NEWPORT BEACH - If any other U.S. Senate candidate proposed legalizing marijuana, voters might question what that politician had been smoking.

But the California hopeful making that pitch does not get those questions -- at least not very often.

He is Jim Gray, a Republican-appointed Superior Court judge from conservative Orange County who said he has never used illegal drugs.

The 59-year-old former Republican became a Libertarian last year and is now that party's nominee to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

"Every vote I get will be a vote to get the federal government out of the marijuana business," he tells audiences.

He addresses other issues, but his call for an end to federal prohibitions on marijuana is generating more buzz for the Libertarian Party than it has received in years.

"He adds a lot of gravitas to the party because of his position," said Mark Selzer, California Libertarian Party southern vice chairman.

Eliminating laws on drug use, along with other so-called "victimless" crimes, has long been part of the Libertarian Party's advocacy for personal freedom.

In California, its platform has attracted less than 1 percent of registered voters to join the party. But a handful of its candidates have won local elections, including Mendocino County District Attorney Norm Vroman and Calaveras County Supervisor Tom Tryon.

With so little support, spokesmen for the state's two leading Senate candidates said Gray's candidacy would have little effect on the race.

"If anything, it hurts Boxer a little bit with those that might be on the left side regarding the legalization of marijuana," said Sean Walsh, spokesman for Republican Senate nominee Bill Jones.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, an initiative legalizing the cultivation and use of marijuana for medical treatment of qualified patients. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not recognize the law and has raided cannabis clubs in the state.

Jones and Boxer agree with Gray that Californians should be allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes. But Jones wants the Food and Drug Administration to regulate it and the physicians who prescribe it for patients.

Without that federal oversight, Walsh said, Jones opposes the operation of marijuana clubs and supports the DEA raids of those establishments. Roy Behr, Boxer's longtime campaign spokesman, said he did not know if the senator supports the DEA raids and could not reach her for comment.

Jones and Boxer disagree with Gray's call for ending all federal sanctions for the illicit drug.

As a result, Behr said, Gray's campaign would have to focus on positions that are "ridiculously far out of the mainstream."

The judge, who has taken a leave from the bench to run, maintains his views are indeed "mainstream."

He said his goal is to make Democratic and GOP leaders understand that position by winning enough votes to force the parties to adopt his views on marijuana.

But the $100,000 he has raised for his campaign is far behind the $11 million Boxer has collected and the $1.8 million Jones raised.

Gray said he first decided to campaign against what he calls the nation's "failed" drug war after an incident in his courtroom reminded him of how money and manpower spent on fighting illegal drugs could be better spent on violent crime.

A 17-year-old who robbed and beat prostitutes had emitted a whoop of celebration when Gray -- going along with the terms of a plea bargain approved by another judge -- sentenced him to jail for just a few more weeks than the defendant had already served while awaiting trial.

Gray denounced the war on drugs in an April 8, 1992, press conference on the courthouse steps that set off a political brouhaha. The Orange County sheriff vowed to keep his cases out of the judge's court.

Gray focused on civil cases, where his views could not be cited as affecting the outcome, and published a book in 2001 that made him a nationally recognized advocate for repealing drug laws.

He has appeared on dozens of television and radio news and talk shows where his colorful quotes play well.

"I go home every day and take a mind-altering, dangerous drug," he said. "I have a glass of wine with dinner."

He also brings an unusual resume to the cause. He has been a Peace Corps volunteer, a Navy officer who served briefly in Vietnam and a federal prosecutor who once held the record for the biggest heroin conviction.

Former Gov. George Deukmejian first appointed him to the bench in 1983, and he has earned praise for overseeing a 2001 legal settlement of a molestation case in which the Catholic Church paid the victim $5.2 million and agreed to significant reforms.

Since entering the Senate race, though, he has shifted his views to accommodate public opposition to drug legalization. Where he once advocated an end to the war on all illegal drugs, he now focuses on federal marijuana prohibitions.

He said states should decide whether marijuana is grown and sold within their boundaries and at what age a person could buy it.

In California, he said legal marijuana sales would produce $3 billion in tax revenues and savings by eliminating all marijuana-related law enforcement activities.

His platform is a hit among medical marijuana advocates who made him a star attraction at a Merced County "Weedstock" rally in April.

In recent weeks, Gray has tried to expand his campaign to other issues by vowing to gut the Patriot Act and calling for United Nations troops to replace all American soldiers in Iraq by Christmas.

He has endorsed labeling for all foods with genetically modified organisms, gradually privatizing Social Security and Palestinian calls for "justice" in their war with Israel.

In some circles, these views are as controversial as his opposition to the war on drugs. But none gets as much attention as his marijuana views.

"It is the most critical issue facing our country today," Gray said. "The more I get involved with it, the more I see how it affects everything."

By LAURA MECOY

back | to top |