<nettime> Fw: Anti-Meth Bill coming up--Really anti-First Amendment

["Jeffrey F Jennings" <jeff@jeffjennings.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Van E. Estes, III" <landman@a-o.com>
To: <AMMA-Talk@list.kubby.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2000 5:51 AM
Subject: Anti-Meth Bill coming up--Really anti-First Amendment


> I caught this early today.  It will have a significant impact on what you
> can say about MMJ on the net:
>
> Newshawk: Richard Lake, MAPNews Sr, Editor
> Pubdate: Nov-Dec, 1999
> Source: Cannabis Culture
> Copyright: 1999 Cannabis Culture, redistributed by MAP by permission
> Contact: muggles@cannabisculture.com
> Fax: (604) 669-9038
> Address: 324 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1K6
> Website: http://www.cannabisculture.com/
> Author: Dana Larsen, Editor
>
> Note: Readers who think this bill, if it becomes law, will only impact
> magazines like High Times and Cannabis Culture should take a closer look.
> Needle exchange and harm reduction information will be seen as
> "information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use
> of a controlled substance."

> And medical marijuana books by Dr. Grinspoon, Dr. Mikuriya, Steve Kubby
> and others will have to be removed from book store shelves and burned.
> Thousands of websites, including ours, could be in violation of the law.
> House committees are now working on the bill. Please see the information
> on what you can do at the end of this item. - Richard Lake
>
> CONGRESS PLANS POT-INFO BAN
>
> One month after US Drug Czar General McCaffrey told a Congressional
> committee that he was getting "rolled in the public arena" by Cannabis
> Culture and other pot-supporters, a bill has been introduced into the US
> Congress which would ban all pro-pot books and websites. Anything which
> explains how to grow or use cannabis, or any other prohibited plant or
> substance, would be completely censored.
>
> The bill is called the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, but its
> real target is magazines, books and websites which dissent from the war
> on drugs mentality.
>
> The bill is backed by a coalition of a dozen senators, led by California
> Democrat Dianne Feinstein, a longtime supporter of internet regulation,
> and Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, the arch-conservative Mormon Minister
> who chairs the Senate Judiciary committee.
>
> Although this bill has a ways to go before becoming law, and although it's
> unconstitutional, if it is passed the repercussions to pot culture will be
> immediate and severe. How many magazine distributors and printers would be
> willing to challenge the US government on behalf of their pro-cannabis
> clients? Likely very few, which could leave magazines like this one
> fighting for survival without any means of producing or distributing
> their product.
>
> The part of the bill most worrisome to pro-pot magazines and websites is
> as follows:
>
> "It shall be unlawful for any person to teach or demonstrate the
> manufacture of a controlled substance, or to distribute by any means
> information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use
> of a controlled substance, with the intent that the teaching,
> demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an
> activity that constitutes a Federal crime."
>
> This would ban all books and magazines with grow tips, doctors' advice to
> medical-pot patients, harm-reduction pamphlets explaining safe use of
> banned drugs, brochures explaining needle sterilization and needle
> exchange, and even website links to other sites which do any of these
> things. Since hemp cultivation remains a federal felony, books on how to
> grow and process industrial hemp would also be banned.
>
> The penalty for violating this info-ban is up to 10 years imprisonment,
> and a hefty fine.
>
> The federal Crime Control Act of 1990 makes it a crime to "sell or offer
> for sale drug paraphernalia," a law that the Supreme Court upheld as
> constitutional in 1994. This new bill expands and modifies this law, as
> well as other federal anti-drug legislation.
>
> On July 22, the bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on
> Judiciary. Further hearings were held on July 28, with no indication of
> when consideration on the bill will continue.
>
> MORE COPS, MORE JAILS
>
> The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act has a number of other nasty
> surprises in it as well, including the creation of many more DEA agents,
> with new offices to be stationed in "small and mid-sized communities." The
> added manpower will be used to assist local law enforcement in
> "interrogating suspects, conducting surveillance operations, and
> collecting evidence" against drug users.
>
> Another worrisome provision of this bill would modify the Controlled
> Substances Act to make "risk of harm to the environment" while
> manufacturing a banned substance as being equivalent to "risk of harm to
> human life", and upping the penalty for this to a mandatory minimum of
> 10 years! This is in addition to any other penalties for the actual
> cultivation/production. Although Hatch claimed this is to snare the
> treacherous methamphetamine maker who pollutes the environment with his
> lab, this vaguely defined section would certainly include any pot
> farmers caught growing in forest or park lands.
>
> Further, in the specific cases of amphetamine or methamphetamine, the onus
> would be on the manufacturer to prove that he was not causing risk of harm
> to human life or the environment, or else face the mandatory 10 years
> imprisonment.
>
> OPPRESSION TAG-TEAM
>
> The Dianne Feinstein/Orrin Hatch team-up is not new. Although from
> different parties, they share a passion for scare-tactics and government
> control. In 1996 they joined forces to make it a felony to possess
> computer-generated images of naked children. Feinstein has also tried to
> pass bills to ban secure internet encryption products and bomb-making
> information.
>
> Hatch, meanwhile, has had great success passing bills labeled as being
> anti-methamphetamine. He co-sponsored the Comprehensive Methamphetamine
> Act of 1999, which expanded drug courts and dramatically increased the
> mandatory minimums for methamphetamine offences. The 1999 Rural
> Methamphetamine Use Response Act also expanded police powers and budgets
> to fight the methamphetamine "epidemic." Although both are harmful
> pieces of pro-drug-war legislation, neither is as horrifying as the
> current bill.
>
> Here's some of Senator Orrin Hatch's speech made while introducing this
> repressive legislation:
>
> "I was shocked to discover that those who embrace the drug counter-culture
> these days are using the internet to promote, advertise, and sell illegal
> drugs and drug paraphernalia.
>
> "In 1992, Congress passed a law that made it illegal for anyone to sell or
> offer for sale drug paraphernalia. This law resulted in the closings of
> numerous 'head shops,' yet, now the out-of-business store owners are
> selling their illegal drug paraphernalia on the internet.
>
> "This bill will not only prevent web sites from advertising drug
> paraphernalia for sale, but it will also prohibit web sites that do not
> sell drug paraphernalia from allowing other sites that do from
> advertising on its web site.
>
> "There are even web sites that advertise for sale marijuana and poppy
> seeds, along with growing and nurturing instructions. This type of
> behavior is not only reprehensible, but it is also illegal, and this
> clarifying provision can help stop this behavior from continuing over
> the internet."
>
> CENSORSHIP HAPPENS
>
> This bill should be of great concern to pot-people across America.
> Although some might think that such an oppressive censorship law could
> never pass, take note that it already exists in many other supposedly
> democratic  nations. All "literature for illicit drug use" was banned in
> Canada in 1988, and grow books and High Times magazines were unavailable
> for almost a decade. Their import or sale is still punishable under
> Canada's Criminal Code with a $100,000 fine and six months in jail,
> although the law is now only rarely enforced, simply because we have
> brazenly forced our government to accept our existence.
>
> England and France also have severe anti-cannabis information laws, and a
> few years back British author Mick Marlow spent six months in jail and had
> all copies of his grow-book Tricameral Sinsemilla burned. France has also
> fined and jailed pro-pot website owners and magazine publishers.
>
> A similar censorship law has come up on the state level. In early 2000 the
> Illinois state legislature will debate Bill 792, which would ban providing
> "information about cannabis by the Internet" if the information could be
> used for an illegal activity. The bill unanimously passed the state House
> last year, but got stuck in the Senate due to negative publicity. It is
> due to come up again during the coming months.
>
> Given that Senator Hatch has already passed two anti-methamphetamine bills
> this year, there is no reason to believe that he cannot pass this one as
> well. The passage of bills through the US Congress can seem slow, but
> observers predict that unless opposed, the bill could become law before
> the presidential election in November 2000.
>
> [NOTE: The following information has been updated by Dana Larsen and
> includes information not found in the original article]
>
> FOR MORE INFORMATION
>
> - If you want to stop this bill, then please send a letter or email to
> your local and national media, alerting them to this bill and its
> negative repercussions. Also contact your local representative and urge
> them to oppose this bill.
>
> - For detailed legislative information about this bill, go to:
> http://www.thomas.loc.gov/ and do a search for S.486 and HR.2987.
>
> - For the Senate summary and status info:
> http://www.thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:SN00486:
>
> - For the Senate testimony from when the bill was passed, click on item 6
> at this page:
> http://www.thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r106:FLD001:S14932
>
> - The complete text of the House bill can be found at:
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:H.R.2987:
>
> - For the most recent House of Representatives summary and status info:
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:HR02987:
>
> - To read the current US anti-paraphernalia law which this bill expands:
> http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/21/863.html
>
> - For the House of Representatives subcommittee on Crime:
> http://www.house.gov/judiciary/sub106.htm
>
> - For the House of Representatives subcommittee on Health and the
> Environment: http://www.house.gov/commerce/health.html
>
> SPONSORS AND SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS
>
>   The House version of the bill is sponsored by Rep Chris Cannon, and
> co-sponsored by Representatives Howard Berman, Ken Calvert, Charles
> Canady, Michael Forbes, Elton Gallegly, Jim Gibbons, Asa Hutchinson, Zoe
> Lofgren, Bill McCollum, Jerry Moran, George Nethercutt, Charles
> Pickering, James Rogan, Pete Sessions, Matt Salmon and James Talent.
>
>   The members of the House Subcommittee on Crime are:
>   REPUBLICANS
>
>   Bill McCollum, FL, Chairman
>   Steve Chabot, OH
>   Bob Barr, GA
>   George W. Gekas, PA
>   Howard Coble, NC
>   Lamar S. Smith, TX
>   Charles T. Canady, FL
>   Asa Hutchinson, AR
>
>   DEMOCRATS
>
>   Robert C. Scott, VA
>   Martin T. Meehan, MA
>   Steven R. Rothman, NJ
>   Anthony D. Weiner, NY
>   Sheila Jackson-Lee, TX
>
>   The members of the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment are:
>   REPUBLICANS
>
>   Michael Bilirakis, FL, Chairman
>   Fred Upton, MI
>   Cliff Stearns, FL
>   James C. Greenwood, PA
>   Nathan Deal, GA
>   Richard Burr, NC
>   Brian P. Bilbray, CA
>   Ed Whitfield, KY
>   Greg Ganske, IA
>   Charlie Norwood, GA
>   Tom A. Coburn, OK, Vice Chairman
>   Rick Lazio, NY
>   Barbara Cubin, WY
>   John B. Shadegg, AZ
>   Charles W. 'Chip' Pickering, MS
>   Ed Bryant, TN
>
>   DEMOCRATS
>
>   Sherrod Brown, OH
>   Henry A. Waxman, CA
>   Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ
>   Peter Deutsch, FL
>   Bart Stupak, MI
>   Gene Green, TX
>   Ted Strickland, OH
>   Diana DeGette, CO
>   Thomas M. Barrett, WI
>   Lois Capps, CA
>   Ralph M. Hall, TX
>   Edolphus Towns, NY
>   Anna G. Eshoo, CA
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
> receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
> ---
> MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

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