The House I Live In

The House I Live In is a 2012 American documentary. From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.

The war on drugs is not about drugs at all…

For over forty years, America's "War on Drugs" has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs in America are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. Filmed in more than twenty U.S. states, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN captures heart-wrenching stories at all levels of America's drug war - from the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge. Together, these stories pose urgent questions: What caused the war? What perpetuates it? And what can be done to stop it?

Special Features

Drug War Dispatches
Theatrical Trailer

Awards

2012: Grand Jury Prize Winner: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

The House I Live In Movie Review
"it would be one thing if it was draconian and it worked," says "The Wire" creator David Simon of America's war on drugs. "But it's draconian, and it doesn't work." That sums up the point of Eugene Jarecki's docu­mentary: Our drug laws do irreparable harm while barely denting the problem. Through interviews and contemporary and archival footage, Jarecki builds his case. Mandatory sentencing results in an unprecedented level of incarceration, tearing apart families and communities. Nonviolent offenders emerge unemployable and go straight back to jail. And yet the system continues because it's politically expedient and financially beneficial to everyone from the prison industry to law enforcement itself.
Jarecki begins by describing his own Jewish family's experience of oppression and his consequent commitment to justice, and his indignation leads him to an uncomfortably excessive Holocaust analogy. Even so, the evidence Jarecki amasses against the drug wars in "The House I Live In" is more than strong enough to withstand any excess rhetorical zeal." New York Post - Farran Smith Nehme