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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US NV: At Rally, Judge Calls Drug War 'Hopeless'
ccguide Sunday 04 May 2003 Pubdate: Sun, 04 May 2003 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2003 The Sacramento Bee Contact: Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Judge+Gray AT RALLY, JUDGE CALLS DRUG WAR 'HOPELESS' Reno (AP) - A Superior Court judge sharply criticized the drug war and renewed his call for the decriminalization of marijuana at a pro-marijuana rally Saturday. Judge James Gray of Orange County, Calif., said the drug war has cost billions of dollars and resulted in the United States having the world's highest incarceration rate -- with no end in sight to rampant drug abuse. The former federal prosecutor said he has never smoked marijuana, but supports the strictly controlled distribution of pot to adults. "We have made an illness into a plague. (This is) a failed and hopeless system," Gray said. "I believe people should be entitled to do what they want to their bodies, but that they should be held accountable," he added. Gray, 58, a lifelong Republican until he became a Libertarian earlier this year, has been a judge for 19 years. He's the author of "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It." More than 60 people attended the "Rally for Cannabis Liberation" at Reno's Idlewild Park. The rally was sponsored by Cures not Wars, a pro-marijuana group that was to hold similar rallies around the country this weekend. Group spokeswoman Michelle Buck of Reno said the purpose of the rally was to raise awareness that tens of thousands of Americans are in prisons for non-violent drug crimes. Of particular concern, she said, are thousands who have been arrested for legally or illegally supplying medical marijuana. Some people held signs that read "Free Ed Rosenthal." The Oakland, Calif., man's arrest last year was among a string of federal raids of medical marijuana suppliers in California. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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