Milwaukee Community Acupuncture and Cactus+ Present

Dope Is Death – A Film by Mia Donovan (2020)

DOPE IS DEATH is the story of how Dr. Mutulu Shakur, stepfather of Tupac Shakur, along with fellow Black Panthers and the Young Lords, combined community health with radical politics to create the first acupuncture detoxification program in America in 1973 – a visionary project eventually deemed too dangerous to exist in America.

Doors 1:30

Screening 2:00

THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
EyeSteelFilm is a film and interactive media company dedicated to using cinematic expression as a catalyst for social and political change. It was created to develop cinema that empowers people who are ignored by mainstream media, a mandate that has taken the company to explore projects, people and ideas around the world. EyeSteelFilm was founded through making films with the homeless community.

MILWAUKEE COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE

Milwaukee Community Acupuncture is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides affordable healthcare options through acupuncture, herbal medicine and other integrative modalities. Individualized acupuncture treatments are offered in a peaceful communal setting and charged on a “pay what you can” sliding scale of $20-50. Our purpose is to break down the barriers to healthcare and share the benefits of acupuncture in hopes of bringing physical and emotional health to our community as a whole.

CACTUS+

Beyond the conventions of a small-capacity music venue, in 2018, Cactus Club began engaging in mutual aid projects, community education, and harm reduction programming such as Narcan training and access to safer sex supplies. We successfully campaigned to change how the city defined a Center for Visual and Performing Arts. Now, small venues in Milwaukee can host all-ages programming instead of restricting access to 21+ audiences. Skill-shares and youth-organized events such as Stop Motion Animation, Intro to Electronic Repairs, and DIY Mycology ignited our charge to formalize these efforts into something sustainable and structured. From these experiences, Cactus+ emerged to fill cultural cavities and empower marginalized artists to take the reigns.