Drug films are films that depict either illicit drug distribution or drug use, whether as a major theme, such as by centering the film around drug subculture or by depicting it in a few memorable scenes. Drug cinema ranges from gritty social realism depictions to the utterly surreal depictions in art film and experimental film.
Some filmmakers create unabashedly pro- or anti-drug works, while others are less judgmental, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Drugs commonly shown in such films include cocaine, heroin and other opioids, LSD, cannabis (see stoner film) and methamphetamine.
There is extensive overlap with crime films, which sometimes treat drugs as plot devices to keep the action moving.
The following is a partial list of drug films and the substances involved.
L
marijuana, hashish, psychedelic mushrooms and cocaine
- The Last American Virgin (1982) – marijuana and cocaine
- The Last Days of Disco (1998)[1]
- Last Life in the Universe (2003) – marijuana
- The Last Minute (2001) – heroin
- Layer Cake (2004) – cocaine, crack cocaine and MDMA
- Leaves of Grass (2009) – marijuana
- Leaving Las Vegas (1995) – alcohol
- Lenny (1974) – heroin
- Léon: The Professional (1994) – cocaine
- Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) - marijuana
- Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood (2003) – marijuana
- Less than Zero (1987) – cocaine
- Lethal Weapon (1987) – cocaine and heroin
- Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) – nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
- Licence to Kill (1989) – cocaine
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) – marijuana
- Life Is Hot in Cracktown (2009) – crack cocaine
- Light Sleeper (1992) – cocaine
- Lights in the Dusk (2006) – alcohol
- Limitless (2011) – fictional drug "NZT48"
- Liquid Sky (1982) – heroin
- Little Fish (2005) – heroin
- Little Miss Sunshine – heroin, Viagra and anorectics are referred to
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986) – nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
- Live and Let Die (1973) – heroin
- Live Nude Girls (1995) – marijuana
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) – marijuana and cocaine
- Loft (2008) – cocaine
- London (2005) – cocaine and marijuana
- London Boulevard (2010) – cannabis, cocaine, opium
- Looking for Eric (2009) – marijuana
- Lord of War (2005) – cocaine and brown-brown
- Lords of Dogtown (2005) – marijuana
- The Loser Takes It All (2002) – alcohol
- Lost in Translation (2003) – marijuana, possibly other psychedelics
- The Lost Weekend (1945) – alcohol
- Love (2015) – alcohol, ayahuasca, marijuana
- Love. Blood. Kryptonite. (2008) – marijuana, cocaine
- Love Is The Drug (2006) – cocaine, prescription pills
- Love Liza (2002) – gasoline fumes
- Low Down (2014) – heroin
- LSD, Trip or Trap (1967) – LSD
- Lucy (2014) – fictional nootropic CPH4