Washington 451

James T Ensor writes "According to this story in the Village Voice S. 486 has already passed the Senate and is waiting for House approval. According to the bill, it would be illegal "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." That includes Web sites, guys. And seeing the way things have been going lately, links to those Web sites as well. " You can read the bill by going to Thomas and searching for "methamphetamine".

Comments

So...

[Zeni]

The thing is alot of "controlled" substances are available with a prescription, and I might add legitimate uses. Cocaine and it's derivitives (lydocaine) are aenesthias (sp?), Dexedrine, desoxen (which I think is crystal meth) are used for the treatment of ADD, and narcolepsy. It's a pain to get these triplicate 'scripts filled tho.

This is essentially as bad as it gets

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't say more. Join some people who are fighting this sort of thing.

• Students for Sensible Drug Policy
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Drug Reform Coordination Network

There are many more. You can always get in touch with Columbia University NORML for more information. That is my current vehicle for my activist tendencies. We are also in the process of changing into an SSDP chapter.

Stay strong.

This Goner posting this by the way... I thought I knew my password...

This is really bad

[Phallus]

For starters, this bill makes Bret Easton Ellis's work illegal, along with Hunter Thompson, and many other authors. In fact, it pretty much makes it impossible to write fiction containing any variety of realistic drug use. With broad interpretation, there goes some big popular songs (think reggae - "smoke marijuana" - that's information on how to use a controlled substance. And this bill is broad enough to cover that, easily. In fact, it now covers my post :-). I'm sure at least one of my songs on mp3.com mentions drug use, and if not now, in the future one will - I won't be able to host these on mp3.com, or in America anymore. And reports on the news of busted speed labs and the like will not be legal - letting on that speed is made in a lab (note the wording or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part . I know it won't be used that broadly, because it'll make the government look silly, but it covers that broad a scope.)

But the big problem here is that this doesn't stop people using illegal drugs - it just makes it much harder to use them safely. The example of needle exchanges shows this. Here in New Zealand, and other places around the world, needle exchanges allow people to get information on the safe use of needles, sterile needles and works, and other information and services. These programs have been shown to reduce the spread of Hepititis C and AIDS through the needle using population, and for those who don't care about "junkie scum", from the needle users to the general population. This is important. Something like half of the needle using population in Palmerston North (my town in New Zealand) has Hepititis C. And for those who wonder, no the number of needle users is not going up because of the needle exchange.

Another point of concern is that this measure will seriously hamper discussion of drug policy - how can you discuss a drug without discussing it's use and manafacture.

Overall, I'm feeling real glad I don't live in the States at the moment

Gov't by the people, for the people? Not quite

[Anonymous Coward]

An interesting story about religion - and governments...

When Judaism was first invented (yes, invented), it was a liberator in that one day a week was devoted to God, which meant one day a week wasn't devoted to working. This was before 40 hour, 5 day work weeks, mind you, when working meant being a slave building a pyramid.

But then, fast forward to the middle ages, religion (Christianity) was a tool to keep the serfs working hard and not complaining about what a shitty life they had. "Yeah, you work hard so the the elite kings & clergy don't have to, but don't worry, if you don't complain and give us all your money, maybe when you die you can go to heaven. PS - please give us some money. PPS - don't question us."

Fast forward to today...

We think we choose the monkey, never realizing that the monkey is held tightly on a leash by the organ grinder. It's just about sex. The economy is good. It's for the children. War on drugs. Only Terrorists need encryption. Only criminals need guns. And one by one, our God-given liberties are away from us for our own good.

But who am I (or you) to question a Government that knows how to spend our money better than we do? We're obviously so stupid that we need the Government to protect us against a giant cartoon camel.

Uh-oh, I've been thinking again. Looks like I'll need another Government provided lobotomy!

Your loss, our gain

[Anonymous Coward]

On the surface, this looks blantantly unconstitutional but thanks to the paranoia that created the unofficial "drug exception" to basic civil liberties in the US (gotta keep the prison-industrial complex in business, you know) there is a slight chance this bill may survive judicial scrutiny.

Of course, in Canada, we've been down this road before. The equivalent section of the Criminal Code, however, was ruled unconstitutional in October of 1994. (It hasn't been challenged further, presumably because the federal justice department fears a furthering this precident. Keep in mind that all criminal and drug law is federal in Canada.

Also, thanks to pecuilarities of how Canadian companies got connected to the net in the first place, quite a few (perhaps most) sites here have a TLD other than .ca ... which would make it a royal pain in the ass (and likely impossible) for ISPs to filter...compare with some situations in Australia.

So it looks like not only will we be the best dope producers in the world, we might very well end up having to be the best drug librarians too!

US courts may have been able to shut IcraveTV down, but this is another matter entirely...

Shame

[Rev. Null]

I'm ashamed to say that I live in the state of one of the major proponents of this bill, Diane "I Wipe My Ass With The Constitution" Feinstein. She really blows.

Re:Shame

[Detritus]

California is supposed to be a liberal state. Why does anyone vote for that bitch? She is doing her best to nuke the first and second amendments.