diff --git a/ckan/controllers/api.py b/ckan/controllers/api.py
index 23aec691ced..2f7eab631f6 100644
--- a/ckan/controllers/api.py
+++ b/ckan/controllers/api.py
@@ -83,7 +83,9 @@ def _finish(self, status_int, response_data=None,
         if response_data is not None:
             response.headers['Content-Type'] = CONTENT_TYPES[content_type]
             if content_type == 'json':
-                response_msg = h.json.dumps(response_data)
+                response_msg = h.json.dumps(
+                    response_data,
+                    for_json=True) # handle objects with for_json methods
             else:
                 response_msg = response_data
             # Support "JSONP" callback.
@@ -164,7 +166,8 @@ def action(self, logic_function, ver=None):
                 _('Action name not known: %s') % logic_function)
 
         context = {'model': model, 'session': model.Session, 'user': c.user,
-                   'api_version': ver, 'auth_user_obj': c.userobj}
+                   'api_version': ver, 'return_type': 'LazyJSONObject',
+                   'auth_user_obj': c.userobj}
         model.Session()._context = context
 
         return_dict = {'help': h.url_for(controller='api',
diff --git a/ckan/lib/lazyjson.py b/ckan/lib/lazyjson.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6305cb7d894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ckan/lib/lazyjson.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import simplejson as json
+import simplejson.encoder as json_encoder
+
+
+class LazyJSONObject(dict):
+    '''An object that behaves like a dict returned from json.loads'''
+    def __init__(self, json_string):
+        self._json_string = json_string
+        self._json_dict = None
+
+    def _loads(self):
+        if not self._json_dict:
+            self._json_dict = json.loads(self._json_string)
+            self._json_string = None
+        return self._json_dict
+
+    def __nonzero__(self):
+        return True
+
+    def for_json(self):
+        if self._json_string:
+            return JSONString(self._json_string)
+        return self._json_dict
+
+
+def _loads_method(name):
+    def method(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return getattr(self._loads(), name)(*args, **kwargs)
+    return method
+
+for fn in ['__cmp__', '__contains__', '__delitem__', '__eq__', '__ge__',
+           '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__',
+           '__ne__', '__setitem__', 'clear', 'copy', 'fromkeys', 'get',
+           'has_key', 'items', 'iteritems', 'iterkeys', 'itervalues', 'keys',
+           'pop', 'popitem', 'setdefault', 'update', 'values']:
+    setattr(LazyJSONObject, fn, _loads_method(fn))
+
+
+class JSONString(int):
+    '''
+    A type for already-encoded JSON
+
+    Fake-out simplejson by subclassing int so that simplejson calls
+    our __str__ method to produce JSON.
+
+    This trick is unpleasant, but significantly less fragile than
+    subclassing JSONEncoder and modifying its internal workings, or
+    monkeypatching the simplejson library.
+    '''
+    def __init__(self, s):
+        self.s = s
+        super(JSONString, self).__init__(-1)
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return s
diff --git a/ckan/logic/action/create.py b/ckan/logic/action/create.py
index 1a124f4eb85..a7512e0929e 100644
--- a/ckan/logic/action/create.py
+++ b/ckan/logic/action/create.py
@@ -285,7 +285,9 @@ def resource_create(context, data_dict):
     package_id = _get_or_bust(data_dict, 'package_id')
     _get_or_bust(data_dict, 'url')
 
-    pkg_dict = _get_action('package_show')(context, {'id': package_id})
+    pkg_dict = _get_action('package_show')(
+        dict(context, return_type='dict'),
+        {'id': package_id})
 
     _check_access('resource_create', context, data_dict)
 
diff --git a/ckan/logic/action/get.py b/ckan/logic/action/get.py
index 1596563bb7c..908c1d738cf 100644
--- a/ckan/logic/action/get.py
+++ b/ckan/logic/action/get.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import ckan.lib.activity_streams as activity_streams
 import ckan.lib.datapreview as datapreview
 import ckan.authz as authz
+import ckan.lib.lazyjson as lazyjson
 
 from ckan.common import _
 
@@ -942,7 +943,11 @@ def package_show(context, data_dict):
         else:
             use_validated_cache = 'schema' not in context
             if use_validated_cache and 'validated_data_dict' in search_result:
-                package_dict = json.loads(search_result['validated_data_dict'])
+                package_json = search_result['validated_data_dict']
+                if context.get('return_type') == 'LazyJSONObject':
+                    package_dict = lazyjson.LazyJSONObject(package_json)
+                else:
+                    package_dict = json.loads(package_json)
                 package_dict_validated = True
             else:
                 package_dict = json.loads(search_result['data_dict'])
diff --git a/ckan/logic/action/update.py b/ckan/logic/action/update.py
index f87b81ad078..561813596e4 100644
--- a/ckan/logic/action/update.py
+++ b/ckan/logic/action/update.py
@@ -136,7 +136,8 @@ def resource_update(context, data_dict):
     del context["resource"]
 
     package_id = resource.package.id
-    pkg_dict = _get_action('package_show')(context, {'id': package_id})
+    pkg_dict = _get_action('package_show')(dict(context, return_type='dict'),
+        {'id': package_id})
 
     for n, p in enumerate(pkg_dict['resources']):
         if p['id'] == id: