Rolling Papers: the film by Ricardo Baca

While the first year of legal cannabis sales in Colorado made major headlines in 2014, the documentary «Rolling Papers» looks behind the ink of The Denver Post to meet its first weed editor, Ricardo Baca. The film follows him as he embarks on his cherished mission: to tell the story of a state that broke ties with decades of cannabis prohibition.

The film begins its journey by unveiling the world of cannabis journalism, introducing Ricardo Baca and some members of his team, including John Ongold and Eric Gorski, a somewhat stiff duo of journalists tasked with maintaining a certain level of integrity and seriousness in this new Colorado market. Together, as well as with two weed critics whose primary responsibilities are to smoke large quantities of cannabis and write about their experience on the site The Cannabist, the team embarks on a journalistic expedition into cannabis culture, which at times resembles the last gasp of a newspaper trying to survive the end of print and the reign of digital.

Nevertheless, «Rolling Papers» provides an interesting glimpse into Baca's role as the «first cannabis editor-in-chief,» and the inner workings of a Cannabis journalist under the thumb of a major newspaper conglomerate.

The filmmaker has a certain flair for capturing the contempt overflowing from the faces of Ricardo Baca's colleagues Denver Post during staff editorial meetings. In one scene in particular, editor Gregory Moore speculates that many faithful get drunk before attending Easter services, which doesn't generate much enthusiasm from the play. In fact, it's mostly interesting to see that, with the exception of Baca and Moore, no one feels much excitement about being the first to journalistically break the uses of cannabis.

The real added value of «Rolling Papers» is making us appreciate Ricardo Baca, particularly his ability to think outside the box and to do his work without worrying about what others think. From his relaxed demeanor to his respect for the people he interviews, the film truly captures an extremely abbreviated year in the life of a journalist whom most people working in the weed industry couldn't care less about. Today, some fraudsters certainly remember him.

In one part of the film, we can follow Baca stirring the creation of the market for edibles the space food) of Colorado by launching a full-scale investigation into Dr. J's, a company whose products were pulled from stores in 2014 after three months on the market and hundreds of complaints about product ineffectiveness. In the end, Baca nails the company by revealing, following laboratory tests, that their edibles supposed to contain 100mg of THC each, had almost no amounts of the psychoactive compound.

It's hard to say if the film will find its audience, or if it will only be watched by Baca's peers to see how he covers the topic of cannabis. In any case, we liked it.

See: the trailer for Rolling Papers

Available now on Netflix US