Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt called on the US government to rethink its 40-year ‘War on Drugs’ policies, saying it “makes no sense.” The 48-year-old movie star addressed the issue while promoting a documentary he produced, just released in the US.
The ‘Fight Club’ star was executive producer of Eugene Jarecki’s ‘The House I Live In,’ which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Before a Los Angeles screening of the film, Pitt gave his take on the America’s drug policy that, according to the documentary, has cost more than $1 trillion and resulted in over 45 million arrests since 1971. US drug policy affects mostly poor and minority communities, and has made America the world’s largest jailer.
The documentary also examines how political and economic corruption have fueled these policies for decades, “despite persistent evidence of its moral, economic, and practical failures.”
Filmed in more than 20 states, ‘The House I Live In’ shows the perspectives of multiple victims and perpetrators of the War on Drugs, from the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge.
“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,” Pitt told Reuters, calling US drug policy a “charade.”
“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,” he said. “To me, there’s no question; we have to rethink this policy and we have to rethink it now.”