Mark A. R. Kleiman, a known drug policy noncoformist who had wanted to lift a ban on marijuana, passed away at the age of 68 this past weekend in NYC.
Kleiman had wanted to eliminate criminal sanctions for selling and using it but preclude full-blown commercial legalization.
Kleiman’s sister Kelly Kleiman, who was his only immediate suvivor, said her brother dyed of lymphoma and complications of a kidney transplant he had received from her this past April.
Kleiman was a teacher at New York University as well as the University of California, Los Angeles. He was also an author, blogger, and adviser to the government and considered himself a “policy entrepreneur.”
“When politicians say, ‘Let’s hire 5,000 more police!’ everybody cheers,” Kleiman had said to The New York Times in 1990. “Say, ‘Let’s hire 5,000 probation officers and create cost-effective alternatives to prison!’ and everybody yawns.”