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OLIVER STONE
going on to talk about legalization. “It can be done. It can be done legally, safely, healthily - and it can be taxed and the government can pay for education and stuff like that. Also, you can save a fortune by not putting kids in jail.”
At the time, Stone held a remarkably forward-thinking mentality about legalization, which wouldn’t take hold in Colorado or Washington for two years after the interview..
Talking about legalization, he said, “As a politician, I would fight for decriminalization first, because that is the immediate by-product of this mess that we got ourselves into. It’s very hard to pull out of a $40 billion-a-year industry, which is the prison industry. It’s probably more than $40 billion. But they will fight you tooth and nail to keep these prisons as big as they are,” Stone said.
“It’s worse than slavery, per capita. In the black community, it is a form of slavery, this drug war, because it imprisons a huge portion of people, destroys their lives, coarsens our culture. And why? Marijuana is much less harmful than tobacco and prescription drugs in many cases, and certainly alcohol. This puritanical strain got started with Nixon. It was a political issue for him, and it’s gotten worse. It’s like the Pentagon. You can’t stop it.”
While Stone has been relatively mum on the subject recently, these quotes provide perspective into a director who has helped shape our culture over the past five decades. tone was born in New York City in 1946, and was eventually admitted to Yale. But shortly after he started, Stone dropped out of Yale and went to teach English in Vietnam. From there, he worked on a Merchant Marine ship that traveled from Asia to Oregon frequently. Stone also had quite a career in the military with the United States Army, where he served in Vietnam. There he earned many military service awards for valor.
In the early 1970s, Stone graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in film and started writing screenplays. His 1978 screenplay for the film “Midnight Express” won him his first Oscar. Afterwards, he wrote another screenplay - this time based on his own addiction to cocaine, called “Scarface.” Stone says he kicked his addiction to the substance while writing it.
In 1986, he started directing films, beginning with what many consider to be his masterpiece: “Platoon.” From there, Stone became the directorial wunderkind we all know today. Stone has been a controversial figure in the media for a variety of reasons.
For one, he has made many statements related to his leftist political views, and has supported - or seemed to support - controversial world leaders and governments. Stone has also been outspoken on his own personal views of human liberty in the 20th and 21st centuries. That includes the use of illicit substances and Cannabis.
In 2012, as part of major press junkets for the movie “Savages” (which chronicles the US-led drug war with Mexican and Colombian cartels), Stone laid out his feelings on Cannabis - which he said he has smoked all around the world.
“There’s good weed everywhere in the world, but my God, these Americans are brilliant,” he said, then S Oliver Stone is one of the most famous directors, screenwriters and authors of the 20th century. We’ve all seen his famous films like “Platoon,” “The Doors,” “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Natural Born Killers.” The vast majority of Stone’s screenplays and films involve his love of history, which is often used to retell stories in a compelling fashion for modern audiences.
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