Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The House I Live In

Eugene Jarecki's The House I Live In is a sprawling indictment of the war on drugs.

I saw it the other night in the movie theater, and was riveted the entire time. I was familiar with many of the arguments and issues presented, but still thought this is a very important documentary for Americans to see. It exposes the alarming crisis of mass incarceration and places blame on draconian drug policies which have destroyed many communities, particularly lower income African American communities.

The talking heads included David Simon, Michele Alexander, David Kennedy, and a fascinating (though wooden) historian who made an interesting argument comparing the war on drugs to Nazi policies.

The House I Live In explores damaging and problematic drug usage, however it focused on the use of poor minorities, rather than looking at the widespread use of drugs, including legal pharmaceuticals, throughout society, which would have altered the story he was telling a bit.

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