As with all things that involve celebrities, if they aren’t acting in movies or singing their songs or marrying the wrong guy/girl, some people have a tendency to not care what they have to say.
Then they go out and write comments to CNN and Huffington Post articles.
Anyway, Brad Pitt’s thrown in behind a documentary that’s been garnering rave reviews.
The film, called The House I Live In, takes a look at America’s War On Drugs policy that began in the 1970s and accounts for more than 45 million arrests and over $1 Trillion (according to the doc).
Most of those arrests, they say, are heavily numbered in poor communities, specifically targeting minorities.
The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and the Los Angeles Times calls it “one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years,” for whatever that’s worth.
An interesting statistic: African-Americans account for 13 percent of the population, 14 percent of drug users, and 56 percent of those incarcerated for drug crimes. So while they’re proportionately about on par with all other races in America in terms of use, they’re disproportionally arrested and convicted.
Pitt had this to say:
I know people are suffering because of it. I know I’ve lived a very privileged life in comparison and I can’t stand for it. … It’s such bad strategy. It makes no sense. It perpetuates itself. You make a bust, you drive up profit, which makes more people want to get into it.
Another interesting statistic as far as inconsistent drug policies: A study in 1995 showed that 52% of crack cocaine users were white, compared to 38% of African-American users. Except African-Americans accounted for 88% of those sentenced for use, compared to a little over 4% for white users.
Those arrested and convicted for violent offenses along with the drug offenses were not included in the study.
Question: So what’s next for our drug policy?
