James Gray, an Orange County judge and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, believes marijuana is here to stay. "Instead of moralizing and punishing people for failing on moral chastity grounds, let's manage its use," Gray said. "If people are using it, they should be able to know what's in it."
The most harmful thing about marijuana, Gray contends, is jail. "The remedy is far more dangerous than the disease itself," he said. "There are thousands of people in prison because they did nothing but smoke pot, and a dirty drug test was a violation of their parole.... But I understand that some people in law enforcement stand to lose a great deal, and that the Mexican cartels are going to invest a lot of money in Madison Avenue advertising."
Lee, too, acknowledges the opposition, but remains hopeful. "People are coming out of the closet," he said. "That's what caused the gay rights movement to take off. It's starting to happen around marijuana use."
