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“If you have a daughter, marry her quickly to a traveller to Gold Mountain,
For when he gets off the boat, he will bring hundreds of pieces of silver."
                                                                            - Chinese folk song

If you were responsible for controlling drugs in your country, how many laws would you pass? How much money would you spend? How many of your people would you punish? How much democracy would you sacrifice?

These are the questions I would like to pose to U.S. legislators for my next documentary feature Golden Mountain (details on the thesis of the documentary here). On this page are some of the locations I am shooting at, plus images of production stills, archival reels, and interview footage. Note: Not everything or everyone that is described or shown on this page will necessarily end up in the documentary.
Shooting Locations
  • Oakland, CA: Well, this is where I live, a city with one of the highest rates of drug-related murders in America. The Broadway at 14th St area has been called Oaksterdam (reference to Amsterdam where marijuana is legal for adults) because of its thriving medical marijuana community. During the spring of 2004, the City Council voted to close down some of the dispensaries there. As a result of this move, downtown may have lost some of its Oaksterdam appeal. But in November, more than 60% of Oakland voters passed Measure Z, which mandated that private, adult marijuana use become the city's lowest police priority.
  • San Francisco: This is one of the few parts of the United States with an active rave scene left. Local DJs and promoters have maintained a productive relationship with the City of SF and the police department to prove that the use of "club drugs" doesn't mean that all electronic dance music parties should be shut down. The Skills crew hosts 10,000-capacity massives annually in San Francisco.
  • Santa Cruz, CA: Another town with a huge medical marijuana community and where a care facility was raided a few days before the first anniversary of 9/11. DEA agents pointed guns at and detained patients, some of whom were terminally ill and unable to even walk. The City of Santa Cruz was outraged by this heartless act on the part of federal authorities. The American Civil Liberties Union has now moved its drug policy office to Santa Cruz.
  • New Orleans: In 2001, the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal prosecutors tried to convict managers and promoters of the State Palace Theatre for hosting raves where, allegedly, illegal drugs were openly being used. The defendants were charged under a law that was originally written in 1986 to shut down crackhouses. Although the case never went to trial, this would not be the end of the federal government's attack against the electronic dance music industry.
  • Washington, DC: America's national capitol, where some of the dumbest and most counterproductive drug laws in the world are passed on a regular basis. Student activists gathered on Capitol Hill in November 2004 to lobby members of Congress and let their senators and representatives know exactly what's wrong with the drug war.
  • Southeast China: My native land, my first home, my place of birth. I got the hell out of there at the age of four so I could come pursue the American dream. On one of my return visits, my cousin said he has been to clubs where waitresses serve you ecstasy like it's cocktail. I have yet to find out if this is true. For now, I do know that drugs like ecstasy have been popular in the club and karaoke scene in Guangdong, and that illegal substances are not hard to find for any young person in China.
Production Stills (please wait for images to load)

  • Bill Piper, director of                   Mikki Norris (sitting, Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance), and
    national affairs at the                   Rob Kampia (speaking, director of the Marijuana Policy Project)
    Drug Policy Alliance               speak on a panel about successful marijuana initiatives during 2004
    (He's not drunk enough
    in this photo for me to
    be able to blackmail him)


  • Suzanne Pfeil, medical marijuana patient and member of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, here at their festival in Santa Cruz, CA - September 2004. On an early morning a few days before the first anniversary of 9/11, a local care facility she was staying at was raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration. At a time when federal agents should have been reserving their efforts to catch terrorists, they were instead pointing their guns at Suzanne, who is unable to walk. After realizing that they couldn't force a patient who couldn't walk to get off her bed, they ordered her to remain still while confiscating the marijuana that was on the property.


  • Former director of the White                 Tom Brokaw reports on crack babies during the
    House Office of National Drug               1980s, one of the many sensationalized "drug
    Control Policy William Bennett           epidemics" that has been publicized by media
    speaks at the New England College       hysteria & by lawmakers such as Bennett to
    Convention in New Hampshire -                 justify punishing drug users. The concern
    January 2004. Bennett's policy                 turned out to be unfounded. But during the
    insisted that all drug users should           1990s, the media never bothered doing follow-up
    be imprisoned for long periods of             reports to show that these "crack babies" turned
    time, regardless of whether their               out to be normal, healthy kids, letting the fear &
    behavior directly harmed anyone else.         stigma about crack be instilled in Americans.


  • Surprisingly, I was able to locate news footage of Juan Garza, a Texas crime boss who
    was convicted and sentenced to die for marijuana trafficking and murder. He was on death
    row during a time when a much more notorious & better-known murderer - Oklahoma City
    bomber Timothy McVeigh - was also awaiting execution.


  • Ronald & Nancy Reagan         "..the more young people fear       Congressman Mark Souder
    launching the Just Say                 drugs...the less likely they           created an anti-drug law
    No to Drugs campaign               are to use them." - Bill Clinton           around student aid


  • Scarlett Swerdlow, national director of               Jesse Stout, D.A.R.E. graduate and
    Students for Sensible Drug Policy and                     Students for Sensible Drug Policy
    co-founder of the UC Berkeley chapter                               activist at Brown University


  • Justin Holmes, D.A.R.E. graduate and member of Students for Sensible Drug
    Policy    . Accepting an award for his activism work at New Paltz College in NY.


  • David Presti, Dept of Moleculor Biology, UC Berkeley           Mike Males, author of Framing
    Teaches Drugs & the Brain, one of the                                   Youth and Scapegoat Generation
    largest, most popular courses at Cal                                       Teaches at UC Santa Cruz


  • Eddie Jordan Jr, District Attorney of New Orleans. During early 2001, he was a federal prosecutor and was brought onto the case against the State Palace Theatre, an entertainment venue in the French Quarters which held raves that were frequented by young teenagers. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the managers and promoters of the State Palace Theatre intentionally allowed drugs to be sold and used during the raves. The defendants were charged, but never tried, under a 1986 statute originally written to apply to crackhouses.


  • Anjuli Verma and Graham Boyd of the American Civil Liberties Union speak on a panel in
    Santa Cruz, CA. Discussing both local and national issues, the speakers cited how U.S.
    drug policy has directly violated our constitutional rights & freedoms. - March 3, 2005


  • DanceSafe members Sarah Hill (NY), Melissa         Sandy Pho and Lauren Hathorn
    Martin (San Diego, CA founder), and Randy           co-founders of DanceSafe in Phoenix, AZ
    Bonner (Atlanta founder). And if coincidence
    has struck without my eyes misleading me,
    then on the right in the background is our
    former executive director Tim Santamour.

Plus many more folks to be in Golden Mountain: 







Feel free to email me at lesliu@gmail.com for questions or feedback.

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