10 Things We Learned From Oliver Stone On Joe Rogan Experience
8. The Time He Was Thrown Into Jail For Smuggling
You'd think a person's life couldn't get any more dramatic after being involved in a war as graphic as the one in Vietnam. However, when Stone finally made it back to the U.S. after this life-changing experience he was thrown straight into jail.
The reason for his rapid incarceration was down to the fact that he'd been convicted of federal smuggling after bringing marijuana into the country from Mexico. The young man had decided to take a Mexican detour after leaving the war behind, but he was packing an ounce or two of grass to bring home from his time in Vietnam which was later discovered upon re-entering the states. Stone later revealed that his father eventually paid the money to free his son and without his intervention he feels he could have been left to rot in prison.
During his time in jail he confessed that there were 5,000 people in there with only 2,000 beds available and that the majority of people he was surrounded by in the prison were in that situation due to non-violent crimes, with Stone stating that this was the beginning of the drug war.