Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2011 Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) Copyright: 2011 PG Publishing Co., Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/pm4R4dI4 Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/341 Author: Tony Norman 'THE WIRE' SHOWED THE FALLACY OF DRUG WAR For five seasons, HBO's "The Wire" illustrated the futility and moral bankruptcy of the war on drugs. Unlike any other series on television, "The Wire" never flattered the cops, glamorized drug dealers or rationalized the destruction of whole neighborhoods in the name of drug prohibition. None of Baltimore's leading institutions escaped indictment on "The Wire." The corruption of the city's political elite, the collapse of its industrial base, the city's compromised court system, the incompetence of the police brass, the failure of the schools and the inability of the media to connect the dots contribute to what every street-level character routinely referred to as "the game." Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and three actors from "The Wire" -- Wendell Pierce (Detective "Bunk" Moreland), Sonja Sohn (Detective Kima Greggs) and Jim True-Frost (high school teacher Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski) -- sat on a panel at the U.S. Justice Department discussing the new Interagency Drug Endangered Children Task Force. Mr. Holder knows a thing or two about America's "war on drugs." It is his job to prosecute it, sometimes to ridiculous lengths because his boss believes it is still politically expedient to do so. The Justice Department has sent letters to medical marijuana growers and dispensaries around the country warning that they could face raids and federal prosecution regardless of individual state law. Still, Mr. Holder's day job as the Obama administration's primary drug war enforcer does nothing to reduce his love for "The Wire." During the panel discussion, Mr. Holder leaned forward to make a plea to the show's creator, David Simon, and producer, Ed Burns, who weren't present. "I want to speak directly to Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon," the attorney general joked. "Do another season of 'The Wire.' That's actually at a minimum. If you don't do a season, do a movie. We've done HBO movies. This is a series that deserves a movie. I want another season or I want a movie. I have a lot of power, Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon." The Justice Department staffers laughed, even though the Obama administration recently scoffed at a report by an international commission that criticized the U.S. and its stubborn adherence to the failed policies of the drug war. Though the Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy is consistent with the views of the creators of "The Wire," official Washington has never let cognitive dissonance get in the way of its enjoyment of quality television. The three actors who shared the stage with Mr. Holder were too polite and perhaps too deferential to point out the ironies that may have escaped their host. Mr. Holder is fortunate that Mr. Simon wasn't in the building at the time. He might have been compelled to go off script. In an opinion piece co-written with Mr. Burns and series collaborators Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Richard Price and published two years ago, Mr. Simon stated the following: "What the drugs themselves have not destroyed, the warfare against them has. And what once began, perhaps, as a battle against dangerous substances long ago transformed itself into a venal war on our underclass. Since declaring war on drugs nearly 40 years ago, we've been demonizing our most desperate citizens, isolating and incarcerating them and otherwise denying them a role in the American collective. All to no purpose. The prison population doubles and ... the drugs remain." The writers for "The Wire" then added: "If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will ... no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens." In the unlikely event Mr. Simon were to agree to do a sixth season of "The Wire," chances are his writing team would go after the hypocrisy and bungling that have resulted in so much death and incarceration in this country and abroad. It would need to skewer President Barack Obama and Mr. Holder by name so that there would be no doubt as to who is ultimately responsible. In early August, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, the actress who played a killer on the show for three seasons, will go on trial in Baltimore for drug conspiracy. Mr. Holder will get his "sequel" after all. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart