Rave Act Ii

[10/90]

info taken from another board, do what you want with it. i just wanted to put a heads up out there.

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The RAVE ACT is Back…Again!! And like most sequels, this one is worse.


The RAVE Act is back for Round Three. On July 25, Congressman Bill Pascrel (D-NJ) submitted the “Ecstasy Awareness Act of 2003” along with co-sponsors Congressmen Terry (R-NE), Pallone (D-NJ), Etheridge (D-NC), and Capuano (D-MA). The bill looks to amend Section 416 of the Controlled Substances Act to include:

`(c) Whoever profits monetarily from a rave or similar electronic dance event, knowing or having reason to know that the unlawful use or distribution of a controlled substance occurs at the rave or similar event, shall be fined not more than $500,000 or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the defendant is an organization, the fine imposable for the offense is not more than $2,000,000.'.

In addition, $10 million will be appropriated “to provide training to State and local prosecutors and law enforcement agents for prosecution of ecstasy offenses.”

This news is significantly disheartening after the year-long fight put up by groups like DCNC, Drug Policy Alliance, and Ravers Organized Against the RAVE Act (ROAR) to prevent the original bill from passing. Even as Senator Biden secretly snuck his version of the RAVE Act into last April’s AMBER Bill, subsequent abuses, which occurred just a month after the bill was passed, were criticized by Biden and the DEA had promised to revise its enforcement policy.

But now it seems as if the whole mess is starting over.

Again we have the ambiguous language “knowing or having reason to know” which gives no direction to law enforcement or prosecutors as to exactly what point constitutes a promoter or club owner “having reason to know”. And again, there is no provision for the club owner or promoter to show that he is doing everything in good faith to prevent narcotics from entering his business.

The most troubling aspect of the Act is that it selectively targets “electronic dance event[s]”. At its face, this language is in direct violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment as it assumes the presence of drugs due to the genre of music which is featured. This proves that lawmakers are merely stabbing in the dark at what they perceive to be the lowest hanging fruit and have no real intention of taking any significant step forward in decreasing the demand for drugs. As a result, with this bold threat at their disposal, lawmakers could effectively shut down electronic dance music venues with nothing more than an accusation.

The same arguments apply to this legislation as they did when it was first proposed over a year ago. To some degree we applaud Congress’ effort to focus on a decrease in demand for dangerous narcotics, however these are not the correct measures. Congress must make such steps more effective in hitting the drug demand head on and provide that the regulation be within the scope of the constitution.

We urge you to email/fax your Congressman an express your discontent at this new legislation. The Drug Policy Alliance web site has set up an auto-emailer here:
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/a...p=2&item=11060

[SnoWhite]

does this mean clubs like Lizard Lounge, Red Jacket or One could get shut down? I love the MUSIC they bring.