DRUG LAWS CRITICIZED IN HOUSTON SPEECH

(U-WIRE) HOUSTON -- America's "war on drugs," rather than reducing drug
abuse in the nation, has instead created a system in which profits from
drug trafficking have "turned an illness into an epidemic," a California
Superior Court judge said in a speech in Houston on Thursday.

James P. Gray, a self-described "pretty conservative" Republican, spoke at
a luncheon benefiting the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, an organization that
promotes a re-evaluation of the nation's drug policies.

Gray, who as a prosecutor in the late 1970s briefly held a record for his
district's largest drug prosecution (75 kilos of heroin), began speaking
publicly in 1992 about what he perceives are the problems with U.S. drug law.

He recently wrote a book on the subject, Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed, and
What We Can Do About It.

"Drug abuse is the most critical issue facing the United States today,"
Gray said. "Recognizing what our present policy is, I would think, should
be our top priority."

Gray said that there are three critical prongs of U.S. drug policy.

"In my view, the present policy in the U.S. is, number one, a program of
massive prisons, which has been and is a massive failure," he said.

Gray said his home state of California ranks second, behind Texas, in
number of incarcerated citizens, and the United States ranks first in
incarceration among all nations in history, including Apartheid-era South
Africa and the former Soviet Union.

Those numbers are driven by legislatively imposed mandatory sentences that
prevent judges from using their own discretion in adjudicating cases, he said.

"Number two is the demonization of drug users," he said. "This process
usually means it's 'them' as opposed to 'us.' If 'they' are involved in
drug usage, let's put them in prison. But if 'we' are involved in drug
abuse, we need treatment."

Gray noted that actor Robert Downey, Jr., has recently been placed back in
prison for relapsing into drug abuse.

"That makes as much sense as it would have to put (former First Lady) Betty
Ford in prison for her alcohol abuse."

Gray said the third prong of U.S. drug policy is "a total prohibition of
discussion of this issue, and people are very successful at carrying out
that prohibition."

He said that anyone who tries to discuss other options is accused of
"waving the white flag of surrender, saying that we don't think that drugs
are any big deal."

"Well, that's not true. I hate these drugs so much, and the damage that
they cause in our society, that I can no longer keep quiet. We must reduce
those harms, not exacerbate them," he said. "But prison is not the answer."

Gray said that "an extreme policy of total prohibition" only empowers the
drug traffickers, since it drives up profits, thus increasing the
availability of illicit drugs, particularly to teenagers, who can gain
access to drugs more easily than they can to legal but regulated drugs such
as alcohol and tobacco.

"There must be a better way, and I'm here to say that there is," Gray said.
"We have options, and those options are being employed successfully by
other countries around the world, especially in Western Europe."

Gray described a pilot "drug maintenance" program instituted in Switzerland
in 1995 in which hard-core addicts are allowed to come to clinics, staffed
by physicians and nurses, to receive a safe dosage that allows them to
remain functional.

In less than a year, the Swiss researchers found that in the neighborhoods
surrounding the clinics, drug usage had dropped, since addicts weren't
forced to push drugs to others in order to support their own habits.

Also, the health of the addicts under treatment had materially improved --
AIDS and hepatitis were reduced because of the use of clean needles, and
overdoses were avoided because the potency was controlled. And since the
addicts were able to live functionally, holding down jobs, crime in those
neighborhoods was reduced.

After these results, the Swiss minister of health expanded the program from
five to 20 cities, Gray said. When "moralists" who opposed the program were
able to put it up to a national vote, it was approved by 70 percent of the
voters.

"Why should we not do that here?" Gray asked. "The only reason I have ever
heard presented is the tired argument that 'it sends the wrong message to
our children.'"

"And my answer to that is -- hogwash! Take your children to the clinic,
don't hide it from them. Every person in that clinic will tell your
children, 'Don't do what I've done. Look at me. I'm a wreck -- I'm 30 years
old, and I look like I'm 50,'" he said. "It's the best education we could
give to our kids."

Gray also advocated the medicinal use of marijuana as pain relief for
certain people, such as cancer patients suffering from the adverse effects
of chemotherapy. Voters in nine states, as well as the District of
Columbia, have approved ballot measures legalizing marijuana for such purposes.

"It's inhumane to deprive people of this medicine," he said.