Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc/
Related: http://judgejimgray.com/about.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Judge+Gray (Judge Gray)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

U.S. SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE CONDEMNS WAR ON DRUGS

Country's Anti-Narcotics Campaign a 'Lost' And 'Hopeless' Effort

It's not to hard to find people who will say that the war on drugs 
has been lost and that marijuana, and even cocaine, ought to be legalized.

But when U.S. Judge James P. Gray says it, he's one of a handful of 
judges leading a charge against the policies of his own country, 
especially at a time when the U.S. appears to be getting tougher on drug users.

"Not only [is it] lost, but our war on drugs is hopeless because of 
the money. What our United States government is trying to do is 
repeal the law of supply and demand and they still haven't focused on 
the fact that you can't do it," Gray said in an interview.

The California Superior Court judge in Orange County is one of the 
speakers at the Canadian Bar Association's annual conference this 
weekend in Vancouver.

He will join a panel on drug policy called "The New Underground 
Reefer Railroad" that will explore U.S. and international drug 
policy, especially as it applies to those who use medical marijuana. 
The panel will also question whether medical-marijuana activists 
should be offered protection under the Geneva Convention.

For more than 25 years, the bar association has had a policy on the 
books calling for the decriminalization of marijuana, arguing that 
current policy stigmatizes whole generations of young people and 
unnecessarily diverts money away from serious crime investigations.

A Canadian parliamentary committee is considering a bill that would 
decriminalize pot possession.

But on the other side of the border, Gray says the recent U.S. 
Supreme Court ruling that says the federal government may still ban 
possession of marijuana for medical purposes is "stupid."

"You know, the Supreme Court has the right to be wrong as well," he 
said in an interview from California, noting that they have made 
historically wrong decisions in the past such as allowing the 
internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.

"I say again, they lost their moral compass, and they are wrong with 
regard to the [medical marijuana] case," he said. "What we are doing 
is downright stupid."

Gray has been one of the most outspoken judges in the U.S. on the 
need for decriminalization -- and even legalization -- of drugs, 
including cocaine.

He argues that the massive amounts of money generated by the industry 
makes it impossible to win the war. Likewise, an entire society is 
built around the law enforcement needs of trying to shut drugs down. 
The U.S. has spent a half-trillion dollars on the drug war since the 
1970s, and the problem has only worsened.

He would not comment on the case of Marc Emery, the Vancouver pot 
activist and leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, who was recently 
arrested on the direction of DEA agents.

But Gray said it is clear to him that criminalization of drugs will 
never solve society's drug problems. "I say we should treat marijuana 
like alcohol, regulate it, control it."

Gray is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group 
including Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who support drug regulation 
as a way of controlling it.

Gray, a Libertarian who ran for one of two Senate positions in 
California in 2004, said his fundamental argument against the U.S. 
drug policy is that it doesn't work. Drug and alcohol misuse are 
societal medical issues, not criminal, he said.

"So if you or I or Aunt Nellie are impaired in their driving, for 
example, by marijuana or any other drug, including alcohol, that 
should be a crime. It's a crime because they are putting our safety 
at risk," he said. "But what they put into their bodies should be a 
medical decision, and should not be a governmental decision at all."

He cites the example of actor Robert Downey Jr.'s cocaine habit. "I 
don't use cocaine, I think it is a very bad judgment decision. But it 
makes as much sense to me to put this gifted actor Robert Downey Jr. 
in jail for his cocaine problem, and he certainly seems to have one, 
as it would have to put Betty Ford in jail for her alcohol problem."
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