Obama David Simon
Obama David Simon, Barack Obama has hailed US gang drama The Wire as 'one of the greatest pieces of art in the last couple of decades' during an interview with its creator.
The President told David Simon he was a huge fan of the hit HBO series about life in drug-plagued Baltimore, during a chat about criminal justice reform.
A video of the 12-minute conversation, about the need to reduce the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, was shown at the Bipartisan Criminal Justice Summit in Washington.
The president said people looking for solutions to the drug war need to 'humanize what so often, on the local news, is just a bunch of shadowy characters and tell their stories.'
That's where the work you've done has been so important,' he told Mr Simon. There is an increasing realization on the left, but also on the right, politically, that what we're doing is counterproductive,' he said.
Either from a libertarian perspective, the way we treat non-violent drug crimes is problematic, and from a fiscal perspective, it's breaking the bank, that you end up spending so much more on prison than you would with these kids being in school or even going to college, that it's counterproductive'.
He spoke of people being turned into 'hardened criminals' while in prison, which created a cycle of them returning to jail.
When you break down why people aren't getting back into the labor force, even as jobs are being created, a big chunk of that is the young male population with felony histories.
So now where we have the opportunity to give them a pathway toward a responsible life, they're foreclosed. And that's counterproductive.'
The Wire chronicled the effects of the drug war as it was waged in Maryland's largest city in the early 2000s, showing how both drug use and the heavy-handed response of the law enforcement devastated communities.
Mr Simon, an outspoken critic of the federal government's drug policies, did not hold back as he spoke with the President.
'What the drugs don't destroy, the war against them tears apart,' he said.
Obama once again mentioned his favorite 'Wire' character Omar Little, a stick-up man who would make a living by targeting drug dealers.
The President had previously revealed the character, played by Michael K. Williams, was his best-liked star of the show.
The President told David Simon he was a huge fan of the hit HBO series about life in drug-plagued Baltimore, during a chat about criminal justice reform.
A video of the 12-minute conversation, about the need to reduce the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, was shown at the Bipartisan Criminal Justice Summit in Washington.
The president said people looking for solutions to the drug war need to 'humanize what so often, on the local news, is just a bunch of shadowy characters and tell their stories.'
That's where the work you've done has been so important,' he told Mr Simon. There is an increasing realization on the left, but also on the right, politically, that what we're doing is counterproductive,' he said.
Either from a libertarian perspective, the way we treat non-violent drug crimes is problematic, and from a fiscal perspective, it's breaking the bank, that you end up spending so much more on prison than you would with these kids being in school or even going to college, that it's counterproductive'.
He spoke of people being turned into 'hardened criminals' while in prison, which created a cycle of them returning to jail.
When you break down why people aren't getting back into the labor force, even as jobs are being created, a big chunk of that is the young male population with felony histories.
So now where we have the opportunity to give them a pathway toward a responsible life, they're foreclosed. And that's counterproductive.'
The Wire chronicled the effects of the drug war as it was waged in Maryland's largest city in the early 2000s, showing how both drug use and the heavy-handed response of the law enforcement devastated communities.
Mr Simon, an outspoken critic of the federal government's drug policies, did not hold back as he spoke with the President.
'What the drugs don't destroy, the war against them tears apart,' he said.
Obama once again mentioned his favorite 'Wire' character Omar Little, a stick-up man who would make a living by targeting drug dealers.
The President had previously revealed the character, played by Michael K. Williams, was his best-liked star of the show.