It's easy to see why so many Hollywood films have favoured the theme of drugs over the years. The mind-expansive power of narcotics opens up room for endless possibilities; their illegal nature provides an immediate thrill and their ability to transform the most benign, placid individual into a dirty, fiending criminal is movie character gold. Some of the most innovative members of the human race have regularly used narcotics to escape the entrapment of sobriety and this goes for filmmakers too, with many talented Hollywood directors and producers through history having either consumed psychedelics to conjure up new ideas, or hoovered up stimulants to keep them scribbling away for days. Hollywood is more closely related to drug use than it may like to admit. This is perhaps a reason for the high number of narcotic-fueled films that stagger out of American cinema - the creators have experienced drugs first-hand, either as witnesses to the extravagant celebrity lifestyle, or through experimentation themselves. But with its intimate knowledge of the drug culture, Hollywood has produced some insightful and outstanding films on the subject of drugs, highs and addiction. The same can be also said for other countries, as cinema - regardless of nation - remains the best medium to convey the wild imagery of the high, the bleak worlds of the addicted, and the merciless men of the illegal trade. Listed below are the 15 greatest ever films made about drugs, highs and addiction.
