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Towards drug users and sellers. >> it's changing because after 40 years of total failure, it's almost political suicide to stand up for the war on drugs anymore. you didn't hear the candidates talk about it in the election. they don't go near it. where pole tigs, as you see, used to live on it. they used to want to talk war on drugs all the time because they could be tough on crime. well, if tough on crime turns out to have been a costly disaster that's only hurting people and not, you know -- we have not curbed our drug use. we remain as drug-using and as drug-abusing a country as ever, and s...

Those who are not directly affected. >> sure. strangely, i would say it's the largest human rights crisis we have here in the continental united states. you know, we have targeted a cross-section of our population, drug users most ochbt nonviolent people, and created out of them the world's largest prison population. that tore up my heart. it's something i saw happening particularly to black americans, and that really moved me to want to look more into it. >> some of us have been aware of the disproportionate sentencing, but within the sort of mainstream culture we don't pay a whole lot of att...

>> yeah. i have not been paroled of three ounces of methamphetamine. >> how much is that? >> it would fit in a small envelope. if you had been busted for two prior drug charges, smoked pot, or having pot, or methamphetamine, whatever it is, and then you get a trafficking charge, they give you life without parole. it's mandatory. life without parole. >> it's that three strikes you're out deal, which is so shocking when you look at the disproportion alty of it. >> kevin is the changing face of the drug war. here you have not what you would think of as the usual target of the drug war. black peop...

And the next great idea could be yours. ♪ . america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse. >> 1971, president nixon launching the war on drugs. more than 40 years and $1 trillion later, 45 million arrests, 2.3 million prisoners, the u.s. has the world's highest rate of drug abuse. weights going on here? the cost of the drug war both economic and human is the subject of a fascinating new documentary by award-winning director eugene derekki. the house i live in. painting a detailed portrait of the history and the impact of america's longest war. filmmaker eugene joins ...