It can be difficult to wrap one's mind around the consequences of the State Drug Lab scandal. The numbers involved — at least 34,000 drug samples, perhaps as many as 190,000 cases all told — are staggering.

The Web site "Vice" posted a nice overview of the scandal on Saturday. They interviewed Scott Allen, senior assistant metro editor at the Globe.

The whole thing is well worth a read if you want to understand the impact of so-called "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan and the crisis in the state's justice system.

Here's a taste:

Q: Wow. So we should stay tuned to this, right? This story’s got legs.
A: Yeah it does. As time goes on, it doesn’t get better. It gets worse. You can clear the books of a lot of these, but you put more and more and more of these people back on the streets. And if you look at instances of rape among hard-core drug dealers, it’s very, very high. So you’re talking about people going back to what they did before, so it’s almost like you and I can start planning for a crime wave in 2013.

For the full interview, please visit "Vice."

For all of Jamaica Plain Patch's coverage of the JP Drug Lab Scandal, please visit our topic page on the issue.