Movie Description

Reefer Madness (originally made as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled as The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, and Love Madness) is a 1936?1939 American propaganda exploitation drama drug addiction film revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana?from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, hallucinations, and descent into madness due to marijuana addiction. The film was directed by Louis Gasnier and starred a cast composed of mostly unknown bit actors.

Originally financed by a church group under the title Tell Your Children, the film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use. However, soon after the film was shot, it was purchased by producer Dwain Esper, who re-cut the film for distribution on the exploitation film circuit beginning in 1938/39 through the 40s and 50s.

The film was "rediscovered" in the early 1970s and gained new life as unintentional satire among advocates of cannabis policy reform. Despite its finding a popular audience as a cult film, critics have panned it as one of the worst films ever made. Today, it is in the public domain in the United States.