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The House I Live In
Your Name Here
Los Medanos College
ADJUS-110 section xxx
Professor Anthony Vleet Hailey, Ph.D.
Due Date Here
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The House I Live In
"The House I Live In" (2012) is a documentary that explores the war on drugs and its
impact on the criminal justice system. This film also acknowledges drug use as a public health
issue while examining the negative consequences that have arisen from treating it as an issue for
law enforcement. According to the textbook “The Color of Justice” (2018), the war on drugs is
the most extreme case of race discrimination in arrests. It has resulted in what Michelle
Alexander has labeled “mass incarceration.” According to the American Civil Liberties Union,
the United States comprises 5% of the world's population but holds 25% of the world's prisoners,
making The United States the world’s largest jailer (The Color of Justice, 2018).
In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, labeling drug abuse as public
enemy number one. As part of his initiative, Nixon suggested strict measures such as mandatory
prison sentencing for drug crimes and increased federal funding for drug treatment centers. After
the war on drugs, President Nixon founded the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973. The
organization's primary focus was to target illegal drug use and smuggling in the United States.
In 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was implemented, which included the 100-to-1 ratio between
crack and powder cocaine sentences (Jarecki, 2012). Crack cocaine was considered more illicit
because it was affiliated with Blacks. In contrast, powder cocaine was associated with Whites,
which resulted in harsher sentencing for people of color and the opposite for Whites. However,
there was no difference in the substance, only the user's race.
John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s domestic policy chief, in a 1994 interview, said Nixon had two
enemies, “The anti-war left and the Blacks”. Erlichman also stated, “We knew we couldn’t make
it illegal to be either against war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with
marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing them both, heavily we can disrupt their
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communities. We can arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify
them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of
course, we did” (Jarecki, 2012).
The "war on drugs" has had numerous adverse effects on individuals, communities, and
families. Over the long run, a drug conviction can deprive individuals of public assistance for
food stamps and housing and limit or eliminate their employment opportunities. These factors
can leave individuals feeling hopeless, helpless, and useless, leading them to resort to criminal
behavior to survive. Furthermore, it has disproportionately affected black and Latino
communities, leading to significant racial disparities in arrests, convictions, and sentencing (The
Color of Justice, 2018). This has resulted in overcrowded prisons and jails, strained resources,
and perpetuated cycles of poverty and crime.
The war on drugs was ineffective because it focused on criminalization rather than
treatment and prevention. I believe that we can move towards more effective and humane drug
policies by prioritizing public health and safety, social justice, and harm reduction through an
evidence-based approach and moving away from the failed strategies of the war on drugs.
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References
Jarecki, E. (Producer). (2013). The house I live in. [Film]. New York, N.Y.: Virgil Films
Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2018). The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in
America. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.