From the very beginning filmmakers have struggled to free themselves from censorship and manipulation by specialinterest groups and this struggle is clearly evident in the history of drug films. Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness is an exhaustive exploration of the history of the depiction of psychoactive drugs in motion pictures from Thomas Edisons Opium Smoker 1894 to Cocaine Cowboys 1978 Included are over 400 silent and 1000 sound films as well as nearly 500 drugabuse films 85 experimental films and 135 television programs. More than 150 stills most never before published and many extremely rare illustrate the text. Arranged chronologically as well as by drug type and often by country this book shows that far from being a recent phenomenon drug films were made in nearly every country and period that produced a significant body of films.Visit Edisons first film studio reflect on the filmic consequences of Cocteaus opium addiction with Kenneth Angers early experiences with magic mushrooms see Charles Laughton smuggling cocaine inside a statute of the Buddha and watch Douglas Fairbanks Sr. consuming vast quantities of opium and cocaine in a World War I Sherlock Holmes parody.