San Jose State University, Department of Economics
DAVID S. SAURMAN PROVOCATIVE LECTURE SERIES
presents:Judge James Gray
"Why the War on Drugs is Wrong: A Former Soldier in That War Speaks
Out"
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
5:15-6:45 P.M.
Morris Dailey Auditorium
STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC ARE ALL WELCOME TO ATTEND."For more than two decades I was a soldier in the War on Drugs,"
writes
Judge Jim Gray. "In the course of my career, I have helped put drug
users
and dealers in jail; I have presided over the break-up of families.
I have
followed the laws of my state and country, and have seen their
results."
And what are those results? They include: "wasting unimaginable
amounts of
our tax dollars, increasing crime and despair and severely and
unnecessarily harming people's lives . . . the worst of all worlds."
Is
the government's War on Drugs a costly failure? Come and hear one
man's
first-hand account.
Judge James Gray is California Superior Justice in Orange Country,
California. Receiving his law degree from the University of Southern
California in 1971, Gray served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica and
as a
staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney for the U.S. Navy
JAG
Corps. He was awarded a National Defense Ribbon, a Vietnam Service
Ribbon,
and a Combat Action Ribbon during his tour of duty. Later, he served
as a
federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles and
in
private practice doing civil litigation in Newport Beach. Recipient
of
numerous awards, including the Orange County Bar Association's
"Judge of
the Year" in the 1992, Jim Gray has also been an adjunct professor
at
Chapman University, the College of Trial Advocacy for new Orange
County
attorneys, and Continuing Legal Education of the Bar. He is the
author of
WHY OUR DRUG LAWS HAVE FAILED AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT, published
in
2001.
ABOUT THE DAVID R. SAURMAN PROVOCATIVE LECTURE SERIES: The
Department of
Economics invites students, faculty, and the general public to
consider
intellectual arguments on controversial topics. Presenters in the
Provocative Lecture Series are noted for their outstanding
scholarship and
public speaking ability. This lecture series fosters the tradition
of
higher education to challenge ideas and develop critical thinking in
an
environment of respect and intellectual discourse. Our goal is for
you to
develop the critical thinking skills necessary to reach your own
informed
position on controversial issues. We invite you to attend, to relax,
to