BROWN DECLINES TO WELCOME JUDGE

This is about a couple of former drug warriors who now hold down jobs
they got elected to -- a judge in California and a mayor in Texas --
and how only one of them listened to what the other had to say.

James Gray has been a judge in Orange County for the past 16 years.
Before that, he was a federal prosecutor who, for awhile, held the
record for the nation's largest heroin bust. But nine years ago he
came out publicly against the drug war and all the damage he has seen
it cause.

He will be coming to our town in a couple of weeks to speak at a lunch
sponsored by the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, and he is the author of a new
book due to hit stores this month, Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We
Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs.

Lee Brown is the mayor of Houston, where he also was police chief a
few years ago. In between those two jobs he worked for a little while
as drug czar, top banana of the drug war being waged by this Great
Land.

As mayor, many of his duties are ceremonial. He generally is
considered a logical choice to welcome distinguished visitors to the
city. And so DPFT officials extended Brown an invitation to sit at the
head table and to welcome and introduce Gray at that lunch meeting on
April 26.

Brown Doesn't Stick Around

Last time Brown and Gray both appeared at a public meeting regarding
drug policy issues was seven years ago in Cambridge, Mass. Brown was
keynote speaker at an event billed as "Crime, Drugs, Health &
Prohibition II: The Great Harvard Drug Debate."

It was a speech that hit all the traditional drug-war buttons and at
one point, Brown declared: "to me and to the Clinton Administration,
drug use is among the important domestic issues that our nation faces."

So it must have seemed a bit odd when he didn't stick around at such a
prestigious gathering to defend the drug war.

"I am truly filled with sorrow," Gray said when starting his response
to Brown's remarks, "that we were not able to engage in a dialogue
with Dr. Brown. He left -- he came here and spoke with us and he
listed his thoughts, which I would like to address in a moment -- and
then regretfully was not able to stay and respond to, I think, some
very legitimate questions."

Gray noted that it was difficult to find people to debate in favor of
the drug war and said he had not heard the position "expressed as
eloquently" as Brown had expressed it in the preceding minutes that
day.

"And so," Gray said, "I am invigorated to believe that we're going to
be successful, because that's the best they can do and there simply is
a response to everything they bring up."

You can find the speech made by Brown at this Harvard Law School event, as
well as the comments Gray made that Brown wasn't there to hear by going on
an Internet search engine and asking for Darkening Shades of the Drug War:
Brown vs. Gray.

Drug-War Debates Avoided

In the seven years since that event, the drug war has filled a great
many new prisons with users and dealers and yet drugs remain plentiful
and profitable. Increasing numbers of people are becoming convinced
the drug war is lost and must end.

Meanwhile, former drug czar Mayor Brown has maintained a low profile
on drug issues and other officials known to favor continuing the drug
war still avoid debate.

But public awareness has been advanced by other means, most recently
by the hit movie Traffic. And also by books.

In a phone conversation the other day, Gray said his book differs from
others written about the nation's failed drug war in that he discusses
viable options for combatting drug use problems. And his book also
contains comments from some 40 other judges around the country who
concur the war must end.

Gray said people whose names you will recognize have endorsed his
book, including Houston native and retired national TV news anchor
Walter Cronkite, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, and
Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman.

A DPFT official said Tuesday that Mayor Brown, due to prior
commitments, will be unable to accept the invitation to welcome Judge
Gray.