The film describes the war on drugs and how the government provides grants to local law enforcement based on the number of reported drug arrests. In turn, these police departments go after some of the most vulnerable members of their communities to keep their numbers and cash flowing.
In a covert operation known as Operation Glass House, police infiltrated three high schools in Temecula, California, trying to befriend students and buy them drugs. Temecula isn’t known for its drug scene, and it’s considered the second safest city in the United States. Deputy Daniel Zipperstein, who went undercover for Daniel Briggs as a teenager, was assigned to Chaparral High School, where he befriended Jesse Snodgrass. Daniel often asks Jesse to introduce him to Pot, which Jesse finally does. He bought a small amount of marijuana from a homeless man and gave it to his future boyfriend. He was later charged with two felony counts of trafficking marijuana.
Neither the Temecula School District nor the Temecula PD responded to an invitation for an interview. Jesse also refused to appear on camera due to the post-traumatic stress he has suffered since his arrest. However, his parents, Doug and Catherine, told his story to illustrate how the war on drugs took advantage of their teenage son with Asperger’s syndrome.
In emotional interviews, Doug and Catherine highlight the desperation Jesse felt in trying to keep his only friend and tell the story of him growing up on the autism spectrum as a child. From an early age, Jesse worked hard to make and maintain friendships. They believed his sole purpose in agreeing to Daniel’s request about smoking marijuana was to make him a friend, a show of empathy and connection, which his parents explained would be seen as a person with Asperger’s syndrome in other circumstances breakthrough.
In addition to interviewing Jesse’s parents and two other students arrested during Operation Glass House, viewers also learn about the history of these undercover operations launched by the LAPD in 1974. While the LAPD eventually stopped the practice after finding it primarily targeted poor students, minorities, or people with special needs and was ineffective at curbing drug trafficking in the area, other counties continued these independently. action.
Subjects in the film condemn the war on drugs as a failure based on their first-hand experience, and claim that more lives have been destroyed than saved. Despite signs of greater progress in legalizing marijuana, law enforcement is waging a war on drugs that, as the headline suggests, is proving to be a war on children.
