At 11:06 PM 01/18/2000 -0500, Robert Goodman wrote:
>On 2000-01-18 rlake@mapinc.org said:
> >If congress has it's way this private mailing list and much more
> >may be against the law in the United States.
>
>No way.
<snip>
Do you know? I am reminded that there are a lot of jailhouse lawyers.... Here are comments by Dana Larsen <muggles2@cannabisculture.com>
>From: Richard Lake <rlake@mapinc.org>
>
>If congress has it's way this private mailing list and much more may be
>against the law in the United States. Read on, please. Then go to the
>link at the very bottom of this message to see another article, complete
>with suggestions as to how YOU can help prevent this from happening.
This bill also adds a 10-year mandatory minimum for causing "risk of harm to the environment" while producing an illegal substance. Ostensibly aimed at supposedly "toxic" meth labs, the clause could also apply to a marijuana grower doing some terrain modification in a public park.
The Methamphetamine Anti-proliferation Act passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY. Congress has passed a half-dozen similar bills in the last 2 years, although none with as harsh a censorship as this. Not a single person in the house of reps has spoken against this bill.
Laws like this are not enforced everywhere, all at once. First they would target books with recipes on meth and other drugs (sold by Amazon and Barnes and Noble), then they would go after grow books and pro-pot magazines (like Cannabis Culture), and then they could try to work on the internet. But even if they never touch the internet this bill could do serious damage.
At Cannabis Culture we consider this legislation a serious threat to our existence. If our magazine is stopped at the US border (we print in Canada) for even one issue we'd be hit financially very hard. The US govt seized 50 tons of Canadian hemp seed and held it for 6 months. They have recently decided to continue to seize Canadian hemp products. If it took that long for us to fight this bill we'd be seriously financially damaged long before the courts resolved the issue.
They could even be more indirect and just threaten our distributors. Realistically, our distributors and wholesalers would abandon us in favour of not being harassed by the feds.
The bill summary specifies the censorship aspects of the bill:
(Sec. 5) Amends the Federal criminal code (the code) to: (1) prohibit and set penalties for teaching or demonstrating the manufacture of a controlled substance, or distributing information pertaining to such manufacture or use, with intent that it be used for or to further activity that constitutes a Federal crime, or knowing that the recipient intends to use it for or to further such activity;
***
The most recent Senate bill (S 486) summary summary and status info should be found here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:SN00486:@@@L&summ2=m&
The matching House bill (HR 2987) has been referred to the Subcommittee on Crime and the Subcommittee on Health and Environment.
The most recent House of Representatives summary and status info should be found here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:HR02987:@@@L&summ2=m&
***
If this bill is going to be fought we must all work to draw attention to it. Most people, even those organizations which are involved with censorship, and many of those who could be affected, are totally unaware of the existence of this bill.
I have emailed the following organiations about this bill:
* Center for Democracy and Technology: http://www.cdt.org/ jberman@cdt.org
* Index on Censorship: http://www.indexoncensorship.org/ frank@indexoncensorship.org
* American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org aclu@aclu.org
* American Boksellers Association: http://www.bookweb.org/ avin@bookweb.org
* American Society of Journalists and Authors: http://www.asja.org/ execdir@asja.org
* National Coalition Against Censorship: http://www.ncac.org/ ncac@ncac.org
* Electronic Frontier Foundation: http://eff.org nospam@eff.org * they have an article about the bill at: http://eff.org/pub/Censorship/Internet_censorship_bills/1999_bills/s14 28_bill.ht ml
* Wired Magazine: http://www.wired.com tips@wired.com * they have an old article about the bill (which makes it out to be not a big deal) at: http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/21152.html
* Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com support@barnesandnoble.com
* Amazon Books: http://www.amazon.com feedback@amazon.com
So far only the Center for Democracy and Technology and Index on Censorship have gotten back to me. Neither had any real information on the bill before I gave them any.
I think it is important that major internet booksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble be made aware of the implications of this bill for them. I urge people to email or phone these companies and ask them what they are going to do about this bill.
I think the best strategy to fight this bill is not to directly target politicians, but to target the media, and the major companies and organizations that can target the politicians.
Please send an email to Wired, to Amazon, to Barnes and Noble, to the American Booksellers Association, and others asking them what they are going to do about this bill.
Add a letter to your local and national media reporters, explaining why this is a bad bill that deserves coverage.
** if anyone can suggest other groups that should be alerted to this bill, please let me know.
-- DRUG INFO BAN COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Member information and contacts for the House Judiciary Committee are available at:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/article.cgi?num=111
****
FOR MORE INFORMATION
* For more details on this bill and its other nasty surprises, read Cannabis Culture #22, or go to: http://www.cannabisculture.com/library/hparchive/CongressPlansPot-InfoBan.html
* To read about Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey quoting the Cannabis Culture website in his speech to Congress, go to: http://www.cannabisculture.com/library/hparchive/USCongresshearslegali zertestimo ny.html
* For detailed legislative information about this bill, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov and do a search for S.486 and HR.2987.
* For the Senate bill summary and status info: http://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://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 bill 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 Health and the Environment: http://www.house.gov/commerce/health.html
* For the House of Representatives subcommittee on Crime: http://www.house.gov/judiciary/sub106.htm
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