In "Tinker", the school principal had punished students for wearing black anti-war armbands based on his "undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance" or "mere desire to avoid ... discomfort and unpleasantness". Here, however, the concern about student drug abuse "extends well beyond an abstract desire to avoid controversy". Principal Morse's failure to act against the banner "would send a powerful message to the students in her charge, including Frederick, about how serious the school was about the dangers of illegal drug use". The First Amendment, concluded the opinion, "does not require schools to tolerate at school events student expression that contributes to those dangers".