Judge Gray on Legalizing Drugs
Hats off to Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray for his courageous support for legalizing drugs (April 9, 10)! Our country has been engaged in the futile attempt to suppress heroin and cocaine use since 1914 and marijuana use since 1937. The results of our 78-year “war on drugs” are an overburdened judicial system, a population besieged and terrorized by criminals benefiting from the profitability of selling illegal drugs, and an almost insignificant reduction in hard-core addiction from its pre-1914 levels. Only when our judicial and political leaders realize that our drug problem is a public health concern and not a criminal justice concern will we see any victory in the drug war.
GREG HELLWIG
San Pedro
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