DRUG JOKES NOT PROTECTED BY FREE SPEECH

WASHINGTON - No marijuana jokes, please, we're Americans. That was the
message yesterday from a divided U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled
against an Alaska student who was kicked out of his high school for
unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court said a school principal was
justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his
homemade banner promoted the use of drugs.

"Student speech celebrating illegal drug use ... poses a particular
challenge for school officials working to protect those entrusted to
their care from the dangers of drug abuse," Chief Justice John Roberts
wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment does not require
schools to tolerate, at school events, student expression that
contributes to those dangers."

The ruling closes one of the most bizarre cases involving free speech
to reach the Supreme Court in two decades.

It began when Mr. Frederick displayed his five-metre-long banner
during an Olympic torch relay event in Alaska ahead of the 2002 Winter
Olympics.

Mr. Frederick insisted the banner was intended as a publicity prank to
attract TV coverage. Although he was standing on a sidewalk off school
property, principal Deborah Morse bolted across the street, seized the
banner and suspended him for 10 days.