Cultural Writing. Banned for a brief period in advance of its release in Ontario, the film Grass by documentary film maker Ron Mann is as controversial as it is humorous. In June of 2000 it was released to audiences across North America and met with rave reviews (once its brief ban was lifted). GRASS, both the book and the film that it is based on, traces the history of North America's prohibition of marijuana, and the seemingly absurd lengths that governments (particularly the federal government in the US) have gone to to eradicate its sale and consumption—essential reading for anyone interested in the popular history of the world's oldest and most continually disobeyed prohibition.