THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (2012)

The war on drugs: big business

USA. Direction: Eugene Jarecki. Production: Eugene Jarecki, Melinda Shopsin, Samuel Cullman, Christopher St. John / Edgewood Way, BBC, ITVS, ZDF. Executive production: Danny Glover, John Legend, Brad Pitt, Russell Simmons, Nick Fraser, Joslyn Barnes, Roy Ackerman, David Alcaro, Sally Jo Fifer. Screenplay: Eugene Jarecki. Photography: Sam Cullman, Derek Hallquist. Music: Robert Miller. Edition: Paul Frost. Running time: 108 min

LANGUAGE: English / SUBTITLES: Spanish

In the past 40 years, the so-called “war on drugs” has cost the United States over a billion dollars. America is the world’s largest jailer, with 25% of all prisoners worldwide (in a country with only 5% of the world population). The black population accounts for 13% of all inhabitants and 14% of drug consumers, yet 37% of those arrested on drug accusations and 56% of those incarcerated for drug-related crimes are black. This is a war fought on home ground, which has in recent decades seen 45 million arrests and cost countless lives, destroying families and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans.

Latest work from the documentary-maker Eugene Jarecki, responsible for titles like Why We Fight (2005), Freakonomics (2010) (co-directed with other filmmakers) and Reagan (2011).