While the Court ruled against "Bonghits 4 Jesus" 5-4 as free speech by a student, Justice Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion, and in it he equated the current laws against marijuana as being much the same as alcohol prohibition. He would know, he was alive as a student then.

"While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs," Stevens writes.

In a 2005 case, Stevens wrote for the court's 6-3 majority that upheld the federal government's right to prosecute medical marijuana patients in states that have legalized medical use of the drug.

But his opinion then was based strictly on Congress's ability to regulate interstate commerce, and that opinion included mention that credible research showing marijuana could be medically effective would "cast serious doubt" on the government's classification of the drug as a Schedule I narcotic. And he all but encouraged the advocates to take their argument directly to Congress.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Stevens_Smoking_pot_akin_to_drinking_0627.htm

Lily