Pubdate: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 Source: Houston Voice (TX) Copyright: 2003 Window Media LLC Contact http://www.houstonvoice.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2892 Author: Lou Chibbaro Jr. BILL PASSES TARGETING RAVE SCENE 'Chilling Effect' On Circuit Parties Feared An anti-drug bill that gay and straight event promoters say could subject them to criminal prosecution for drug offenses committed by their customers passed in the House and Senate on April 10 by overwhelming margins. The legislation, formerly known as the RAVE Act and later renamed the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, sailed through Congress with little public notice and almost no debate after a House-Senate conference committee on April 8 attached the bill to the popular Child Abduction Prevention Act. White House officials say President Bush plans to sign the legislation. Gay event promoters, including organizers of gay circuit parties, have warned that the anti-drug bill could subject them to criminal penalties and stiff civil fines, a development, they said, that could prompt them to consider discontinuing the popular circuit parties. Circuit events have long served as fund-raisers for gay civil rights causes and AIDS organizations. The bill broadens the scope of an existing federal law, known as the Crack House Act, which gives the federal government authority to criminally prosecute owners of properties in which drug use and distribution occurs. The new legislation authorizes federal prosecution of organizers or promoters of one-time events, such as circuit parties or rave events, in which alleged drug use or distribution occurs. The bill also allows federal authorities to file civil charges against event promoters who allegedly allow drug activity at their events. Critics have said the civil offense clause in the bill could be used to bankrupt promoters because they could be ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for each charge filed against them. Civil charges require a lower threshold of evidence than criminal charges, making it easier for prosecutors to obtain a conviction. "It is important to remember that this legislation punishes business owners and event producers and sponsors for the actions of event attendees, despite their efforts to discourage or prevent illegal drug use," said gay event promoter Mark Lee, who produces the D.C. gay dance parties Atlas and Lizard Lounge. "Essentially there is no way for special event producers or circuit events to adequately protect themselves or their events from possible prosecution under the terms of the law," he said. Lee said he was especially concerned that the law allows authorities to use "harm-reduction" efforts by circuit party promoters as evidence of the promoter's "knowledge" that drug use is occurring at these events. Promoters of the D.C. Cherry Party, for example, have in the past provided medical services and drug information literature for their patrons, services that Lee fears could be used against event promoters by an overzealous prosecutor. Targeting unscrupulous promoters Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the author and chief sponsor of the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, has denied the legislation would harm legitimate nightclubs or events. Biden said the measure is aimed at unscrupulous event promoters or club owners who "knowingly" allow, encourage or promote drug use and sales on their premises. Biden noted that the club drug ecstasy is widely used in nightclubs that offer rave music as well as at one-time events that bill themselves as rave parties. While disputing assertions by the American Civil Liberties Union and rave party enthusiasts that his bill would violate First Amendment protection of free expression by singling out a specific type of music, Biden nevertheless agreed to remove the term "RAVE" from the bill's title, which was an acronym for Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy. Biden also deleted from the bill a preamble or "findings" section that linked the distribution of glow sticks, the sale of bottled water, and the offering of air conditioned "chill rooms" by event promoters as potential evidence that the events were encouraging the use or sale of ecstasy on their premises. The child abduction measure, known as the "Amber alert" bill, establishes a national, federally funded alert system to help local law enforcement agencies and the FBI rescue abducted children. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support, making it impossible for opponents of the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act to persuade their colleagues to vote against the combined legislation. The Senate passed the combined measure by a vote of 98 to 0. The House passed the legislation by a vote of 400 to 25, with eight members not voting and two members voting "present." 'Overly punitive' Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was among the 25 House members to vote against the Amber alert bill. Frank, who voted for an earlier version of the Amber alert measure, said the Republican-controlled conference committee's decision to add the RAVE Act to the bill prompted him to vote against it on April 10. Frank called the former RAVE Act and its new incarnation another example of the nation's "overly punitive approach to drug use," which he called "counterproductive." Frank said he believes opponents would have been able to line up many more votes against the measure had Republican leaders allowed it to reach the House floor as a freestanding bill. The other two openly gay members of the House -- Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) -- voted for the combined bill. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who also voted against the Amber alert bill, opposed a decision by the conference committee to attach several unrelated bills to the Amber alert measure, in addition to the RAVE Act, turning the measure into a "Christmas tree" bill for ultra conservative causes, according to a Nadler spokesperson. William McColl, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that lobbied against the RAVE Act, said the version of the act that Congress passed last week is broadly worded. He said the legislation will likely embolden federal prosecutors to cite the use of glow sticks and chill rooms as grounds for launching a drug investigation into rave or circuit parties. - --- MAP posted-by: Tom