DRUG WAR HAS FAILED

The Supreme Court should take a cue from the nonsensical banner that
inspired their decision to limit free speech. It might do them some
good to take a few bong hits for Jesus.

Before sacrificing more civil liberties at the altar of the drug war,
they should ask themselves, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus
persecute, incarcerate and deny forgiveness to nonviolent drug
offenders? Zero tolerance is un-Christian. Morally, the drug war is
wrong. On a practical level, the drug war is a complete failure.
There were 786,545 marijuana arrests in 2005, the vast majority for
simple possession. America is one of the few Western countries that
punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis, yet lifetime use of
marijuana is higher in the U.S. than any European country.

Thanks to the war on some drugs, the Constitution is increasingly
irrelevant and the land of the free now has the highest incarceration
rate in the world. This is not a policy worthy of Constitutional
exemptions. The drug war has failed to keep drugs out of prisons,
much less schools.

The Supreme Court should prioritize protecting civil liberties over
perpetuating drug war failure.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.