The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Just when you thought the water couldn't get any more polluted...

The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) -- even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they're carried out. H.R. 313, the "Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011," is sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and allows prosecutors to bring conspiracy charges against anyone who discusses, plans or advises someone else to engage in any activity that violates the CSA, the massive federal law that prohibits drugs like marijuana and strictly regulates prescription medication.

"Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country's drug laws. "The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you're there wouldn't be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime."

A U.S. resident who advises someone in another country on how to grow marijuana or how to run a medical marijuana dispensary would also be in violation of the new law, even if medical marijuana is legal in the country where the recipient of the advice resides.

7 comments:

D.E. Bishop said...

That is just nuts! How can you prosecute an American for planning to do an act in another country that is legal there?

Makes no sense and sounds like a Massive Overreach!

(But then, what's another massive overreach among politicians?)

larry kurtz said...

New findings.

larry kurtz said...

Prison overcrowding breaking budgets.

repete said...

This sounds like a real Freedom of Speech problem...

Norm said...

Nothing wrong there. As subjects of the government, they have an obligation to assure that our thoughts do not depart from their view of what is good for us. They have an obligation to jail us for harboring unclean thoughts, even those which might be carried out on foreign soil.

Les said...

I see on the Sunday Morning show today the war on drugs has so decimated the poppy fields morphine barely meets the needs of 5% of the world. That being the US, Canada and a handful of Euro nations.

95% of the world survives on 5% of the morphine production so our war on drugs can succeed. Sooo many good Christians and otherwise supporting the drug wars so they don't think they have to lift a finger to raise their kids, while the world suffers.

D.E. Bishop said...

Yes Norm! Good answer, good answer!