Since 1981, the Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime has dedicated a week in April to recognizing crime victims' rights. The week -- this year's observance began yesterday -- is usually marked by rallies, candlelight vigils and other activities intended to promote victims' rights and to honor crime victims and those who work on their behalf.

Victims deserve the recognition that this week provides, and they deserve sympathy and compensation for their losses. But I am increasingly concerned about what I believe they do not deserve, which is the right to serve as de facto prosecutors, a practice that is quietly insinuating itself into the legal system.

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My decision some months ago to privately seek the resignations of a small number of U.S. attorneys has erupted into a public firestorm. First and foremost, I appreciate the public service of these fine lawyers and dedicated professionals, each of whom served his or her full four-year term as U.S. attorney. I apologize to them, their families and the thousands of dedicated professionals at the Justice Department for my role in allowing this matter to spin into an undignified Washington spectacle.

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Is political loyalty more important to the Bush Justice Department than prosecutorial independence?

To those of us who have been federal prosecutors, that's the critical question facing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales as he testifies before Congress this week on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. We know what's at stake: a balance of power between the Justice Department and those who handle day-to-day prosecutions that is the bedrock of federal law enforcement.

This balance of power was evident to me even when I worked as a law clerk in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago in the summer of 1977, between my second and third years of law school. I can still recall my first research assignment.

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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful, announced that he will return up to $35,000 in contributions to his 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns after the Associated Press disclosed that the funds came from key figures in a public corruption scandal in the state.

"We're totaling it up, and any money from any of these individuals, the governor will donate to charities," Amanda Cooper, Richardson's deputy campaign manager, told the AP.

Four people, including the former New Mexico Senate president, were charged last week with trying to bilk the government out of $4.2 million in a courthouse construction project.

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Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, By Andy Letcher, HarperCollins, $25.95, 360 pages

Not long ago, at a party in Amsterdam, I was about to swallow some psilocybin mushrooms when the host interceded. Dividing the pieces into two piles, he twirled a small metal ball hanging from a thin chain above each, dangled the same "dowsing" device over my hand, and after some contemplation pointed me to the pile that was right for me. He also predicted, using amazingly precise but unverifiable numbers, exactly how the mushrooms would affect me along several different personality dimensions. This ceremony, akin to an unsolicited palm, aura or astrological chart reading, did not enhance my mushroom experience.

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Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) was a major buzz kill when he was in Congress. Termed "the worst drug warrior" on Capitol Hill by the Libertarian Party, he led the charge among conservative Republicans against the drug legalization movement.

Advocates for medical marijuana once blocked the door to his Congressional office in protest, and when he lost a primary race in 2001, the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project called it "glorious news."

So you might think you've smoked something to hear the latest: Barr just signed up to work for the marijuana lobby.

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Alaska Case Could Result In More Control For Administrators.

Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court appeared sharply divided last week on whether a student's banner proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" outside an Alaska high school was protected speech or a message that school authorities could suppress because it ran counter to their policies against the promotion of illegal drugs.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer seemed to capture the court's concerns as it heard arguments in Morse v. Frederick (Case No. 06-278) on March 19.

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Every year, thousands of longtime, legal permanent residents are deported from the United States on the basis of criminal convictions without any opportunity to present evidence of their family ties, employment history or rehabilitation. Many are barred for life from returning to America.

Next Sunday will mark 10 years since the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act went into effect. This broad legislation, together with the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, took away the power of immigration judges to exercise discretion in most types of deportation proceedings. Congress dramatically expanded the list of offenses resulting in mandatory deportation so that it now includes many crimes that are considered misdemeanors under state law and that result in no jail time. Individuals can be deported for shoplifting, jumping subway turnstiles, drunken driving and petty drug crimes. Some of those who have been subject to mandatory deportation came to the United States as infants and have never known life elsewhere.

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In 2002, as the Olympic torch made its way through Juneau, Alaska, a local high school was outside cheering on the runner.

In front of a building across the street from the school, Joe Frederick held up a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The principal, Deborah Morse, wrestled the sign from Frederick and later suspended him for 10 days. He appealed this decision, saying that his First Amendment rights were violated.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him, but now the case has landed before the Supreme Court.

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Every group in power has its fervent rationale for believing it has a right, even a duty, to suppress speech it doesn't like. That's why America has a Supreme Court -- to slap some sense into the censorious.

This week, lawyers argued a case that should have been settled years ago. It began in January 2002. As an Alaska high school released students so they could attend a "Winter Olympics Torch Relay," then-18-year-old senior Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," from a Juneau sidewalk. Mr. Frederick thought the nonsensical message would get him on TV.

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WHAT IS a bong hit 4 Jesus? We're not sure, and we doubt anyone really knows what the phrase means -- which is one reason the Supreme Court ought not to regard it as prohibited speech.

Joseph Frederick, the protagonist in a case the justices heard Monday, unfurled a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" across from his Juneau, Alaska, high school in 2002. His unamused principal ripped it down and suspended him. The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the principal had violated Mr. Frederick's First Amendment rights; now it's up to the Supreme Court to decide whether Mr. Frederick's sophomoric signage was protected speech.

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So maybe this is why all those figures in the Supreme Court friezes are wearing togas.

As Ken Starr told the nine justices yesterday why a student's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner didn't qualify as free speech, the whole bunch of them sounded one toke over the line.

"So if the sign had been 'Bong Stinks for Jesus,' that would be . . . a protected right?" asked Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"Suppose that this particular person had whispered to his next-door neighbor, 'Bong hits for Jesus, heh, heh, heh'?" contributed Stephen Breyer.

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Regarding Niara Phillips' thoughtful viewpoint, "Ghetto's Poor Not the Prime Cause of Crime" (THE HOYA, Feb. 27, 2007, A3), the drug war has been waged in a racist manner since its inception.

The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Granted, today's drug warriors are (hopefully) not out to incarcerate as many minorities as possible.

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Defiant Message Spurs Most Significant Student 1st Amendment Test in Decades

The most important student free-speech conflict to reach the Supreme Court since the height of the Vietnam War hinges on a somewhat absurd, vaguely offensive, mostly nonsensical message of protest.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus.

That is the slogan that a defiant high school student named Joseph Frederick fashioned with a 14-foot piece of paper and a $3 roll of duct tape. His goal was partly to get on TV as the Olympic torch passed through his town of Juneau, Alaska, and mostly to get under the skin of his disciplinarian principal, Deborah Morse, with whom he had a running feud.

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To the editors,

It's encouraging that students are working to bring sanity to America's cannabis (kaneh bosm / marijuana) laws ("GW Student Association Passes Pro-Pot Resolution," News, Feb. 22, 2007) since it's safer than alcohol, less addictive than coffee, hasn't caused an overdose in over 5,000 years of documented use and should not be prohibited for responsible adults.

Another reason for allowing citizens to use cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is Biblically correct. God Our Father indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page [of the Bible] (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Truthfully,

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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Very recently, a student on this campus made some comments to me which have stuck as an example of exactly the kind of thinking that makes racism and prejudice still so alive today.

This student associated Washington, D.C. residents -- predominantly black citizens, who she said live in violent neighborhoods and go to crappy D.C. public schools -- with involvement in illegal activities. She went even further to suggest that Georgetown's community service programs are an example of our (or her?) generosity and goodwill, essentially asserting that Georgetown students are on a higher moral ground, so to speak.

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Marijuana legal reform has reached an all--time high at George Washington University.

Among Americans between the ages of 18 and 25, 16.6 percent reported using marijuana within the last month, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy's 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The George Washington University Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is working closely with GW's Student Association in an attempt to moderate the university's disciplinary measures for students who are caught using marijuana, according to Greg Hersh (GW '08), president of the school's NORML chapter.

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University Officials Said They Do Not Support a Student Association Resolution That Calls for More Lenient Sanctions for Marijuana Use.

Last week the SA Senate voted for the University to examine a less-stringent sanction for students guilty of marijuana violations. GW's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws introduced the resolution, arguing that the illegal substance is less dangerous than alcohol.

Some University administrators said there is no reason to change the sanctions.

"I would not be in support of changing the current policy as it has continually had a positive impact on the University community for many years," said Tara Woolfson, director of Student Judicial Services, which administers sanctions to students who are found in violation of University policy.

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This week, Student Association President Lamar Thorpe vetoed a resolution urging administrators to equalize sanctions for alcohol violations and cannabis use. GW officials' apparent refusal to budge on the rejected legislation is not surprising, as the GW chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which drafted the legislation, never discussed the feasibility of this measure with GW leaders. The SA's rewrite of this resolution should only come after consultation with the people in power who can enact change.

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The Student Association Senate passed a resolution Tuesday night submitted by GW's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which calls for the reduction of sanctions imposed on students caught using marijuana.

Greg Hersh, president of GW NORML, proposed that sanctions imposed for marijuana use be less than or equal to alcohol violations.

Eviction from campus housing is the minimum sanction for students caught violating drug policy, while it may take more than three liquor violations before a student is evicted from campus for illegal alcohol use, according to the GW Code of Student Conduct. However, all violations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and could be "more or less severe than what is recommended," said Tara Woolfson, director of Student Judicial Services, in an October 2005 interview with The Hatchet.

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