Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs

302 Pages·2011·1.199 MB·English

by  James Gray

Praise for the First Edition of
Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and
What We Can Do About It
“Judge Gray’s thorough and scholarly work, based as it is on his personal
experience, should help considerably to improve our impossible drug laws.
[His] book drives a stake through the heart of the failed War on Drugs and
gives us options to hope for in the battles to come.”—Walter Cronkite
“However harmful the ingestion of drugs is to their users, the attempt to
prohibit drugs has made matters far worse, threatening our basic rights
to life, liberty, and property. That is Judge Gray’s thesis in this important
book, and he cites overwhelming evidence to support it. His proposals
to improve the situation do not go as far as I would like, but they are all
feasible and in the right direction. If adopted, they would produce a major
improvement.”—Milton Friedman
“The War on Drugs cannot be a war on discussion of this problem. We
can fight drug use and abuse and still explore viable options. Judge Gray
illuminates options and in the process will promote necessary discussion of
them.”—George P. Shultz
“It’s all here! A stinging indictment of today’s drug strategies and a rally-
ing cry around new strategies for tomorrow.”—Gary E. Johnson, former
Governor of New Mexico
“It has been said that in public policy development we must distinguish
between ideas that sound good and good ideas that are sound. In this book,
Judge Gray provides sound ideas for a more effective national drug control
policy. He recognizes that the War on Drugs needs new thinking for this
new century.”—Kurt L. Schmoke, former Mayor of the city of Baltimore
“This book is a powerful indictment of our failed War on Drugs. Jim Gray
not only communicates the devastation wrought by a war he witnessed
from the front lines as a trial judge and federal prosecutor, but he displays
in these pages the moral courage it takes to cry out that the emperor wears
no clothes.”—Arianna Huffington, author of How to Overthrow the
Government
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JUDGE JAMES P. GRAY
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A JUDICIAL INDICTMENT OF
THE WAR ON DRUGS
SECOND EDITION
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS PHILADELPHIA
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2012 by Temple University
All rights reserved
First edition published 2001
Second edition published 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, James P., 1945–
Why our drug laws have failed and what we can do about it : a judicial
indictment of the war on drugs / James P. Gray. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4399-0798-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4399-0799-3 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-1-4399-0800-6 (e-book)
1. Drug abuse—Government policy—United States. 2. Drug control—United
States. I. Title.
HV5825.G6954 2012
362.29′160973—dc22
2011019634
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992
Printed in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
This book is dedicated to
Rufus King, Esq.
Prof. Alfred Lindesmith
Dr. Milton Friedman
Edward M. Brecher
Justice Gerald LeDain
Dr. Herbert Berger
Mayor Kurt Schmoke
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Secretary of State George Shultz
Richard Dennis
Dr. Willis P. Butler
Judge Robert W. Sweet
Chief Joseph D. McNamara
Prof. Ethan Nadelmann
Dr. Clarke and Katherine Smith
Prof. Arnold S. Trebach
Kevin Zeese, Esq.
and all of the other pioneers who had the audacity and courage
years ago to challenge our country’s failed drug policy.
Friends tell friends the truth
CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition ix
PART I: Introduction 1
PART II: Our Drug Laws Have Failed 17
1 Past and Present 19
A Historical Perspective 20
Emergence of the Prison-Industrial Complex 28
2 Increased Harm to Communities 49
Communities Awash in Illicit Drugs 49
Violence and Corruption 71
Domestic 71
Foreign 83
3 Erosion of Protections of the Bill of Rights: Where’s Paul Revere? 103
4 Increased Harm to Drug Users 131
Demonization 131
Deterioration of Health 134
5 Increased Harm for the Future 147
Conspiracy Theories 147
Government Policy: Don’t Discuss It! 153
PART III: Options 159
6 Increased Zero Tolerance 163
7 Education 177
viii  •  CONTENTS
8 Drug Treatment 193
Rehabilitation 195
Medicalization 201
Needle-Exchange Programs 201
Drug Substitution Programs 206
Drug Maintenance Programs 209
9 Deprofitization of Drugs 221
Legalization 221
Decriminalization 228
Regulated Distribution 233
10 Federalism, Not Federalization 243
PART IV: What We Can Do About It 247
Appendix A: Resolution 263
Appendix B: Government Commission
Reports and Other Public Inquiries 265
Index 279
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
This approach to the drug problem is really a matter of our policy
on drugs. The drug problem, the social problems, will always be
with us, but how we deal with them must be rethought.1
Judge David Nichols (retired),
Superior Court, Bellingham, Washington
How does one win a drug war when millions of Americans who use
recreational drugs are financing the cartels[’] bribing, murdering,
and beheading to win the war and keep self-indulgent Americans
supplied with drugs?2
Pat Buchanan,
advisor to former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan
I have one question that nobody ever asks, and that is this question:
What would happen if there were no profit in drugs? If they couldn’t
make any money out of selling drugs, what would happen?3
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
My personal view, I think for the most part we should legalize
marijuana and be done with it. Because I think it’s created way
more havoc and trouble than it’s worth.4
Judge Robert L. Deschamps III,
Missoula County District Court, Missoula, Montana
Future generations will look back at us as idiots for this war on drugs,
the same way we mocked the Roaring Twenties prohibitionists.5
Deputy Sheriff Nate Bradley (retired),
Sutter County, California
1. Paraphrased from a LEAP video at http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=u0-LD4mWar0.
2. Quoted in Eve Conant, “Pot and the GOP,” Newsweek, November 1, 2010:30–35.
3. Dan Burton, “They Do It Because They Make Money,” Sojourners Magazine, May–June
2003:23.
4. Quoted in Kim Murphy, “Jurors Are Giving Pot Suspects a Pass,” Los Angeles Times,
December 25, 2010, Orange County ed.: A1, A21.
5. Quoted in Andy McIntosh, “McIntosh: ‘Reefer Madness’ Mentality Persists,” North
County Times (San Diego and Riverside Counties, California), May 21, 2011, http://www
.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mcintosh/article_b53b8314-892a-5e61-833a-
0adae1e7c11f.html.