Libertarian vice presidential candidate Jim Gray called the country's anti-drug policies a failure during a speech at Salem College on Monday.

"We couldn't do it worse if we tried," Gray said. "Drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in America."

Gray, a retired superior court judge from California, said the country's drug enforcement laws and efforts to stem the flow of drugs put big profits into the pockets of major drug dealers without making a real dent in the drug supplies in the U.S., and the efforts fail to mitigate drugs' effects on society and the people who use them.

Gray is on the Libertarian ticket with Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, who served from 1995 to 2003. During his tenure, Johnson vetoed bills 750 times, earning the nickname "Governor Veto."

Gray spoke to a small audience of about 20 at the college. Before speaking, he acknowledged that his party faces a challenge in breaking through the dominance of Democrats and Republicans.

But Gray said that if he and Johnson could just get into the presidential and vice presidential debates, their party's blend of "minimum government, maximum freedom" would win over voters.

Gray said programs in countries such as Switzerland and Holland have worked much better in combating the drug problem.

In Switzerland, for instance, drug users were provided with prescription drugs and offered help with their addiction problems.

The byproduct of that program was a lower crime rate, because drug users no longer had to commit crimes to get money for drugs.

"I would feel pretty comfortable in saying that 10 percent of the problem is the drugs themselves and 90 percent is the drug money," Gray told his audience. "We are churning low-level offenders through the court system for no purpose."

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Libertarian candidate hits anti-drug policies