Lockdown, USA

In 1972, New York State established what became known as "The Rockefeller Drug Laws," the strictest legislation against drug trafficking passed by any state in the union. While many felt the laws were unnecessarily harsh, in 1982 Ronald Reagan cited the Rockefeller Laws as a model to be followed in ...more

Lockdown U.S.A. is an at times illuminating and at times tedious expose on New York's harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws and Def Jam founder and Rush Communications CEO Russell Simmons's attempts to get them overturned. Simmons uses his celebrity and corporate power to draw media attention and outside support to the cause and though his motives seem entirely good-hearted this at times risks turning the documentary into a self-promotional hagiography. He seems eager to dispel such an effect by turning ...more