WAR-ON-DRUGS EXHIBITION STARTS FREE-SPEECH BATTLE

Museum, Activist Clash Over Pamphlets

Pete Guither's attempt to criticize the war on drugs has become a war
of its own.

When an exhibition sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration opened at the Museum of Science and Industry in
August, Guither showed up with a sack full of pamphlets denouncing
the government's anti-narcotics strategy.

But soon after he began handing the pamphlets out, museum officials
confined him to what he said was an almost deserted stretch of
sidewalk. Then a lawyer for the Chicago Park District told him the
pamphlets were "commercial in nature" and that he needed a permit to
distribute them at all.

The Park District says it's just a matter of keeping its facilities
running smoothly. But the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois,
which has gotten involved in the dispute, calls it "a classic case of
free speech."

"What you have in this instance is a government-sponsored promotion
of their viewpoint on a policy issue, and a citizen who wants to
express the opposite viewpoint," said ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka. "...
We don't think this is the kind of speech that requires a permit."

The exhibition, aimed at young people, is meant to expose the grim
toll of the drug business. It includes a reproduction of a seedy
crack house, a gallery of people who died from drug-related causes,
and exhibits that link the narcotics trade with terrorism.

"The concept is, by educating people and getting them to realize how
dangerous drugs are, the damage it can do, the people it can destroy,
hopefully people are smart enough to realize they shouldn't do this,"
said DEA spokesman Steve Robertson.

Guither, 52, whose day job is assistant dean at Illinois State
University, said he has long been a civil-liberties activist. He
turned his attention to the drug war with a blog that advocates
legalizing marijuana and regulating other narcotics, an alternative
to what he calls a futile and destructive policy of prohibition.

When he learned earlier this year that a traveling exhibition
sponsored by the DEA would visit the Museum of Science and Industry,
Guither said he felt compelled to act.

"I used to practically live in that museum," he said. "I didn't like
seeing it perverted into an infomercial for the DEA."

On opening day, Guither went to the museum with leaflets criticizing
the exhibition and the DEA. He said he approached security guards
before handing out the material, hoping to prevent any problems.
After a huddle, officials told him he could distribute them outside.

For about two hours Guither gave pamphlets to people at the entryways
facing 57th Street. But then, he said, a security supervisor told him
he was allowed only on a sidewalk between the entryways, where
Guither said few people ventured.

"We had about 100 an hour before then, maybe one an hour after then," he said.

Museum spokeswoman Lisa Miner, who met with Guither that day,
disagreed with his characterization of the space, saying many people
walk though there on a typical day.

A few days later Guither contacted officials of the museum and the
Chicago Park District, asking that he be allowed to pass out his
fliers freely. Park District attorney Timothy King eventually sent this reply:

"Per our conversation, I consider your handout to be commercial in
nature and therefore, pursuant to our Code, would require a permit to
distribute on our property."

In an interview last week, King said his judgment "was not a matter
of content. I didn't even really give [the handout] a good review.
Beyond the nature of the flier, I didn't delve into the content.

"This is just a matter of how do we keep our parks open to all, and
how do we set people up in a manner so as not to interfere with anyone's use."

Geoffrey Stone, a constitutional scholar at the University of Chicago
Law School, said the flier clearly was not commercial material. But
even if it were, he said, the government cannot regulate commercial
pamphleteering in public areas if it doesn't cause problems, such as
litter or blocked building entrances.

Yohnka, of the ACLU, said the group hoped to come to an agreement
with the Park District that would establish an area where activists
could have better access to people arriving at the museum.

He said a similar arrangement has been worked out at McCormick Place,
which used to keep activists away from conventioneers.

King said the problem could be solved if Guither would apply for a
permit, but Guither said he had no intention of doing that.

"We are not applying to hand out commercial [material]," he said. "It
would be like handing out a permit for me to be out on the sidewalk talking."