Jim Gray: Voters Wanted To Regulate Pot Like Wine?

Photo by John Gilhooley

​Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, Orange County's favorite anti-drug war crusader, is pushing a ballot initiative for next year that would legalize marijuana for adults in California. Like Proposition 19, which failed at the ballot box last November, his proposal would allow anyone over the age of 21 to smoke marijuana for recreational purposes. But unlike Prop 19, which included a host of measures aimed at increasing penalties for those who sell pot to minors and allowing cities to opt out of the program, Gray is taking the opposite tack.

As blogger Dennis Romero at our sister paper, the LA Weekly, points out, Gray's proposal would force the state of California to protect pot smokers from those nasty federal drug agents who are stepping up their enforcement efforts, and would prohibit cities from limiting the number of dispensaries or delivery services.

Romero argues that Gray is a whack job because it would make Calfornia's pot industry even more unregulated than, for example, wine. Actually, Dennis, the word isn't "wacky," it's "libertarian," and Orange County, which if you recall, voted in favor of Prop. 19, is crawling with them. According to the Orange County Register, Gray will unveil his so-called "Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012" at a Sept. 1 fundraiser in Newport Beach.