Happy Meth Awareness Day!

President Bush has issued a proclamation declaring today National Methamphetamine Awareness Day. Bill Piper at the Drug Policy Alliance has a piece asking some important questions, such as:

1) Why is the government pursuing a strategy towards methamphetamine that has been failing for 40 years?

2) Why do elected officials, law enforcement officers and the media continue to ignore science and repeat the myths that methamphetamine is uniquely addictive and people who use it are hooked for life?

3) What role does lack of access to health care play in meth-related problems?

4) How much of the meth problem is rooted in America’s “workaholic” culture?

5) Why are policymakers short-changing women?

6) Why are policymakers ignoring the growing public health threat posed by methamphetamine abuse?

7) What if the billions of dollars wasted each year incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders was invested in drug treatment instead?

Check out Bill's discussion of these issues here.

SSDP beats Drug Czar in Florida

The St. Petersburg Times reports that a school board in Inverness, Florida has rejected federal money from the Drug Czar for student drug testing, with some local parents saying the practice is "intrusive and a waste of taxpayers' dollars."

While I can't be sure that SSDP played a major role in the school board's decision, it does come just a month after I was quoted in an article by the same reporter about the school district considering taking the money.

A federally funded 2003 study by the University of Michigan found that student drug use did not decrease in schools where students were being randomly tested.

In fact, drug testing may have the opposite effect, according to a national grass roots organization in Washington, D.C., called Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

"We think it makes existing drug problems worse," said Tom Angell, the group's campaign director. "Requiring students to submit a urine sample definitely deters them from participating in extracurricular activities, which are supposed to help keep them away from drugs."

It's definitely a huge victory any time educators reject the Drug Czar and his harmful anti-youth policies, but we cannot stop fighting for the thousands of students around the country who still have to submit urine samples as a condition of participating in afterschool activities.

Learn more about student drug testing on SSDP's website.

Speck of Marijuana= 3 Month Suspension and Lawsuit for Ex-High School Student

In Fresno California, a student who was arrested for a "pin-head amount of marijuana, is suing his former school district, contending it has double standards when disciplining students.

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When he got caught with a tiny amount of marijuana at Fowler High School, he was suspended for three months during the 2004-05 school year. When the daughter of a school board member came to school possessing drugs or alcohol, or was high on them, she was not disciplined, the civil complaint states.

Simonian appealed to the Fresno County Board of Education, which threw out his suspension. The board found that the "pin-head-sized speck" of marijuana stuck to the rubber liner of the glove compartment of his car was not a usable amount and not enough to convict the teen.

Simonian contends the ruling came too late. He said he suffered embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety and was banned from participating in school functions. He is suing the district for $500,000 in general and special damages.

The county Board of Education rejected the Fowler school board's decision because there was no evidence to suggest Simonian's behavior could not be corrected, the complaint says. The county board noted Simonian's achievements: an A student, favorable attendance and a participant in the school band and leadership classes.

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We should all find it amazing how quick some educators are to remove a good student from education because of an unusable amount of marijuana. In fact, we should find it scary.

I am glad he had the guts to bring about a lawsuit for this type of "teachers pet" behavior from the administration. During my senior year of high school, an enraged parent brought pictures she had found while snooping through her son's room while he was out to our principle. The pictures included several students smoking marijuana off campus. One of the students, a close friend of mine, was removed from our senior class trip for the picture.

The kicker was that just days before this picture surfaced, a photo of our class president drinking a beer was on the desk of our class advisor who organized the class trip and laughed about it with other students. When I brought up the hypocrisy of this, I was confronted by teachers claiming I was "sabotaging the trip", repeating over and over that "there is a huge difference between smoking marijuana and having a beer." Since both actions are illegal, the only difference I could see was that marijuana is safer.
Hope this student gets every penny.

Just Say Know!

Apparently, planning a conference doesn't leave you with much time to blog about planning a conference. Or much time to do much else, for that matter...

So if you haven't heard, in less than one week, SSDP will be hosting its biggest conference ever at Georgetown University Law Center. I could spend time filling you in on all the details, or you could just check it out here.

Today, we got some exciting news that MSNBC's Bill Press has agreed to join The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page for a midday plenary at the conference! You'll recognize Bill Press from CNN's Crossfire or MSNBC's Buchanan & Press. For a blast from the past, check out this Crossfire debate between DPA's Ethan Nadelmann (also an SSDP conference speaker) and John Ashcroft.

And if you are unfamiliar with Clarence Page, watch him produce a genuine Bill O'Reilly meltdown on the O'Reilly Factor.

Once you check out the updated conference schedule, I'm sure you'll want to be here. Luckily for you, it's not too late to register.

Don't forget...

VOTE!

More on the medical marijuana t-shirt confiscations

In the case of the two South Dakota high school students whose shirts displaying support for SD Initiated Measure 4 were confiscated by their principal, in my judgment the school district hasn't got a legal leg to stand on. I believe that these two students' constitutional right to free speech was restricted by their school administration, and I hope that the courts rule this way and remedy the injustice that was done.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 in Tinker v. Des Moines that public schools may make no prohibitions on the expression of student opinion unless that expression "materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others." Moreover, the school must be able to demonstrate that the prohibition itself "is necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others" (emphasis mine). The curtailment of speech that happened in South Dakota simply don't pass either of the tests.

In my (admittedly lay) opinion, the ban on clothing depicting drug-related images ought to be lifted. Even if the district administration does have a sincere concern for ensuring that their students don't get the message that teen drug use is OK, not all depictions of drugs do advocate their use by the students. The t-shirts in question are a perfect example that "depiction = advocacy" isn't necessarily always the case. But a better example would be the drug education materials and D.A.R.E. presentations that are often accompanied by pictures and even samples for students to view up-close. Does the principal or the district consider these materials and presentations to be advocating drug use as well? The district's concern that all depictions of drugs necessarily advocate their use is not justified, and not even internally consistent.

The students' t-shirts, if anything, ought to enjoy the greatest First Amendment protection possible. They are political speech and, of all the different types of speech that the Constitution protects, political speech is the one that lies closest to the very heart of our democracy. The only grounds on which I could envision a court ruling against the students would be if it found that the pictures of marijuana leaves simply didn't constitute speech. But given the context (t-shirts with messages favoring the passage of an initiative to regulate marijuana for medical use), it hardly seems plausible to me that the courts could deny that the shirts--pictures and all--constituted speech. After all, if the principal weren't concerned that the display of the images were communicating something, she never would have confiscated the shirts in the first place.

There are no legal grounds on which the school district ought to prevail in this case, should any of the aggreived parties decide to take it to court. If that happens, though, it should be a fun case to watch. If it makes its way all the way to the Supreme Court, it'll be an interesting test of what the court with its current makeup thinks of Tinker. Here's hoping that justice prevails.

Medical Marijuana Shirts Confiscated at SD High-School

Thanks to Pete @ Drug War Rant for this one.
South Dakota: Two Steven High School seniors who wore t-shirts to school advocating the passage of Initiated Measure 4, the medical marijuana ballot issue, SAY their rights to political free speech were violated when the school principal confiscated the shirts, which were decorated with the image of a marijuana leaf. Get the story here.

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David Valenzuela, 17, and Chris Fuentes, 18, were told by a Stevens security guard to remove the shirts as they entered their first period class Oct. 20. Principal Katie Bray confiscated the shirts a short time later.

Rapid City superintendent of schools Peter Wharton said Thursday the incident was a violation of school policy, not political rights. School policy forbids clothing that displays images of alcohol, drugs or tobacco products on school grounds.

This fall, numerous SHS students have worn t-shirts with an image of a human fetus and the message “Save a Life, Vote Yes on Referred Law 6.” “We had been seeing all these abortion shirts at school, and we thought, OK, I guess we can get political,” Valenzuela said of his decision to wear the shirt to school. Valenzuela’s green, tie-dyed shirt features a white, stylized image of a marijuana leaf, along with the hand-lettered message, “Vote Yes on Initiated Measure 4.”

Valenzuela and Fuentes say they will take Wharton up on his invitation to continue their medical marijuana t-shirt campaign, sans image, in the days leading up to Tuesday’s election.

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In my high school the same thing would have happened. However, I think that if the shirts had siad "Vote No on Initiated Measuere 4" and had an image of a pot leaf with a big red "X" over it, there would not have been an issue (just my opinion). The same could be said for anti-tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs put on a T-shirt.

Still there needs to be the argument of why not allow students to wear a shirt that is clearly not supporting the use of marijuana in general, but instead a specific ballot issue? This is a way to get students involved in the political process and if anything they should be applauded for their efforts. Besides, a hemp leaf is always nicer to look at than a fetus. ( Not just my opinion).

But hey, look at the bright side, maybe this school just helped us get two more SSDP members!

UMD Resolution Fails in RHA

The UMD SSDP chapter is hard at work again. This time helping to bring a resolution to reduce marijuana penalties on campus. Unfortunately the resolution was not passed but I can't see how that would slow down this SSDP chapter.

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Under the current policy, first-time offenders are hit with an automatic suspension, loss of on-campus housing and a mandatory two-year enrollment in a substance-abuse prevention program.

Under the RHA's proposed changes, authored by RHA Vice President Sumner Handy, these students would have only received a citation and a warning. Additionally, Resident Assistants would no longer be trained to call police in the event that they suspected use or possession of the drug.

Lockwood said despite the results of last spring's referendum - a public opinion poll in which 65 percent of 4,376 participants voted in favor of reducing discipline imposed on marijuana users - the RHA lacked credible evidence to show student support of the resolution.

The SSDP proposal, which will appear before the University Senate before the end of the semester, aims to change the wording in the Code of Student Conduct where the first-time possession of the drug is currently listed as an "aggravated offense," lumping it with other penalties that include hate crimes, arson and sexual assault.

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Possession of marijuana is an "aggravated offense?" Thats news to me. Whats aggravating is that students are unfairly punished and have their academics negatively impacted in a way that marijuana use alone could never achieve. Stacia Cosner and friends rock.

The ball is in Congress's court - Act now!

I'm outraged to announce that on Friday, a federal judge granted the Bush administration's motion to dismiss Students for Sensible Drug Policy's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions.

Now, more than ever, it's time to pressure Congress to do its job and overturn the unfair and harmful penalty that has prevented nearly 200,000 would-be students from getting their lives back on track. We've made it easy for you to send a message to your legislators with just a few clicks.

Even though the judge didn't rule that the penalty is unconstitutional, he did agree with us that it "results in some inequality." For now, the ball is in Congress's court.

While it's unfortunate that students harmed by this penalty won't yet have our day in court, we will soon be heard in the halls of Congress. On November 17, hundreds of SSDP members will take our concerns directly to lawmakers' doorsteps when we gather in Washington, DC for our national lobby day and conference. To follow up on the letters you send, we'll be asking members of Congress to support H.R. 1184, the Removing Impediments to Students' Education (RISE) Act, which already has 71 co-sponsors and would overturn the harmful penalty.

We're currently consulting with our dedicated attorneys at the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project and will decide shortly if we'll be appealing the ruling. You can find out more about the lawsuit here.

In the meantime, please contact your legislators today and tell them to do the right thing by repealing this penalty.

Join SSDP FHSU!

Heres what Laura A. Green, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Forum of Kansas had to say about SSDP in an October 27th OpEd in the Fort Hayes State University Paper:

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To date, nearly 200,000 students have been denied or had their federal loans, grants and work-study delayed because of the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty.

Until early in 2006, this penalty was applied to any drug conviction a person had received whether or not they were in school when the offense occurred. Due to the efforts of the organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy (www.ssdp.org), who worked with Congress to scale back the law, now only people who are convicted while in college and receiving financial aid can have their eligibility taken away.

Fortunately, there are students who are continuing to educate fellow students and challenge the government’s drug control policies. Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) argue “statistics and common sense tell us it doesn’t make sense to pull students out of school if we want to reduce drug abuse and encourage young people to become successful citizens. The Aid Elimination Policy of the Higher Education Act obstructs the path to education. It perverts the Act’s important, noble intentions.”

I urge students to get involved in SSDP — an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing their generation and our society.
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Thanks for letting students know what SSDP is all about. Hopefully this letter, titled Students for Sensible Drug Policy Wanted, will spark the formation of a new SSDP Chapter at Fort Hayes State University.