Pubdate: Tue, 11 Nov 2003
Source: Tartan (VA Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Tartan Online
Contact:  http://www.thetartan.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2849
Author: Greg Liggett

HOW FAR SHOULD THE WAR ON DRUGS GO?

Dear Editor,

Over the summer, when I have a free weekend and some cash, I like to spend 
it at a music festival. I gather up some buddies, pack my bags, grab my 
tent and head away from the real world for a short time. It's a way for us 
to escape the predictably monotonous tone of the northern Virginia lifestyle.

Arriving on a Thursday or Friday, we set up camp, crack a few beers, and 
anticipate the upcoming shows. We look forward to a weekend free from 
convention. Most of all, we enjoy being treated like responsible adults.We 
arrive and our cars aren't searched. We walk around aimlessly at

midnight and there are no officers telling us to get to where we are going. 
We sit around the camp site with bottles of beer in our hands, not red 
plastic cups. Nobody to tell us, "You kids can have a good time, just keep 
it out of my sight." No undercover "dreddie-feddies" asking where the dope 
is, hoping to bust every generous person they find. There's not an 
overbearing police presence to instill a sense of "order." If I am thirsty, 
I buy water from a common guy trying to make a buck, not from some 
corporation trying to make ten. Best of all, no routine pat-downs every 
time I want to watch a performance.

Surprisingly enough, the organizers and the festivalians are able to come 
together to enjoy a short time of relative harmony. If a festival is 
well-organized, violence, drug overdoses, and other problems are kept to a 
minimum. Without marching all over our constitutional rights, it's quite 
impossible for the event organizers to guarantee that nobody who attends 
will use illegal drugs. To hold a business owner accountable for the 
actions of every person at an event would be ludicrous.

The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE Act), 
introduced by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and signed into law by President Bush 
last April, does just that. The broad language of the bill places 
responsibility on event organizers if the nature of the business makes it 
impossible to guarantee that no drug use will occur at the site. 
Hypothetically, if small amounts of drugs are found on a person at an 
event, the organizers can be fined up to $250,000 and thrown in jail for up 
to twenty

years. If I have a party at my house and somebody sneaks off to smoke a 
joint in the backyard, it is now my fault. In the name of fighting the "war on

drugs," the government has gone too far. The fact that we are now holding 
innocent business owners accountable for the actions of their customers 
reflects the inability of the DEA to take care of its own problem. In 
response, the event organizers will surely raise the intensity of on-site 
security to infringing levels.

For anybody who enjoys getting away from home and occasionally going to a 
festival, concert, rave, or any other planned event, don't be surprised to 
find yourself constrained from every angle by a dramatic increase in 
security procedures. Expect to see blue uniforms everywhere you look. 
Expect to feel constantly restricted. Expect to hear of undercover officers 
strolling around the site watching over you. Expect to be patted down more 
times than necessary. Expect a whole new atmosphere.

To read more about the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, visit the 
American Civil Liberties Union at www.aclu.org. If you feel that this piece 
of legislation is unfair to business owners and will result in an erosion 
of some of our civil liberties, voice your opposition at 
www.protectlivemusic.org.

Greg Liggett

Sociology

Junior
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman