editorial comment A thinking republican....must be feeling good at night knowing that you have destroyed the lives of numerous drug users....

A veteran Republican prosecutor who retired Friday says he believes the war on drugs has been a failure and the millions spent to intercept drugs would better be used to hire a counselor for every single child in the state.

"I really think I've become a pessimist about trying to control it," said Peter N. Letang, 58, one of the state's most experienced prosecutors. He pointed to ongoing murders in Wilmington as a sign of the failure.

Letang left the state Attorney General's Office after nearly 30 years to go into private practice.

Until recently, he was the state's chief prosecutor, and after putting hundreds of criminals behind bars and seeing at least two put to death, Letang said he has questions about the direction of state and federal efforts to fight drugs -- the source of most violence and crime in Delaware and the nation.

Letang -- who successfully prosecuted Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, college students accused of dropping their newborn baby into a trash bin, as well as serial killer Steven Pennell -- said it is possible to order almost any illegal substance through contacts in Wilmington today and get it here tomorrow.

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