Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Conservative Judge Says: Legalize

There are Law Enforcement Officers Against Prohibition and also at least one Conservative Judge.

A conservative trial judge from Orange County, Calif., James P. Gray has become a troubadour for the decriminalization of marijuana as the only way to put a dent in illegal trafficking and the destruction that rises from it.

Gray has been on the bench as a governor-appointed municipal court and superior court judge since 1983, served as a federal prosecutor on Los Angeles, run for Congress as a Republican and for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian. (See: www.judgejimgray.com)

Addressing the lunch crowd at The Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs on the UTEP
[University of Texas, El Paso - ed.] campus Monday, Gray said the key to the problem is demand but there is little chance that the appetite for marijuana and other drugs will lessen in the United States.
Judge Gray sees it as a civil liberty issue.
“We have lost more of our civil liberties because of the War on Drugs than anything, and if we lose our civil liberties to the government, we almost never get them back,” Gray said.

So, he said, anyone looking for change should not look to the government because federal agencies, from the DEA to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are hooked on the money devoted to the War on Drugs.

“The drug war may not be winnable, but it is eminently fundable,” he said.

Gray, who heard no questions or comments challenging his views Monday, said he thinks public opinion on the issue of drugs is starting to shift, largely because the cost of the government’s 40-year-long War on Drugs and toll of lives from violence spurred by the drug trade.
And yet there is a faction among the conservatives who are among the Drug War's most staunch proponents. Despite the monetary waste and loss of liberties. Go figure.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

1 comment:

USMJP.com United States Marijuana Party said...

I have a question to ask the Judge.

Reading Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure

http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml

in the Title box write 18
in the Section box write 1001

read:
Title 18, Section 1001
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States knowingly and willfully
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a MATERIAL FACT
(EG: I WOULD SUGGEST THAT ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN ALCOHOL, AND NOT TO PISS TEXANS OFF, BUT HORSE RIDING RESULTS IN MORE SPINAL INJURIES, AND PARALYSIS);
(2) makes any materially false, ficticious, or fraudulent statement or representation;
(AGAIN, HASN'T THE GOVERNMENT BEEN LYING ABOUT MARIJUANA ALL ALONG?)
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, ficticious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both.
NOW, HERE'S THE CATCH!
HERE IS MY QUESTION, DOES THE BELOW SECTION OF THE LAW ALLOW GOVERNMENT LAWYERS TO LIE?
IS IT A LICENSE TO LIE?
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial proceeding, or that party's counsel, for statements, representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding.
HUH?
WHAT THE F?
NOT ONLY DO I QUESTION IF THAT PARAGRAPH OF THE CRIMINAL CODE IS A LICENSE TO LIE
FOR LAWYERS,
BUT I THINK THE WHOLE ENTIRE
MARIJUANA MYTH
MAY REST UPON IT,
OH, YEAH
AND THE OBAMA
'NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'
ALLEGED MYTH.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

HERE COMES PETER COTTON TAIL, BOUNCING DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL.

OH, AMERICANS LOVE STORIES!