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First Amendment Can one publicly proclaim: "Lets shoot up some smack!" The First Amendment seems to allow it. But how about saying it in school or on the pages of a kids magazine? This category analyzes First Amendment issues as they pertain to the drug policy.
Court Opinions on the Topic:
...[W]e hold that schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use.
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At least two interpretations of the words on the banner demonstrate that the sign advocated the use of illegal drugs. First, the phrase could be interpreted as an imperative: "[Take] bong hits . . . " -- a message equivalent, as Morse explained in her declaration, to "smoke marijuana" or "use an illegal drug." Alternatively, the phrase could be viewed as celebrating drug use -- "bong hits [are a good thing]," or "[we take] bong hits" -- and we discern no meaningful distinction between celebrating illegal drug use in the midst of fellow students and outright advocacy or promotion.
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Student speech celebrating illegal drug use at a school event, in the presence of school administrators and teachers, thus poses a particular challenge for school officials working to protect those entrusted to their care from the dangers of drug abuse.
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Tinker warned that schools may not prohibit student speech because of "undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance" or "a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint." [...] The danger here is far more serious and palpable. The particular concern to prevent student drug abuse at issue here, embodied in established school policy [...] extends well beyond an abstract desire to avoid controversy.
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The concern here is not that Frederick's speech was offensive, but that it was reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.
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