The Most Patriotic Thing

Here’s a gift for the holidays: James P. Gray arguing relentlessly against drug prohibition as he has for twenty-five years now. He calls it the best thing, the most patriotic thing, that he can do for his country.

If you don’t know Jim Gray, you should. He’s a former state judge from Orange County, California who used to be a Republican, now is a Libertarian, and ran for the Vice-Presidency of the United States in 2012. He’s also a national treasure. He served in the Peace Corps after college, the Navy JAG Corps after law school, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office after that. As a federal prosecutor, he handled some of the major drug cases of his day, and as a trial judge, he presided over the drug cases that flooded his courtroom. He saw the system from every perspective, and his experiences changed him.

Way before it was popular to say so, especially in Orange County, Judge Gray held a press conference to criticize the war on drugs. It was 1992, and he may have been the first sitting judge ever to do so. He risked his career and reputation in doing so, but he was right then as he is now. Most of the problems we associate with drugs, he says, are drug-prohibition problems, not drug-use problems.

“Drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the history of the United States, second only to slavery. And if you listen, regardless of what your interests are—I will tell you, regardless of what that is—be it education, healthcare, crime, terrorism, or the environment—I will show you to your satisfaction how it is made worse by our policy of drug prohibition.”