From Reason TV — a must-watch.
James Gray has been out there for some time making a difference. This former Superior Court Justice is author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed: A Judicial Indictment Of War On Drugs
- DrugWarRant.com, the longest running single-issue blog devoted to drug policy
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-08-marijuana_N.htm
Not an article by Gray, but he is mentioned right off the bat. Excellent article.
He is in ‘American Drug War:The Last White Hope’ and makes some valid points eloquently.
We need more people Like Judge Gray. The man knows what hes talking about. Those in law enforcement that talk tough and against reform need to shut the hell up and stop being part of the problem , those in LE that understand what Judge Gray does need to step out into the light and help us all save our country and its people.
Of course there are those that dont want it to end becuase of money. Cant have a war without well funded terrorists. Cant have lots of money from private prisons and treatment centers with out alot of people being arrested. Cant make lots of money as LE with out lots of potheads to arrest. Cant make money from pot and drugs if its legal.
Oh and we can save our money(tax dollars) if its illegal. More for government to fight the drug war.
Its a very F’ ing sick world we live in and there are some very F’ing sick people in power in this country.
Those in government take notice , WE the PEOPLE are liking you less and less everyday for many reasons , this is one of them.
END PROHIBITION YOU SICK F’ERS !!!!
Better yet,read Gray in front page story in USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-08-marijuana_N.htm
oops,Mike already listed,right on!
Especially nice to see it front page in a major media.
From Clay’s link:
“The momentum is not with us, and we understand that,” says Michael Carroll, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the police chief of West Goshen Township in Chester County, Pa.
The 20,000-member police chiefs association opposes legalizing medical marijuana and decreasing penalties for possession because it fears abusers will cause drugged-driving accidents and other societal and health problems that come with drug abuse. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says marijuana can cause heart irregularities, lung problems and addiction.
“We’re going to multiply the problems we have with alcohol abuse,” Carroll says. “Things are not going our way, but that’s not stopping us for speaking out about it.” (Emphasis mine – k.)
Until the public gets sick of your using publicly-funded resources to try to obstruct the political will of your paymasters. And in this Recession/Depression, doing that is not a smart move, as the public will become increasingly less tolerant of government waste.
And we’ll be oh-so-happy to tell ’em who’s doing the wasting…
Notice the judge dismisses medical marijuana.
Why do you say “dismisses,” Dan? He’s just quoting the obvious. If the People of CA pass the November Initiative, how would you fit “MMJ” into the picture? As he said, it would still be brought under more control. How’s that “dismissing” it?
Yes I would disagree with dismissing medical marijuana, and ever if he did, so what? Is this former judge a doctor? He obviously knows what he’s talking about on the policy point but I’m not sure if he’s read the latest studies on MMJ. http://blog.norml.org/2010/02/24/over-2500-subjects-since-1995-have-used-marijuana-based-medicines-in-controlled-clinical-trials/
even*
my guess is he means that the legal limbo/controversy of MMJ goes away
When marijuana is legalized the dispensary problems will evaporate,as will most of the dispensaries. Most “patients”
will make do with the commercial marijuana,instead of paying the exorbitant dispensary profits. I fully expect that a lot of the dispensaries will close up next fall,since possession limits have been removed and a person can grow a years supply outside without the added expense and labor of an indoor grow. I expect that there will be so much homegrown available next fall the the ridiculous profits being enjoyed now will be reduced enough too remove many of the dispensaries. In order to draw patients to the dispensaries,they will have a price war that will make some of the dispensary operators quit.
Hey, as long as I can go into a shop and have a decent selection of several different indicas, sativas, hybrids, hashishes, and editables available, all reasonably priced (like say, less than $25 for an ounce for bud, less than $50 an ounce for hash) I’ll be a happy man.
But honestly, don’t expect a whole lot of people to actually grow their own. Americans are generally too lazy, impatient and/or “busy” to produce the quality cannabis they desire. Not to mention you know there’s going to be some “zoning” issues in a lot of residential areas which will prevent people from legally growing in their backyards.
“But honestly, don’t expect a whole lot of people to actually grow their own. Americans are generally too lazy, impatient and/or “busy†to produce the quality cannabis they desire.”
Said it batter than I could. And it’s a point which the tobacco companies are very well aware of.
As always, once legal, the market will create ‘stratification’: You’ll have your cannabis version of wine snobs, and those who will want the weed equivalent of whatever cheap rotgut there is now. The more (haughty sniff) ‘discerning’ customer will seek out the most obscure and expensive stuff there is, and Joe Blo will just want to ‘grab and go’ at the local cannamart.
But the commercial suppliers will cater to the entire spectrum…just as is done with alcohol. Damn few will have the time or patience to do (chuckling) ‘organic’.
People love that organic shit kaptinemo. The only reason the cigarette industry don’t sell it is because they can still get away with lacing their [reconstituted] tobacco with ammonia compounds (which helps the body to absorb as much nicotine as possible).
The Judge left out the two groups that profit the most from the drug war and which helped bring it into existence:
7) Big Pharm
8) Big Tobacco
Remeber your history contained within here about the early USDA crusdae that started prohibition via Harvey Wiley in cohots with William Randolf Hearst’s yellow journalism:
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
It’s all about criminal mercantilism!
Gray hit the basic points and didn’t venture outside his area of expertise. Ya gotta give him credit for that.
ezrydn~
I didn’t say he was being dismissive, at least not in the pejorative sense. Only that the judge, as someone advocating full repeal, cited medical marijuana as a silly distraction, and moot once cannabis is available to all – not just the sick. I echo his “hooray” for that scenario.
But what if CA doesn’t pass the November Initiative? Yes, they’ll try again. But in the interim over 750,000 Americans, many of them in CA, will be arrested for simple possession and have their lives and futures compromised. What is dismissive, and in the pejorative sense, is that some inside drug policy reform consider those 750,000+ individuals to be collateral damage.
I know it’s a hypothetical question, but I can’t help but keep asking how much further along we’d be had medical marijuana not been the primary focus inside the drug policy reform movement. And I believe medical marijuana advocates, especially those stating full repeal to be the end game, are just whistling past the graveyard when it comes to the growing skepticism over the abuse of medical marijuana’s original premise.
When those truly deserving of medical marijuana get lumped together with those blatantly taking advantage of the spirit of the law, you just have to know trouble is on the near horizon.
No I dont think the judge dismissed MMJ , its just that after cannabis is legalized it will be a moot subject.
I for one Will grow when legal. I like green things and dont mind helping a sick person get some cheap stuff for them selves.Cant let the big companies have all the fun.
More on ‘organic’ drugs from:
freakonomics
Great posts/
zoning issues
Cannamart lol
didn’t venture outside his area of expertise,,,
It takes a unique individual to venture outside the prameters of our heavily conditioned slot-car upbringing..
7,000 people were murdered by the Mexican drug cartels last year because we in the US kept marijuana illegal, many of the victims were children, police officers and politicians. This year the cartels are on track to kill at least 9,000 more. Who supports keeping it illegal?
The medical marijuana movement has been a concern of mine as well. I’m pleased people are getting the med however there are many left out of the loop who do need it for one reason or another. – Amsterdam has medical mj but it’s cheaper for patients to purchase in a Coffee Shop.
Gray did say: “drug prohibition is the golden goose of terrorism.”