What's In My Baggie?
Over the course of two months, five friends travelled 12,000 miles with their cameras in hand. Their mission? Expose the spread of unregulated and misrepresented drugs and research chemicals, and to shine a spotlight on a hugely inept national drug policy. What's in My Baggie? chronicles this journey, and the surprising discoveries that were made along the way.
The filmmakers seek out large gatherings of youth within settings where experimental substance use is commonplace, and settle upon the most popular regional music festivals. They bring along chemical detection kits which can swiftly identify each tested substance. In most cases, the drugs these young people purchased were completely different from what they believed they were paying for. Samples of MDMA are often identified as bath salts. Other drugs test as unknown substances without a name.
This conundrum might seem slight on the surface, but it actually poses serious dangers to psychoactive drug users. Gone are the days when the drug culture was populated with half a dozen mainstays like cocaine, marijuana and LSD. Today, illicit substances can easily undergo chemically manipulation, be morphed into one of countless varieties, and sold to an unsuspecting youth with no regard for the consequences. Out of the dozens of drug users interviewed in the film most are not aware of the dangers or that such testing kits exist.
During the course of the film, this crisis is further illustrated by medical practitioners, law enforcement officials, assorted outreach organizations and dealers of these substances. The proliferation of these psychoactive drugs is so widespread, and their appearance so indistinguishable from other known substances, that regulators have a difficult time catching up. The dealers themselves are aware of this dilemma and use it to their advantage as they knowingly sell deceptive products at premium prices.
What's in My Baggie? takes what many believe to be a realistic view of drug use among youth. From the filmmakers' perspective, a significant percentage of young people are likely to experiment with drugs when given the right conditions and companionship. In that regard, the film provides a valuable service by advocating for more caution and education.
When i watch this documentary all i can think of is the similarity to the prescription pill and heroin epidemic. The secret that this documentary does not really touch on is that these drugs are all very similar, which is what makes this possible (and what made the switch from pills to heroin possible). People demonize the yellow "bath salts" to set up this dichotomy where mdma and lsd usage is on the harmless end of the spectrum. The other thing that pervades this documentary is the broscience aspect, you can even see it in the comments where mdmapig believes he can differentiate between real and fake. Also, having been around a lot of junkies, especially teen/young adult junkies, they have a phenomenal desire to tell stories and seem like they have insider knowledge.
Look, harm reduction is good for people who are already using drugs, and are mature and experienced. My worry is that harm reduction without just basic education will drive more people to using drugs under the pretense that drug use is safe done xyz way. Then these kids set up this narcissistic illusion that oh, I am safe because i know how to be safe, bad drug use only occurs when there is malicious intent and ill-informed use.
muppets!!! take your testing kit to your dealer
real mdma should be beige or off white/brown and smell like aniseed, if its clear or white and doesnt smell dont take it. If people knew this it would reduce harm
the guy in red t-shirt, 18+min high on mdma :D
his mouth speak more than he says :D
"We took 2 months off from our jobs"?? Lmao. You mean you borrowed some money from your parents again and didn't come home for two months looking for good drugs lol. Ahh. I remember Dance Police back in the day. Wonder if they're still around. Huh. Doc's what it is. Nothing spectacular, basically says the same thing over and over for a hour. Check your sh*t or throw it away.
@Legend, I laughed pretty hard at the irony there too, but with all their talk about government acceptance (the government deeming anything as safe means absolutely nothing to me because the FDA is just a giant lobby) that is something allowed to be distributed, so it must be safe right?
zoraide archibald..... Learn better english before you comment please. Trying to read that intelligible mess gave me a migraine.
These kids are just there to party and are idiots for blindly taking a bag from a stranger. Is it shaped like a mushroom? Chances are you have shrooms.... Is it shaped like a crystallized flower? Chances are you have weed.... Is it shaped like a pill or in powder form? Chances are, you have no idea what the F you are getting. Enjoy that feeling once you've taken it.
says the guy smoking the cigarette.
I find it hard to believe bath salts have the same effect as X. When I was a consumer in the 80's and 90's bath salts weren't even heard of. I knew dozens of people that used X and none ever had any issues with it. Seems times have changed and not for the better.
This people are sick!! You can have fun with your life being out of this killers...
How can you have fun with your life being out of this killers?
It's funny how faces get blurred but tats are OK. Example at 55:00. There's other examples too, that's just the last one I saw. :D
Entertaining and very informative. Highly recommended.