Pubdate: [Wed, 18 Dec 1996] Source: Star Ledger (NJ) Author: Pat Leonard Sandy Grady's Dec. 5 column, "Voters wisely ignore the drug warriors," was one of the most reasonable op-ed pieces I've seen in years. As he phrased it, "The pols have spent enormous money, rising to $15.1 billion in Clinton's '97 budget. They've created an anti-drug bureaucracy of 50 agencies. Has it worked? Prisons are jammed; teenage drug use climbs. Maybe Californians and Arizonans said to heck with the drug war, let's try something else." Then, the next day, the headlines read: "Drug dogs free to stick nose in Montville High." We were treated to numerous quotes from county and school officials congratulating one another on how they've chipped away at another of our constitutional freedoms. Reporter Brian Murray notes, correctly, that "20 years ago, the mere mention of such a search in a suburban New Jersey school would have ignited some heated debate on teen privacy rights." But that was before we became accustomed to the government systematically curtailing and then denying freedoms once guaranteed to all Americans. At a few of the eastbound Delaware River crossings are signs that say "Welcome to New Jersey - The First State to Ratify the Bill of Rights." At the rate we're going, we might yet become the first state to completely dismantle that precious but beleaguered document. Pat Leonard, Randolph