How to Make Money Selling Drugs – review

3 / 5 stars
This accessible documentary about the drug trade won't surprise anyone who's already watched The Wire, but it does have some interesting new things to say

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Drug and alcohol abuse soars over the holiday season, as do money worries, so it's a canny move on the UK distributor's part to release this teasingly titled documentary just before Christmas. Structured to suggest a mock instruction manual or video game, director Matthew Cooke's film deploys lots of sans serif graphics and handy statistics to explain how people escalate up the drug-dealing ladder. Various colourful characters including Freeway Rick Ross, the man who invented crack, and ex-cop Barry Cooper explain the tricks of the trade, but none of it will be news to anyone who's watched Breaking Bad or The Wire (clips from the latter are even shown to illustrate points). An hour in, Cooke finally starts getting more polemical and interesting about how the huge amount of money poured into the war on drugs just perpetuates the problem. That's also been explored in other docs, but input from 50 Cent, Eminem and Susan Sarandon helps make this one more accessible. What a shame it's got an 18 certificate, given that teens would probably learn most from its lessons.