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Title: Congress is about to expand the drug war
Source:
Marijuana Policy Project, DownsizeDC.org
URL Source: http://www.mpp.org
Published: Jun 2, 2005
Author: Rob Kampia
Post Date: 2005-06-03 16:32:29 by Neil McIver
Ping List: *Marijuana Policy Project* Subscribe to *Marijuana Policy Project*
Keywords: Congress, expand, about
Views: 80
Comments: 14
FROM: Rob Kampia, executive director, Marijuana Policy Project The Marijuana Policy Project is forwarding you the message below on behalf of DownsizeDC.org. New legislation currently making its way through the House of Representatives poses a grave threat. If passed, H.R. 1528 will force Americans to inform on their friends, family members, or neighbors within 24 hours of acquiring any knowledge about their involvement in drug-related activity, including marijuana. Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to stop this bill in its tracks. As is often the case with new federal violations of civil liberties, this bill is constructed to appear as though it is designed to protect children from drugs, but its implications are far more sinister: * Observe one student passing a joint to another, and you could fall under this law. You would be required to report the incident to authorities within 24 hours or risk prosecution and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. * If a neighbor under 21 mentions buying some marijuana for a party, you would be required to report him or her to the government or risk jail time yourself. * If your brothers or sisters have children and mention to you that they and their spouses sometimes smoke marijuana in their bedroom after their kids are asleep, you would be required to immediately inform on them or face prison time. You can see what a threatening new environment this proposed legislation would create for everyone. It would erect barriers of paranoia between friends, family members, and neighbors and is rife with potential for police abuse, extortion, and the creation of false informants. DownsizeDC.org is mounting a campaign to defeat this bill. Visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to learn more and then take action by sending a message to Congress telling them what you think of this bill. Please send a message now, while we can still stop this terrible legislation. Thank you. P.S. H.R. 1528 is supposedly designed to protect children -- but the bill is actually anti-family. It expands mandatory minimum sentencing and increases the ways those minimum sentences could kick in. It's absolutely draconian. Passage of this bill would be a setback. It's almost always harder to repeal a bad law than it is to stop it from passing in the first place. Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to act now.
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#1. To: Neil McIver (#0)
I'll do my partby calling the authorities every time I see one of those Just Say No ads where teenagers talk about smoking pot. How much jail time you suppose that will get me?
Ping (because of the socionomic implications)
#2. To: Arete, Axenolith, Dukie, imawit, Orangedog, Starwind, TauZero (#0)
 | Cthulhu for President! Why settle for the lesser evil? |
#3. To: Neil McIver (#0)
Exactly. Another example is the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which included provisions forcing local high schools to provide student names and open up their campuses to military recruiters.
As is often the case with new federal violations of civil liberties, this bill is constructed to appear as though it is designed to protect children
A starship circling in the sky, it oughta be ready by 1990.
#4. To: Neil McIver (#0)
Oh, really? how do they intend to carry out that force?
If passed, H.R. 1528 will force Americans to inform on their friends, family members, or neighbors within 24 hours of acquiring any knowledge about their involvement in drug-related activity, including marijuana.
#5. To: christine (#4)
Star chamber hearings.
#6. To: christine (#4)
Undercover cop walks up and says, "Hey, I've got some dope. You want some?" If you don't report them, you're busted.
Oh, really? how do they intend to carry out that force?
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#7. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#6)
you think of everything.
#8. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#6)
You could report it to the undercover cop....
Undercover cop walks up and says, "Hey, I've got some dope. You want some?" If you don't report them, you're busted.
Pinguinite: The discussion forum preferred by Pinguins.
#9. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#6)
I find myself wondering about the scenario where they have demonized "drugs" to such a degree that when the undercover cop walks up to a citizen while pretending to be a drug dealer, they find themselves contemplating the four or five holes suddenly punched through them by said citizen's legally concealed weapon. In court the defense is simple - "I thought he was a drug dealer, his presence threatened my life! Drugs are so evil I feared dying just from being near someone who uses them! Drugs are such deady poison that I panicked when he even mentioned them! I feared for my life! Drugs kill! Don't you watch the news? People on drugs are insane! They'll kill you just for turning down their drugs! They'll kill you just for looking at them wrong! I was afraid for my life!" It would certainly be interesting to see how that one played out before a jury...
Undercover cop walks up and says, "Hey, I've got some dope. You want some?" If you don't report them, you're busted.
 | Gold and silver are real money, paper is but a promise. |
#10. To: Elliott Jackalope (#9)
I've never had a reason to buy a gun before, now I do. Thanks.
#11. To: christine (#4)
Minor gets popped with drugs. District Attorney scares them half to death with threats of prison and anal rape, then offers to let them walk if they name five adult family and/or friends who knew they possessed it. How do you prove that you didn't know? You shouldn't have to, but we all know how the courts work these days.
Oh, really? how do they intend to carry out that force?
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#12. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#11)
Napoleonic Code. Guilty until proven innocent. Gotta love it. English common law gets tossed out the window. Whee. I can see the case unfolding now.... "You did it! Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. We don't make mistakes. Get it?"
#13. To: Neil McIver (#0)
Ladies and Gentlemen, here we have the understatement of the year. This is like saying the people who were in the path of the tsunami a few months ago experienced "moisture"
Passage of this bill would be a setback.
#14. To: Neil McIver (#0)
[Nuked]
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