Worth: $14.00
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Cast:
Laurie Brooks
Intro:
… an enjoyable and uplifting look at how we tackle and discuss the inevitable when the bell tolls.
Back in 2019, filmmaker Tyler Chandler followed his friend Adrienne on her rehabilitation journey from heroin and methadone as she explored whether psychedelic drugs could be the answer to her woes. Four years later, Chandler and co-director Nicholas Meyers return to the world of psychedelics and their purpose is to explore psychedelics as a tool for personal growth and therapy.
This time around, our documentary subject is Laurie Brooks, a Canadian housewife from British Columbia who, in her fifties, was diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer in 2018. Given 6-12 months to live, multiple rounds of chemo and surgery would see her beat the cancer, only for it to return in 2019. So monumental was her grief, anxiety, and fear of passing away that it was suggested that she try psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) as a part of therapy. In 2020, she would campaign for it to be legally used in Canada, becoming one of only four people to gain that approval.
Chandler and Meyers’ documentary portrays Laurie as a strong and vibrant woman who has had to live with never being able to plan for a long-term future. When she discovers that the cancer has returned for a third time, her stoicism is breathtaking as she covertly tells her doctor that she’s about ready to give up on the surgery.
With the threat of mortality looming large, the role played by psychedelics is one of comfort. Brooks talks of the trips that she’s taken and how they’ve allowed her to consider most eventualities when it comes to her and her friends and family. When discussing her ‘shroom use and advocacy, Laurie is aware that she doesn’t fit the stereotypical, tie-dyed Grateful Dead shirt-wearing consumer that might be conjured up in some people’s minds. “If someone would have told me I’d become an advocate for magic mushrooms…” she ponders at one point, “I’d have told them… that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Made by production company Golden Teacher Films, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Dosed 2 is less an exploration of the benefits of psychedelics and more of a straight-up advocation for its use. Any form of counter-argument is completely noticeable by its absence. Not that that’s a bad thing. This isn’t the kind of documentary where Chandler and Meyers go full Michael Moore and beat down the door of a CEO to find out the truth about Big Pharma. It’s an intimate, reassuring film that focuses on one woman’s way of coping with her particular situation, wherein the subject herself reflects that it won’t work for everyone.
While the documentary could certainly do without the histrionics of kaleidoscopic colours floating across the scene when Laurie talks about her trips, what’s left is an enjoyable and uplifting look at how we tackle and discuss the inevitable when the bell tolls.
