Raw Opium

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Raw Opium is a 2011 Canadian documentary. It was produced by Robert Lang of Kensington Communications, directed by Peter Findlay, and written by Findlay and Lang. The film explores the global opium trade and the crime and health problems it creates. It takes viewers on a worldwide journey through time to show how people and nations clash over opium from the poppy plant. The film features stories from an opium master in Southeast Asia, a UN drug enforcement officer on the Afghanistan border, a former Indian government Drug Czar and opium farmer, a Vancouver doctor, and a Portuguese street worker who face addiction every day. It shows how the opium poppy shapes the lives of growers, manufacturers, users, and international relations, and it challenges common ideas about addiction and the war on drugs. Raw Opium was released on May 7, 2011 at the DOXA festival, runs 84 minutes, and is in English. It was later adapted into a two-part TV documentary shown in several countries.