The House I Live In Summary Essay

The House I Live In
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When one of the presidentsof the United States of America, Richard Nixon, first brought about the aspect of war on drugs campaign, he had a different idea in mind. People using drugs in the society would not only be arrested but they would also have a fall back plan, where they would get counseling and treatment. This was a good plan, where the drug users would get caution and offered treatment plans to help them get off the drug use and lead normal lives. All the other presidents that have come after Nixon have all failed to address the issue using the initial provisions.Politicians are seen to be partican to the fight on drugs that uses racial profiling to deter people from using. In the film directed Eugene Jarecki, titled The House I Live In, the mess of the war on drugs is painted in grimcolors within the 108 minutes of compactly edited package. Eugene uses the film to show the world the reality of the war on drugs and the fact that it is a total failure.
Since the time Nixon initiated the war on drugs more than $1 trillion US dollars has gone down the drain in the fight against use of the drugs on the streets. In the film, the racial profiling that is a common phenomenon in the country is elaborate. The police system is busy arresting people that are not only none violent, but also non-peddling users, while the orchestrators of the large caches of drugs that moves in right through the ports are hiding behind palatial homes and firewall of retrogressive policies that only claim the countries heritage. Ironically most of the people who have been arrested in the war on drugs are African American. More than 90% of the average 20 million arrests that have been made since the start of the campaign are African Americans, despite the fact that, there are less than 15% users in the same population. The bulk majority of the people that are using are affluent and in the palatialneighborhoods as well as executiveoffices. Meanwhile the courts are debating if a policeman can make arrests if they can see people smoking in their homes, through openings such as the window or the door. This just goes to show how the war on drugs is lost in bureaucraticprocesses that are actually redundant.
In the beginning of the film, pain is said to be the one thing that is causing the users to result to the quick fixes on the streets. Ironically, part of the pain is caused by the systemic racial profiling of the African Americans and other social injustices that never seem to go away as the government turns a blind eye to the real issues. Arresting users that are not selling and not violent is simply redundant, as the people whoare bringing in the shipment of drugs seek protection in the same government and enjoy the billions of dollars in the drug economy.
The problem is in the pain that most of the users have, as they struggle to make ends meet and beat the system that armored in social injustices that have set roots and never seem to go away. Despite the billions of dollars that go into the fight against the drugs, millions of families are destroyed and their hopes shuttered as the affluent and the governments takes sides and victimi...