THE PROSECUTION RESTS

Prosecutors have been largely silent on the failure of the drug war, but I think it's good to remember that there's a lot of decent men and women on that side of the law that took the job because they wanted to prosecute real criminals, like murderers and rapists and pedophiles and don't want to be imprisoning cannabis consumers.

Tamara Halphen sends this story on a departing DA from Georgia, who pulls no punches on the subject.

As he ends a 21-year career as a prosecutor, DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan offers some blunt warnings:

People increasingly don't trust cops, leading to juries that won't convict.

Frustration of victims who don't see offenders held accountable could invite vigilante justice.

Many citizens regard the war on drugs as misguided and hypocritical.

"I think our whole war on drugs needs to be looked at," Morgan said as he prepares to leave office Saturday. He said people see crack cocaine users being sent to prison "and on the other hand you've got Rush Limbaugh getting thousands of [prescription pills] and he's making millions of dollars and he's out on the street."

The result, he said, is that "juries will no longer hold individuals accountable in drug cases. . . . Juries are telling us that prosecution is not the answer."

Small wonder, as the US gulag grows fat on the flesh of well over two million souls, no family has escaped unscathed by this war.