cannabisnews.com: US Judges Call For Legalising Of Drugs





US Judges Call For Legalising Of Drugs
Posted by FoM on June 11, 2000 at 08:55:26 PT
By Duncan Campbell 
Source: The Guardian
The restricted sale of heroin, cocaine and cannabis 'would break the vicious cycle of violence' Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles American judges are growing so uneasy about their country's drugs laws that they are to go public with their calls for change. The judge who will publish the names of his concerned colleagues is calling for the regulated sale of cocaine, heroin and cannabis as the only way to break the current international cycle of violence and imprisonment. 
The move comes as an advertising campaign is launched advising jurors to acquit people on drugs possession charges even when they are guilty and as a citizen's commission publishes a report calling for drugs to be treated as a medical and social rather than a criminal problem. It also coincides with this week's report on the enormous disparity between the numbers of black and white people jailed for drug offences. James P Gray, a superior court judge in Orange County, California told the Guardian yesterday that his new book will contain the names of more than 20 judges who favour a change in the policies, some of whom support his call for legalisation, and are happy to say so publicly. He said that three times that number of judges had given him permission to quote them by name. Many others had told him privately of their belief that a radical change to the drugs laws was urgently needed. Judge Gray, 55, has been on the bench for 16 years and was previously a prosecuting attorney. His experience on the bench convinced him that the drugs laws were causing more crime than they were stopping and that the "war on drugs" had been a failure. "There is an increasing number of judges who want change," said Judge Gray, the author of the soon-to-be-published Why our Drugs Laws have failed and What we can do about it. "The momentum is truly building, we're making progress and it is no longer a question of if there will be changes, but when." Judge Gray, who is due to outline his views at a meeting in Los Angeles later this month, is critical of the United States' drugs tsar, General Barry McCaffrey, whose budget has just been increased from $17.8bn a year to $19.2bn (UKP13bn). He suggests that asking Gen McCaffrey whether the right policy is being pursued is "like asking a barber if one needs a haircut". The changes that Judge Gray would like to see include the regulated sale to adults of heroin, cocaine and cannabis. No advertising should be allowed, said the judge, so that drugs could be "de-profitised". He also favours needle-exchange programmes. He believes that the likeliest route for change would be for individual states to be allowed to decide on what drugs policy suits them best. "First of all, we have to legitimise the discussion," he said. He stressed that talking about change did not mean that he or fellow judges condoned the use of drugs, merely that the existing laws were causing more harm than good. His move comes as the organisation Common Sense for Drug Policy (CSDP) has been placing advertisements in magazines headlined "Just Say Not Guilty". The ad argues that "the jury right to say 'not guilty' is an essential safeguard against injustice. [This] dates back to English common law and the founding of the United States." Doug McVay of the Virginia-based CSDP said yesterday that the aim of the advertising campaign was to remind people that "justice is not simply the application of the law. The current situation violates common sense". He said that the FBI made 1,559,000 arrests for drug violations in 1998, 78% of them for possession and the campaign wanted to "plant the seed" in the minds of potential jurors that they could acquit people if they be lieved that the punishment did not fit the crime. The United States is now building a new prison every week to cope with the people serving mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession. The prison population in the US has risen from just under 200,000 in 1966 to 2m today accounting for a quarter of the entire world's prison population. A further call for change has come from the influential Institute for Policy Studies in Washington which has published the findings of a citizen's commission on drugs policy entitled The War on Drugs: Addicted to Failure. In the foreword to the report, Professor Craig Reinarman states: "Drugs are richly functional scapegoats. They provide the public with a restricted aperture of attribution in which only the chemical bogey man or lone deviant come into view and the social causes of a cornucopia of complex problems are out of the picture." The chairperson of the commission, actor, singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, said: "Having grown up in Harlem during the Great Depression, I knew that the real roots of drug abuse and addiction had more to do with poverty, alienation and despair than crimes of malice." He pointed out that in California five African-Americans were in jail for every one in a state university. The commission has called Gen McCaffrey's "war on drugs" a "monumental failure" and recommends the ending of mandatory minimum sentences for drug cases. It calls on President Clinton to revise the drug laws. Belafonte's point was emphasised by this week's publication of a report by Human Rights Watch saying that 482 out of every 100,000 African-American men are in prison for a drug crime compared with 36 out of every 100,000 white men. In Illinois, a black man is 57 times more likely to be jailed for drugs than a white man. The figures were described as a "national scandal" by the organisation, whose report was funded by George Soros's Open Society Institute. Published: June 10, 2000 Copyright: 2000 Guardian Newspapers Limited Related Articles & Web Sites:CSDFhttp://www.csdp.org/Just Say Not Guiltyhttp://www.csdp.org/ads/justsay.htmThe Soros Foundationhttp://www.soros.org/Human Rights Watchhttp://www.hrw.org/The Drug War's Unequal Justicehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6004.shtmlDrugSense FOCUS Alert #174 Friday June 9, 2000 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6003.shtmlTreat, Don't Jail, Illegal Drug Users? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5900.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by Kanabys on October 13, 2000 at 06:37:11 PT
another late post...
I think this time we will make a greater impact due to the Internet. We now have a vast means of communication and I think that might give us much better chances at making a difference. Peace
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Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on June 12, 2000 at 06:41:14 PT:
Don't Worry, Mea Culpa
I personally have no intention of letting my guard down and getting complacent... again. Some members of my generation blew it last time around, and the raving antis outflanked us. But we are getting a second chance, this time, and it really is 'do or die' time. Because with all the fascistic legislation being proposed (and *approved*!!! By the Senate, no less!) we have *got* to get it right this time... because there might not be a *third* chance.I realize that I always sound like I am on an eternal jeremiad, but look at what's happening: no-knock warrants executed with Nazi-like zeal, by Nazi-like agents wearing Nazi-like uniforms under color of Nazi-like laws. Innocents murdered and the Feds, with mock ruefulness, wag their heads, cluck about how it's such a shame, and then seek to justify their actions by saying that in a war, there's always 'collateral damage'. How much longer do we have before the smiley mask of ostensible democracy comes off and we get to see the naked, snarling face of what's *really* driving this DrugWar?I have heard police making disparaging remarks about democracy and the democratic process; well, they are entitled to their opinions, as am I. But when they seek to convert those particular opinions into political reality, then we have fascism. And that's where things are heading, right now. California's problem with some local police colluding with Federal authories to undermine Prop215 is symptomatic of something that is ultimately deadly to any democracy. This matter of reform of drug laws is a hell of a lot more important than just the right of people to use cannabis medicinally. It speaks to the heart of representative government... and to whether we as a people will regain some lost freedoms - or lose them altogether. That's what's *really* at stake here. To some of our fellow citizens, it looks like a small issue, but the ramifications go far beyond the borders of any one State. (BTW, 'your fault' for what, may I ask?)
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Comment #8 posted by dddd on June 11, 2000 at 18:56:45 PT
red
Yes,FoM,,that is a red dddd....Now I wont have to worry about anyone saying something strange,and pretending to be dddd....I also kinda like the look of the red better......Thanx again for this excellent place............ddddKanabys comment about the unbelievability of marijuana prohibition is right on. When you step back,and look at what is going on,,it is beyond belief!..Even more so,when you consider that marijuana is a "schedule 1" drug.........The WoDs is driven by dishonorable people,with devious,and greedy intentions. As shocking as what the WosDs' is,,it's almost more spooky how few people are aware,or concerned about what things have been quietly changed,under the guise of a "drug war". .........peace.........dddd
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Comment #7 posted by Mea Culpa on June 11, 2000 at 18:54:00 PT
A word of caution: don't let your guard down
It is encouraging news to see judges calling for an end to the WOD madness, and it certainly looks like momentum is building for real change. However, as a person who remembers the decriminilization movement of the 70's, we must be on guard not to become complacent. It was generally assumed in 1975 that cannabis would be legalized within a few short years. Unfortunately, there was a backlash of parents who didn't like the prevalence of "grass" as a recreational diversion among their kids (preferring that they did alcohol instead, I guess), and the boomers got lazy & complacent. Before anyone knew it, Reagan started a moral crusade to "get tough" on drugs, and RICO passed in 1984. The rest is history, and now the WOD is a growth industry for prisons, law enforcement and surveillance. So let's revel in the growing momentum that the War on Cannabis Users is being questioned and alternatives discussed. But let's also not forget that we've been down this road before, so close to a rational policy towards cannabis - only to be snatched away and totally reversed due to the complacency of the boomer generation - a legacy that I am not proud of.
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Comment #6 posted by Kanabys on June 11, 2000 at 17:05:59 PT
It's amazing!!!
I really have a hard time believing, when I really think about it, how this 'war on weed' has been SOOOO successful!I mean, when the govt realized that their war on alcohol failed miserably, they had to find something else to get funding for, right? Well, if all govt programs were as successful as this one, I think the U.S. would be a truly perfect nation. They are so good at what they do! And that's lying!!!! It's truly mind-blowing! I can't believe the people have been so completely duped for so many years!But it's the dawning of a new, hopefully wiser, generation. I do see great hope on the horizon. Peace to all who are worthy of it.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 11, 2000 at 16:25:49 PT
Thanks dddd!
Hey There dddd!I haven't said hello and thanks for all your great comments in the different posts. Am I imagining things or have you always been a red dddd? My mind plays tricks on me and I can't remeber but if it is new that's cool!Peace, FoM!PS: The news has been so complicated. I have to concentrate so hard to try to keep it straight that I often don't have enough energy to comment but I do always read them.
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on June 11, 2000 at 15:20:25 PT
At last
 Finally,a visible glimmer of hope from perhaps the most influential officials who are within the political realm. The assessmment of the czar;"asking Gen McCaffrey whether the right policy is being pursued is "likeasking a barber if one needs a haircut". Is an excellent analogy. Now we will see the czar launch his offensive defensive counterstrike,where he will make even more of an ass of himself.This is going to make the drug natzis squirm....dddd
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Comment #3 posted by Cat on June 11, 2000 at 14:50:05 PT:
hoping for freedom
First of all, marijuana should never have been prohibited in the first place...by a few ignorant big ego men who wanted to get the debate over with so they could go home early and drink their whiskey.I have high hopes that cannabis will be decriminalized soon. I am an optimistic person, and hope that the world will accept marijuana as just another plant people use for medical/recreational purposes. If not, a lot of 'innocent' people will end up being punished...people who have never committed a violent act in their lives.Free the plants and free the plant lovers!
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on June 11, 2000 at 11:31:16 PT:
The cracks are really showing, now!
Imagine. Judges, who are almost immune from political moves to unseat them. Judges, who have little to lose as far as job security goes. Judges... who have everything to gain and nothing to lose as they assembly line people to prison or lifelong marginalization for having criminal records. Judges... who are heartily sick and tired of this farce and are speaking up. *Sitting* judges. Not safely retired, but still on the bench.The redoubt of the DrugWarriors has always depended upon three things: public apathy, political protection... and the silence of those involved in this disgusting industry. Silence of cops. Silence of the military, many of whom privately say they want out. Silence of lawyers. And most important of all, the silence of those who are charged with the final application of law, the judges. When the judges speak up, the cracks in the foundation of the DrugWar version of the HitlerBunker get wide enough that someone legally blind could see them.Like MOG said, we *are* winning. Painfully slowly, but we are winning. Either this year, or next, or the next after that. But we are getting there.
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Comment #1 posted by military officer guy on June 11, 2000 at 10:28:04 PT
go judges...
these articles is why i read this web site...we can win this war...
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