By Leon Watson PUBLISHED: 03:47 EST, 26 May 2013 | UPDATED: 06:16 EST, 26 May 2013 The creator of hit U.S. gang crime drama The Wire has claimed legalising cannabis would only help 'white middle-class kids' and there is a 'racial bias' in his country's multi-billion dollar war on drugs. Former Baltimore crime reporter David Simon, whose bleak portrait of his drug-ravaged home city has been hailed as the greatest television drama of all time, said he wanted the drugs debate re-framed. Speaking at a debate hosted by the Observer  at the Royal Institution in London, Simon called the government crusade against drugs 'a holocaust in slow motion'.
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David Simon said he wanted the drugs debate re-framed
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He called U.S. crusade against drugs 'a holocaust in slow motion'
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Speaking in London, Simon said he's against legalisation of marijuana
The @placeholder creator Simon said the drugs war is making cost-effective policing on the streets of Baltimore too easy, to the detriment of police work on non drug-related crime.