The recent Supreme Court decision over a student's banner that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" contains an important dissenting view.

So, like the reformers of that era, those of us today who would try to reform drug policy are held in check, due to the so-called moral majority. Justice John Paul Stevens put it thusly: Just as Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana, and of the majority of voters in each of the several states that tolerate medicinal uses of the product, lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs.

This is exactly what is happening today.

William Morrison, The Colony

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While the phrase "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" may not be inspired, meaningful or relevant to anyone in particular, it serves as a reminder that the Supreme Court decides what we can and cannot say.

In 2002, onlookers gathered in Juneau, Ala. to see the Olympic torch on its way to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. That same morning Joseph Frederick, a high school student at the time, held up a 14-foot-long banner with what he considered a nonsensical message written on it. Frederick's principal suspended him from school after the incident, and Frederick filed a civil lawsuit, claiming Deborah Morse violated his right to free speech.

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Re: "Justices reveal shift to right," yesterday's news story.

If preventing drug use among students is more important than free speech, "No Bong Hits 4 Jesus" T-shirts should be OK. I see a marketing opportunity.

Can students be suspended for advocating medical marijuana or lowering the drinking age? Of course, we have decided that safety is more important than liberty.

If Chief Justice John Roberts were a real strict constructionist, he would have seen that the First Amendment protects free speech, even if the government really, really wants to punish it.

Conservatives are judicial activists for a police state, liberal justices for socialist utopia.

Both are wrong.

Robert Guest,

Ennis

[end]

Bexar became the first county in Texas to have a needle exchange program, but it shouldn't be the last.

Needle exchange programs prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS by replacing dirty needles with clean ones. The programs follow a simple public health premise: If an object spreads a disease, remove the object from circulation. Doing so saves money and lives.

Needle-related drug use accounts for one-fifth of all new HIV/AIDS infections. Each new infection costs taxpayers $385,000 over a patient's life.

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Eligibility for federal student assistance is suspended for students convicted of a drug crime while receiving aid.

A bill recently passed by a Senate committee may bring relief to financially dependent students who can no longer receive federal aid due to drug convictions.

The amendment to the Higher Education Act, which suspended eligibility for federal student assistance of any student who is convicted of a drug crime, was authored in 1998 by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., but was changed last year to only affect students who committed offenses while receiving aid.

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KENNEDALE -- More than 1,100 Kennedale students who take part in extracurricular activities or park on campus face random drug testing when the new school year begins in August.

High school and junior high school students who test positive for illegal drugs or alcohol can be suspended from extracurricular activities for two weeks to a year, but will not be suspended from classes.

They will also perform 10 to 60 hours of community service and will lose parking and off-campus privileges if they drive to school.

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HOW to make enemies, squander billions and accomplish nothing: That's a U.S. program called Plan Colombia. Its central idea is to slow the flow of cocaine into the nostrils of American night-clubbers by poisoning crops in the Andes.

Five billion wasted dollars later, cocaine surges cheaper and purer into our cities and suburbs. Since 2000, Plan Colombia has sprayed an area the size of Delaware and Rhode Island. Meanwhile, Colombia's coca acreage rose 9 percent last year.

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Charges Are Dismissed If Program Completed

Mario Rodriguez's life was going downhill in a hurry until he joined a support group aimed at helping people whose addictions had become stronger than their will.

By 1998, the 44-year-old Premont resident had been arrested four times for driving while intoxicated.

He reached the end of the road in March 2006, when he received another citation.

This time, Rodriguez's probation officer introduced him to the Brooks and Jim Wells County 79th Judicial District Drug and Alcohol Diversion Court Program, which was started by a $65,000 grant from the governor's office. The county has applied each year for the grant and relies on the money to provide counseling, training and equipment, said Dalia Garcia, project director for the drug and alcohol court.

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By now it has dawned on many Americans that the "War on Terror" is permanent. Perhaps we know this because the president told us so, though his credibility is a little shaky just now. An endless war against "Islamo-Fascists" allows us to swipe their oil, water, power, finances, seeds, and land whenever we choose. It also allows us to continually enrich certain favored American corporations. Why stop?

Less well-understood is our similarly permanent "War on Drugs." Launched by Richard Nixon, this "War" has no clear goal beyond politics. Like terror, it is built upon fear. Not the fear of planes being blown up, but the fear of kids being torn down. That's powerful stuff. Druggies, except of course for our own family, should get the book thrown at them.

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Re: "Unlevel Playing Field - Why Colombia's drug trade is a free-trade issue," Friday Editorial.

The editorial chastising Colombian president Alvaro Uribe for his failure to rid his country of illegal drug production leaves out the self-evident truth that the war on drugs is a catastrophe.

Just as America decided in the 1930s that it is best to deal with the sale and use of alcoholic beverages in an aboveboard, legal fashion, we should adopt a similar approach to recreational drugs, which are arguably no more dangerous than 86 proof whiskey.

One thing that the war on drugs has not done is to stop the flow of drugs to those who want to buy them. Capitalism works. Prohibition doesn't.

Robert Sheaks, Irving

[end]

America's biggest drug-financed military problem used to be 3,000 miles away in Colombia. It's now standing at our doorstep in Mexico.

Mexico's estimated 2,000 Zeta paramilitary enforcers have reached such a level of supremacy that they no longer answer to their former bosses in the Gulf drug cartel. They are growing in number, firepower and the ability to self-finance with heroin and cocaine profits.

Now comes the shadowy new militia known as La Gente Nueva, or the New People, funded by a rival Mexican cartel to avenge the Zetas' murder spree.

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LAREDO -- Three Zapata County officials were arraigned in federal court Wednesday, charged with taking bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protecting loads of marijuana that were hauled through their area.

FBI agents Tuesday arrested Justice of the Peace Manuel "Meme" Martinez, 43; county attorney's office investigator Jose Amaro, 40; and county code enforcement worker Ruben Elizondo, 37.

Martinez was a Zapata County sheriff's deputy when he was accused of taking money four times in late 2006 from a drug trafficker. He received $5,000 for each 1,000 pounds of marijuana he protected, according to the indictment, which a grand jury returned last week and was unsealed Wednesday.

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Why Colombia's Drug Trade Is A Free-Trade Issue

Free trade accords tend to conjure images of business executives jetting off to negotiate manufacturing-plant construction and import-export deals. That's far from the reality of the U.S.-Colombian accord, which President Bush has signed but a skeptical Congress has yet to ratify.

President Alvaro Uribe's discussion topics in Washington last week, combined with a new lawsuit against Chiquita Brands International, underscore the problems Colombia still confronts as one of the world's most dangerous, albeit lucrative, business venues. These problems cannot be masked by the niceties of free-trade accords or the impressive results of Mr. Uribe's efforts to restore order and foment an economic boom.

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There is a drug problem in Azle, Texas.

And not enough is being done by parents and community leaders to combat apathy.

Those were two of the key points made by Azle Police Lt. Greg Arrington during a presentation he made to the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce last week.

Arrington used part of the program to talk about Shattered Dreams, a program sponsored by the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission to show students, firsthand, what underage driving can do to families.

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GUATEMALA CITY - There is a mixed neighborhood of shacks and mansions here where the drug gangs barricade the streets to keep out police, rival criminals and strangers. Not too far away, a hotel lobby fills daily with American couples steering carriages carrying adopted babies.

Both scenes speak to the large appetites of the United States, and how they bend the economy of a small hemispheric neighbor.

The official, above-board economy of Guatemala depends heavily on American appetites for coffee, bananas and sugar. We are the leading market for Guatemala's exports and the leading source of Guatemala's imports.

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Re: "Still losing war on drugs," by Lee Franke, Monday Letters.

As a police officer, I helped spend over a trillion tax dollars in the past 3 1/2 decades to arrest some 38 million Americans.

What has been the return on that investment? Drugs are cheaper, stronger and much easier for our kids to buy. Lee Franke's letter was spot on. Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end our new prohibition?

Howard J. Wooldridge, Dallas

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Before hundreds of students at Gladewater High School were allowed to play a sport, join the band or participate in any other UIL organization during the 2006-07 school year, they were given a requirement they'd never had before: They had to pass a drug test.

While that practice is nothing new for a growing multitude of students throughout the nation, Gladewater Independent School District took a unique approach when implementing its policy by requiring every student who wanted to join any UIL activity to pass a drug test at the beginning of the year.

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Can snitching be ethical? The question has troubled me ever since I was a little-bitty boy. I ratted out my neighborhood friend Andrew. He had brazenly filched a couple of cookies out of his nice mother's cookie jar after she had told us not to. When I snitched, Drew was ticked off at me. But his mom let him off the hook. She even gave each of us a cookie. Years later, sadly, Andrew would go to prison on much more serious charges. I would pursue a career in journalism. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.

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Dallas: Accused Include Alleged Heroin Supplier, 2 Ex-DISD Students

A North Dallas man thought to be a major supplier to the teens who mix and sell "cheese" heroin has been indicted on federal drug and weapons charges, along with five other men, including two former DISD students.

Dallas teen talks about heroin addiction and "cheese"

[redacted], is charged with conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute, as well as distribution of heroin. He is also charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

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Dean: School Offers Programs But Students Must Make Wise Choices

The father of a 21-year-old Southern Methodist University coed who was the third student to die from excessive drug or alcohol use in the last five months said Monday that the school needs to more aggressively address substance abuse among students.

"Drugs are woven into the Greek system and the social fabric of the university," Joseph Bosch said at a news conference at Dallas police headquarters. "The administration is either unwilling or has been incapable of addressing this issue, and we urge the administration of the university to radically change their approach to this problem."

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