Miniature Gary Johnsons: 420

Gray, James, Judge, Orange County, CA, Supreme Court (2000-)

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dfullschedule

Judge Gray talked about his book Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs, published by Temple University Press.

Comparing the war on drugs to the failed alcohol prohibition policies of the early twentieth century, the book asserts that the drug trade remains entrenched in our communities. The author says that current drug laws put our youth at risk, waste resources and cause an erosion of rights.

Judge Gray said decriminalization as opposed to legalization is the solution. He lists reasons why existing drug laws are ineffectual and offers alternative programs in other countries, particularly Switzerland, as strategies that could improve U.S. results.

What I've learned since those days is if a person has knowledge about a subject the words will come.

That's why Bush has trouble talking! That's bad of me to say but oh well it's the truth.

A question I'd like asked:

I would be more than happy to submit them to the
moderator.

If, on the other hand, I am asked to get up and ask my
own question, I'm think I'll have to pass.

I'm afraid I suffer from a fear of public speaking. I'm the
shy, retiring type who prefers to go through life quietly
observing the world around me. And this is what I want
to do at this debate. Observe. I'm thinking that the fear
of having to get up in front of God and everybody would
distract me from this goal.

Maybe there's someone else here who is better suited
for this task?

Let me know you're there.

This is what we'll do. The debate is set to start at 4p.m.
At 4:20pm (if the debate is actually in progress),
...cough. Clear your throat. Blow your nose.

Maybe this symphony of bodily functions will be picked
up on the audio.

Wouldn't that be fun?

***********************************************************

You'll do a good job. I found out when I went to Talk Back Live on CNN everyday years ago that if you follow the flow of the show they would use your comments. My comments were used frequently which was nice. I remember this one. It was when McCaffrey was talking about the drug war and they put my words up when he was talking.

It said:

We Need To Start Treating Our Nations Drug Problem With Compassion!

Now that was a few years ago and now we are trying to do that but we weren't back in 97. Things are changing. Not fast enough but changing.

I would be delighted to report back to this distinguised
forum my impressions of this debate.

I have no experience in reporting, but I'll do my best.

I attended a small-town meeting a while back that was
put on by the city council, in reaction to a series of
heroin overdoses in this area. I'm sure they heard
plenty from the public to 'do something' about this
problem. So, this was their way of 'doing something'.

It was a lightly attended meeting. About fifty people or
so showed up. All ages and groups. (It wasn't
advertised very well.)

We heard from about six 'officials'. Five were for
continuing prohibition, and one was sitting on the
fence. Plus we heard from a couple of mothers whose
children had died from heroin ODs.

I tried gaging the audiences reaction to all this
speechifying, and couldn't pick up any clear signals.
They mostly sat there stoically, but one young couple
sitting near me, towards the back, got up and
disgustedly left about 3/4's of the way through the
words.

'Same ol' shit' I heard one mutter.

After the words, instead of taking questions from the
audience, they divided us up into about 5 groups of 10,
and led us into five different rooms where a couple of
the lesser 'officials' led a 'question' session. I say
'question' session because there was no 'question and
answer'. The 'officials' did dutifully write down the
questions and suggestions on big pieces of paper
taped to the wall, though.

Out of this little group, I judged about 7 out of the ten
were anywhere from "legalize it already" to "I at least
appreciate the fact that Governor Johnson has brought
this out". One of the ones opposed to any kind of
legalization, was a greiving mother whose son had
OD'd and whose daughter was a junkie and headed for
a similar fate. I barely had the courage to bring up in
front of her that if heroin were legal, there would be far
fewer overdoses. But I did. And felt like a shmuck for
doing so.

A young reporter from the local paper attended our little
group long enough to hear from one gentleman who
was opposed to War on some Drugs and then left. This
'question' session went on for another hour or so, and
then we left.

The next day, I picked up a paper to see if there was
anything on this meeting. Yep, right there on page five,
lower half, bottom side column. An article on how the
City Council held a meeting with the public, with quotes
from the officials about continuing the status quo, and
one sentence from this gentleman who spoke up
against it. (Hell, this guy had a whole plan worked out
about ending it, which he had printed up and handed
out to everybody.)

Overall, I judged from this article that this reporter had
attended a similar, yet different, meeting than the one I
had been to. (Perhaps he had ripped the Time/Space
Continuum and found himself in Bizarro World. You
remember....superman?... nevermind.)

Anyway, I wasn't too surprised at this. Dissapointed,
yes. It's one thing for someone to tell you that the Media
in this country of 'free speech' was controlled, and
another to see for one's self.

This is what I'll be looking for at this debate. I know it
will be 'scripted' as much as possible. I know ol' Asa
will use mountains of 'percentages' as his main
weapon to try and bury any logic that Governor Johnson
will bring up. (Old Commie debating trick #23)

If this is to be televised, I'll look for camera angles (i.e.
shooting from beneath the speaker makes the person
look more 'heroic') Lighting. (One can do a lot with
shadows.) Sound. Will the questions from the audience
be heard? (Of the few C-Cpan shows I've seen, only the
speakers seem to be miked.) How are the questioners
chosen? How will the questions be chosen? Who
chooses?

Image. An old adage from the advertising world; "Image
is everything."

This is the information age. Physical force is no longer
the only weapon at a goverment's disposal to control
it's populace. The government and corporate Amerika
have had a long and succesful run in controlling the
symbols and images that make up our perception of
the world around us. This age is coming to an end.
Through the advent of the Internet, we, the people are
gaining back the control.

But I'm still not sure whether we, the people, want it.

**********************************************************

Maybe someone would want to e-mail Governor Johnson, Hemp for Headaches. I've never emailed him but someone that has might want to take on this project. Just a thought.

I'll be especially interested in seeing this debate in
person, and then contrasting my impressions with
those of the Media.

I've been waiting for something like this for a long time.

This, to my knowledge, is the first time that any government functionary has had a face to face debate with an elected official who is quite vocal in his opposition to current government policies on this most crucial subject.

It is a sign of the increasing importance of public discourse on a heretofore unbroachable subject. For far too long, those who have pointed out the basic unworkability of
America's War on Drugs have not been able to make their case to anyone but those residing in academia. Due to government pressure on media outlets to conform to 'public service' guidelines - with threats of de-licensing if they did not
toe the government's 'party line' regarding illicit drug policies - this voice has been all too often silenced. But
now this is changing.

I hope that C-SPAN will remain on the cutting edge of political media by covering this extraordinary occasion. Thank you for your time.

Asa Hutchinson Discusses U.S. Drug Policy
Aired August 25, 2001 - 17:30 ET

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