Thread: Republican former judge: Legalize pot

Former judge fired up on making pot legal

Steve Lopez
March 29, 2009

All right, tell me this doesn't sound a little strange:

I'm sitting in Costa Mesa with a silver-haired gent who once ran for Congress as a Republican and used to lock up drug dealers as a federal prosecutor, a man who served as an Orange County judge for 25 years. And what are we talking about? He's begging me to tell you we need to legalize drugs in America.

"Please quote me," says Jim Gray, insisting the war on drugs is hopeless. "What we are doing has failed."

As far as I can tell, Gray is not off his rocker. He's not promoting drug use, he says for clarification. Anything but. If he had his way, half the revenue we would generate from taxing and regulating drugs would be plowed back into drug prevention education, and there'd be rehab on demand.

So here he is in coat and tie -- with a U.S. flag lapel pin -- eating his oatmeal and making perfect sense, even when talking about the way President Obama flippantly dismissed a question about legalizing marijuana last week during a White House news conference.

"Politicians get reelected talking tough regarding the war on drugs," says Gray. "Do you want to hear the speech? Vote for Gray. I will put drug dealers in jail and save your children."

I had gone to visit Gray in part to discuss his support for a bill introduced last month by Democratic San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who is calling for marijuana to be regulated and taxed much like alcohol.

Does the bill have a chance?

I wouldn't bet a pack of Zig-Zag rolling paper. It's a provocative idea that gets dusted off now and again, but the usual reaction is either ridicule or sober concern about sending the wrong message to youths, among others, and making substance abuse a greater problem than it already is.

But take a look at the world, people.

Mexican drug lords are better armed than police and killing thousands who don't buy into the corruption, with the violence crashing our borders, and American enemies abroad are financed by the opium trade.

Ten days ago I visited a Los Angeles elementary school where students practice dropping to the floor and making themselves as flat as pancakes to avoid stray bullets from the gang-infested neighborhood, and drugs play a role in that violence. On Wednesday I strolled through downtown Los Angeles and marijuana smoke filled the air, a mocking reminder of the impossible task of eradicating drugs, despite the trillions spent and the thousands of people we've locked away in our jails and prisons.

Bravo to Hillary Rodham Clinton, says Gray, for admitting last week that American demand for drugs is responsible for the bloodshed in Mexico.

"But she got the facts right and the solution wrong," he says, just as everyone else has in a war that's been escalating for decades.

Gray was on the Municipal Court bench in the 1980s when he took his first hit from the reform pipe. The vast majority of the cases coming before him were alcohol-related, he said, and he was able to divert defendants into screening and recovery. But he couldn't do the same in drug cases, and he was frustrated, both on the Municipal Court bench and later on the Superior Court bench.

"Our jails are filled with low-level users who sold to support the habit," says Gray, who believes that the tougher the criminal justice system gets on drug offenders, the fewer resources it has to go after rapists, robbers and other criminals.

In 1992 he called a news conference in Santa Ana and stated his case for legalized drugs. In Orange County, that was like coming out in favor of communism and nose rings, but Gray never flinched from insisting that the drug war was a waste of tax dollars and that it was putting too many citizens and police in harm's way. He became a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and wrote the book "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It." "His book drives a stake through the heart of the failed war on drugs," says a back-cover blurb from Walter Cronkite.

Gray, by the way, is a former Peace Corps volunteer and Navy lawyer who now counts himself a Libertarian, all of which reminds us why we love California. He says his conservative roots make him the best man for the campaign to legalize drugs.

"Who better than a conservative judge in a conservative county who's never used any form of illicit drugs?" he asks.

When Ammiano's bill was introduced, Gray was invited to the news conference by the openly gay Democrat.

"I have received standing ovations from the ACLU and the Young Republicans of Orange County," says Gray. "It crosses all political lines."

Not everyone thinks he's citizen of the year, though. Gray says he's often asked about sending the wrong message, and he responds with a reality check. Anyone who wants illegal drugs can easily get them, but doing so may put them in harm's way. Wouldn't it be smarter to sell the drugs at government stores, so advertising could be outlawed, taxes collected on one of California's biggest cash crops and drug gangs eradicated?

If Gray had his way, no one under 21 could buy drugs. But anyone older than that could legally buy marijuana -- which, he says, causes nowhere near the amount of death and disease as alcohol. The state would need to see how that works, he said, before moving on to legalizing the sale of harder drugs. Sure, he says, legalization might lead to more toking at first, but he believes drug use would wane when it's no longer forbidden and the novelty wears off.

I'm not sure I agree, but I do buy into Gray's argument about who the winners are in the current system.

First, there are the drug lords in Mexico and beyond. Then the drug gangs that peddle the stuff here. Next come the law enforcement agencies, prison contractors and prison guards, which use the war on drugs to demand more resources. And finally, there are the politicians who have wooed voters since the Nixon administration by pledging to support the war on drugs.

"My personal opinion," says Gray, "is that we couldn't have done worse if we tried."

steve.lopez@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 438.column

Poll: Should California legalize drugs?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 56268.poll

I need another blood pressure pill after reading this. It sounds like Mr. Gray has been using too many recreational hallucinogenic drugs in private to think clearly.
I really don't want to live in his idea of utopia where someone can possibly get murdered for nothing more than their money to buy more drugs. And standing before the court if caught, the defense will be he was so drugged out he doesn't remember doing anything wrong. (One priceless defense was some guy ate too many Twinkies and was on a sugar high and blacked out. He was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.) This country has laws that control drugs, legal and illegal, and for this jerk to even consider something that counters every one of the premises outlined in these laws is sheer insanity.

Poll results so far: Yes 89.8 percent; No 10.2 percent.

The poll is now over 90%. The Republican Judge is right, absolutely right. Republicans never wanted to infringe upon an individual liberty. When you study the crimes committed by the War on Drugs, it's overwhelmingly clear that we need to end the War on Drugs, legalize/regulate/tax/educate/rehabilitate and stop trying to control people's behavior.

The War on Drugs is a racist failed authoritarian tyrannical infringement of everything envisioned by the US Constitution and our founding fathers and all maintainers since.

Regulations would control the quality and quantity to personal use. It would regulate the sales to licensed stores with age limits, quality assurance to ensure safe proper mixes and cuts, quantity limitations for personal use and prosecutions of any violations to a civil code with fines instead of a criminal code with jail sentences.

I totally support legalizing drugs and I've never smoked a joint, never wanted to, never used any other type of recreational drug, and never wanted to. But as an American and Classic Republican, I respect any other adult's right to do so.

Here's a link to an organization working on this that may find interesting and enlightening because its members have seen the travesty of the War on Drugs up close and personal:

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

www.leap.cc

Please Watch This Video (It will open yours eyes to the truth about the War on Drugs):

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28

There's a theory that marijuana became demonized because lumber interests wanted to eliminate hemp from competition with wood-pulp-to-paper processing and corner the market for the trees.

http://www.world-mysteries.com/marijuana1.htm

Considering all the other uses listed, you could argue that cotton had its political interests (fabric), and oil had its interests too (petro-chem instead of hemp oil for fueling cars).

Good video, with all those law enforcement people speaking out. The "war on drugs" has not changed the core percentage of people who are drug users (1.3%) in the general population. It has cost lots of money, it has jailed a lot of youthful offenders, it has corrupted a lot of cops whose favorite gambit is to take some of the cash resulting from arresting smaller-scale dealers (also known as users who sell to support their own habits) and telling the arrested that they're being done a favor because a higher amount of cash on them would point to criminal charges of being "major dealers" instead of misdemeanor offenders.

Obama's position:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7XweXtz6SY

Originally Posted by vortex

Poll results so far: Yes 89.8 percent; No 10.2 percent.

Should California legalize, regulate and tax drugs instead of continuing the war on drugs?


90.6 %
Yes

9.4 %
No


A recent video about Obama's flip flop on this campaign promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhs6DddTC7M

769 total responses

Originally Posted by Judy

The poll is now over 90%. The Republican Judge is right, absolutely right. Republicans never wanted to infringe upon an individual liberty. When you study the crimes committed by the War on Drugs, it's overwhelmingly clear that we need to end the War on Drugs, legalize/regulate/tax/educate/rehabilitate and stop trying to control people's behavior.

The War on Drugs is a racist failed authoritarian tyrannical infringement of everything envisioned by the US Constitution and our founding fathers and all maintainers since.

Regulations would control the quality and quantity to personal use. It would regulate the sales to licensed stores with age limits, quality assurance to ensure safe proper mixes and cuts, quantity limitations for personal use and prosecutions of any violations to a civil code with fines instead of a criminal code with jail sentences.

I totally support legalizing drugs and I've never smoked a joint, never wanted to, never used any other type of recreational drug, and never wanted to. But as an American and Classic Republican, I respect any other adult's right to do so.

Here's a link to an organization working on this that may find interesting and enlightening because its members have seen the travesty of the War on Drugs up close and personal:

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

www.leap.cc

Please Watch This Video (It will open yours eyes to the truth about the War on Drugs):

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28

Well said Judy! As we saw in the 1930's, making a substance that humans have consumed for centuries illegal is not the way to go. The problem in Mexico is the perfect example of this. If drugs were legal and regulated, there would be no need for drug cartels.

Originally Posted by jshhmr

Originally Posted by Judy

The poll is now over 90%. The Republican Judge is right, absolutely right. Republicans never wanted to infringe upon an individual liberty. When you study the crimes committed by the War on Drugs, it's overwhelmingly clear that we need to end the War on Drugs, legalize/regulate/tax/educate/rehabilitate and stop trying to control people's behavior.

The War on Drugs is a racist failed authoritarian tyrannical infringement of everything envisioned by the US Constitution and our founding fathers and all maintainers since.

Regulations would control the quality and quantity to personal use. It would regulate the sales to licensed stores with age limits, quality assurance to ensure safe proper mixes and cuts, quantity limitations for personal use and prosecutions of any violations to a civil code with fines instead of a criminal code with jail sentences.

I totally support legalizing drugs and I've never smoked a joint, never wanted to, never used any other type of recreational drug, and never wanted to. But as an American and Classic Republican, I respect any other adult's right to do so.

Here's a link to an organization working on this that may find interesting and enlightening because its members have seen the travesty of the War on Drugs up close and personal:

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

www.leap.cc

Please Watch This Video (It will open yours eyes to the truth about the War on Drugs):

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28

Well said Judy! As we saw in the 1930's, making a substance that humans have consumed for centuries illegal is not the way to go. The problem in Mexico is the perfect example of this. If drugs were legal and regulated, there would be no need for drug cartels.

Thank you. And yes, there would be no need for drug cartels. The cartels wouldn't have these violent criminal foreign operations in 230 of our cities destroying our neighborhoods, schools, parks and street corners. Instead, we'd have our $300 billion a year of money supply we export from our nation every year to other nations in illegal drug business circulating in our economy instead of theirs supporting our businesses and workers instead of their cartels, and no one would lose their liberty or reputation to a felony and a jail sentence for doing something that for some is just part of their human nature as it has been for thousands of years.

We also wouldn't have millions of foreign drug runners we politely call "illegal aliens" roaming our land.

Talk about "the gods must be laughing" ......... Obama and his press secretary make a joke and renege on a campaign promise to decriminalize and stop the crazy wasted funds on this doomed-to-fail "War on Drugs", and poof! Biden's daughter surfaces in a video, snorting coke.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03282009...pe__161772.htm

'FRIEND' OF BIDEN'S DAUGHTER SHOPPING TAPE OF HER ALLEGEDLY DOING COCAINE



By BRAD HAMILTON
Last updated: 12:51 pm
March 29, 2009
Posted: 7:01 pm
March 28, 2009

A "friend" of Vice President Joseph Biden's daughter, Ashley, is attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows her snorting cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware.

PHOTOS: Ashley Biden

The anonymous male acquaintance of Ashley took the video, said Thomas Dunlap, a lawyer representing the seller.

Dunlap and a man claiming to be a lawyer showed The Post about 90 seconds of 43-minute tape, saying it was legally obtained and that Ashley was aware she was being filmed. The Post refused to pay for the video.

The video, which the shooter initially hoped to sell for $2 million before scaling back his price to $400,000, shows a 20-something woman with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth, bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting lines of white powder.

She then stands up and begins talking with other people in the room. A young man looks on from behind her, facing the camera. The lawyers said he was Ashley's boyfriend of a few years.

The camera follows the woman from a few feet away, focusing on her as she moves around the room. It appears not to be concealed. At one point she shouts, "Shut the f--- up!"

The woman appears to resemble Ashley Biden, 27, a social worker for a Delaware child-welfare agency and a visible presence during her father's campaign for the White House.

The dialogue is difficult to discern, but the woman makes repeated references to the drugs, said the lawyers, who said they viewed the tape about 15 times.

"At one point she pretty much complains that the line isn't big enough," said the second lawyer, who declined to identify himself. "And she talks about her dad."

Biden has been an outspoken crusader against drugs, coining the term "drug czar" in 1982 while campaigning for a more forceful "war on drugs."

The lawyers declined to name the person who shot the video, but said he knew Ashley well and had attended other parties with her at which there were illegal drugs.

The lawyers said the shooter used a camera with a hard-disc drive that he later destroyed, drilling into the device and tossing it into a lake.

The woman in the video acknowledges the camera in a way that makes it clear she knows she's being recorded, the lawyers said, waving at it during a part of the video not shown to The Post.

No one else in the video is seen using the drugs. The portion of the tape shown to The Post ends shortly after the woman's alleged ingestion.

The shooter claims that he previously tape-recorded Ashley at a party in August, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to sell that video, they said.

An American media company offered $250,000 for the footage and access to the person who shot the tape, according to the lawyers.

Another company, based overseas, offered $225,000, they said.

The unnamed lawyer hinted that his client had additional information that could embarrass the vice president's daughter.

"The higher the price, the more he'll reveal," said the lawyer.

The lawyers said the video shooter was afraid of being identified and prosecuted for his role in the alleged drug use.

"He's got a criminal-defense attorney," said Dunlap, who has offices in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The other lawyer said Ashley didn't have Secret Service protection at the time of the party because she complained about agents blocking her driveway.

"She complained to her dad about it and he got rid of them," he said.

This isn't the first brush with scandal for Ashley, who was arrested in 2002 when she yelled at a cop trying to arrest her disorderly friend outside a Chicago club, according to published report.

She was charged with obstructing, but the rap was later dropped after she apologized.

Ashley is the youngest of three siblings, and the only one born to the vice president and his second wife, Jill. Joe Biden's first wife, Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 car crash. Her two half-brothers are Beau, 40, and Hunter, 39.

Phone messages left at the offices of Vice President Biden and Jill Biden, who were in Chile last night for meetings with South American leaders on economic issues, were not immediately returned.

Ashley also did not respond to messages left at her Delaware home.

Some days, you just can't make this stuff up. Hope she gets help if she's doing the hard stuff.