LET'S PROTECT LIBERTIES, NOT CONTINUE A LOST WAR

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 decidedly un-Christian. Morally,
the drug war is wrong. On a practical level, the drug war is an
abject 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 United States 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 protect civil liberties, not perpetuate drug
war failure.

ROBERT SHARPE

policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.