriarch and sole source of support for my brother Ken,sisters Candy and Cindy (deceased), and adopted brother Billy Jack Canada. Anyone that knows my family know the effect that my father's death and my mother's taking over the reins of the family had on all of us, both good and bad.

We are leaving for the memorial. We had cremated and are having a memorial today for her. I will write more later today.

Winter 2009 Film Tour

Dr. Paul Gahlinger, author of Illegal Drugs, and Valerie Douroux, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, U of Utah

Tonight's the premiere screening of Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law at the Salt Lake Film Center in Utah.

I arrived on Sunday, February 15th. I was honored to be the guest at a really nice meet and greet potluck hosted Valerie Doroux, the lead SSDP organizer at the University of Utah. Over 30 people showed up for the potluck and informal discussion. The screening is part of the Film Center's War on Drug Policy Film Series.

Waiting to Inhale is the second in a series of four monthly screenings. The first was Tulia Texas, the third film will be Locked Down, and the last America's Drug War. This series of very strong films on drug policies in the US has never been screened together. This way the Center can build an audience over time. Great concept.



Jed Riffe and Dr. Paul Gahlinger being interviewed on Radioactive program on KRCL FM Salt Lake City.

Waiting to Inhale Screening in San Diego

The photo is of Aaron Smith, Marijuana Policy Project Coordinator for the State of California, and Rudy Reyes, a patient activist who was severely burned in the SOCAL fires two years ago on a panel with filmmaker Jed Riffe.

The screening and discussion in San Diego last Sunday was truly awesome, and I do not use that word very often. We packed over 200 cannabis activists and patients into a 180 seat theater at the City of San Diego's Central Library. I turned away another 10-15 people because the floors and doors were blocked with people sitting or standing.

The County of San Diego is refusing to comply with either Proposition 215 or with CA assembly Bill 420. They have collaborated with the DEA in closing down all of the cannabis dispensaries, and have refused to create a state patient ID card program.

Four of the twenty-seven people that were arrested this week in San Diego in a county wide sting operation came to the screening to share their stories.

A full page article debating the county's policies under state law and the medical efficacy of cannabis covered the front page of the San Diego Herald Tribune on Sunday. That followed an in depth interview with me on Channel 4 and its sister station (NBC) in San Diego.

Now its on to screen and discuss the film at the Salt Lake Film Center February 17th.

2009 Year of Change

This is my first post since returning from Poland. I was invited by Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Director, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Institute to screen and discuss "Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law"at Watch Docs. Watch Docs is sponsored by the Helsinki Foundation and the Open Society Institute. Everyone I met was so supportive. It was one of the best experiences in my film career. Photos from the Q&A session:
http://domysly.blox.pl/2008/12/Jed-Riffe-i-jointy-na-recepte.html

Since my return, I produced a proposal to develop seven individual interactive displays for a major museum in the US. I am currently in San Diego for a major screening and discussion of "Waiting to Inhale." San Diego County is refusing to follow state law AB420 and implement a Patient ID program. The County has lost three appeals of their lawsuit which attempts to overturn California Proposition 215 and AB420. This screening, like the one we did in Fresno last July is a direct challenge to the recalcitrant County Supervisors. It worked in Fresno. After a lot of hard work by local activists led by MPP organizer Aaron Smith, and a series of lawsuits by Americans for Safe Access, Fresno County voted to implement a Patient ID program in 2008.

Waiting to Inhale screens at the Centre for Contemporary Art in the Ujazdowski Castle

I have screened and discussed Waiting to Inhale at Landmark Theaters E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C., The Alamo Cinemas in Austin, Texas, at the Australian Film Festival and at many other venues across the world but this is the first time at a famous historic castle. The Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw Poland is now the Centre for Contemporary Art which features a variety of artistic endeavors including independent films like Waiting to Inhale. WATCH DOCS Film Festival, the Helsinki Foundation and the Open Society Institute turned out a full house for the film's premiere screening in Poland. Normally we do a Q & A or a panel discussion after a screening. This time I was interviewed by a highly regarded journalist who also fielded questions from the audience.

After 45 minutes of discussion a number of people in the audience joined Kasia, Alex, Marta and other Helsinki Foundation and Open Society staffers for more discussion, food and drinks at the nearby Blues Bar. It was a little for my guide and translator Marta and I to find it. The Blues Bar must have been built in a WWII bunker. It was in the park where the Ujazdowski castle is but it is underground.

They were holding me a seat in the center of the room so I could field more questions and discuss the film. After the second Q & A of the evening a group of marijuana activists interviewed me on video for their website. I hardly had time to enjoy the great pizza and local pils (beer) but I managed. Everyone was so supportive and enthusiastic about the film.

It was during the Q & A's that I began to realize that medical marijuana is a totally new concept in Poland. Marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were not made illegal in Poland until 1992. According to my guides so called "bad drugs" did not exist during the Soviet occupation of Poland.

It is apparent that the Polish people have been heavily propagandized over the last 25 years. Most of the people are seriously uniformed about the difference between cannabis and drugs like heroin and cocaine. They are all lumped together. Now I understand why marijuana is considered such a taboo here. I was informed as soon I got here that no one smoked cannabis in public for fear of going immediately to jail.

Because of its isolation AIDS did not arrive here until the mid 1990's so people here missed out on my own experience, and that of many others who saw how cannabis helped people suffering from the Wasting Syndrome that killed so many AIDS patients prematurely. I want to find out whether people in countries other than the US, Canada and Great Britain know about AIDS, MS and other diseases that patients using cannabis can benefit.

The Elegant Pigs Knuckle

After arriving in Warsaw for Watch Docs, and a tour of the old city by my new friend Marta, I was invited to diner at a wonderful Polish restaurant across from the tower and castle where I photographed the city for my first blog in Poland. My hosts were Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Director, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Institute at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, her husband Steich (sp) and Alex Kirby who coordinated my visit. And what great hosts they are. This is considered one of the best restaurants in Warsaw.

I wanted to taste the authentic cuisine of Warsaw. As I went through the menu, which was in Polish and English, I saw a lot of dishes that I had never seen before. I asked them Kasia what dishes she considered authentic Polish cuisine. She said I should try the Elegant Pigs Knuckle. I will try anything once and was I glad that I did. As you can see from the photo it was an incredible hunk of meat. It was also extremely tasty. Kasia, Steich, Alex and Marta all ordered the same dish which was a specially prepared duck confit. Duck confit is is normally my favorite dish but I am so glad that I had Elegant Pigs Knuckle.

We ordered wine and sparkling water and eat until we were stuffed. Steich turned me on to another authentic Polish treat...vodka. We had shots of Wyborowa vodka. I had never drank vodka straight, much less in a shot glass. It was so smooth. It did not taste like any other vodka I have ever had.

After this incredible dining experience it was time to head to bed. I would wake up tomorrow on Polish time. In all my days of filming around the world the first thing I do is get on the local time zone. It worked. Now I am ready for my first screening tomorrow.