To the editors,
Regarding your March 22 editorial (“Bong hits for freedom of speech”): alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Prescription overdose deaths are second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury. Television is filled with pro-drug messages paid for by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush administration doesn’t have a problem with corporate drug pushers. But hoist a “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner at an off-campus high school rally in Alaska, and they will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. It is not clear to me how this nonsensical phrase somehow merits limiting free speech.
Then again, our government’s obsession with marijuana has never made sense. Culture warriors in the White House clearly believe the war on pot is more important than the Constitution. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. By raiding medical marijuana providers in California, the very same administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is pushing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from terrorism too. Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war, otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.
Robert Sharpe, MPA
Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
