THE OPENING SALVO

The Slippery Dope

In what's been dubbed the "Bong Hits for Jesus Case," the Supreme
Court ruled 5-4 against bong hits. Morse v. Frederick, settled
Monday, concerned Joseph Frederick, an Alaskan teenager who, in
2002, unveiled a 14-foot banner reading Bong Hits 4 Jesus as the
Olympic Torch passed his Juneau high school on its way to the
Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The principal suspended Frederick,
who sued on First Amendment grounds. He's said he saw the phrase on
a snowboard, had no idea what it meant, and it was intended only to
prove that he could say anything at school at any time.

The court's decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, states
that students do not have the right to free expression that endorses
illegal drug use in a public school, although Roberts admitted "the
message on Frederick's banner is cryptic."

It's not just cryptic; it's moronic. But what if another student
statement concerning drugs isn't so stupid? Consider the Iraq
War"inspired play put on by Wilton High School drama students this
year. After administrators shut it down for being "too
controversial," theater groups and First Amendment crusaders rallied
around and helped resurrect the production.

What if, instead of the war in Iraq, the students had tackled the
equally morally bankrupt War on Drugs? It's an issue that absolutely
affects them-especially with so many juvies being tried as adults in
drug cases. What if there were lines in said play that suggested
crazy shit, like harmless drug users are clogging up the prison
system, or countries that have decriminalized some drugs tend to
have lower addict rates, or a few bong hits might not turn you into
a junkie? School administrators would have the right to shut them
down with the blessing of the highest court in the land.

Since the monumental Vietnam-era cases, the First Amendment has been
on shaky grounds in public high schools. It doesn't apply to
students quite the same way it does the rest of us, but the court
has ruled they don't lose all constitutional rights when
the home-room bell rings. The court has put itself in
the precarious position of deciding exactly which rights apply to
those 18 and under while on school grounds. Bong Hits made for an
easy straw man. It's a shame the court used him to cherry-pick one
view students can't endorse, explicitly or cryptically,
intelligently or by means of a nonsensical 14-foot banner.