'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.