Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2003 The Billings Gazette Contact: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515 Author: John Fitzgerald, Of The Gazette Staff Cited: Montana NORML http://www.montananorml.org/ National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws http://www.norml.org/ Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/ American Civil Liberties Union http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicyMain.cfm Students for Sensible Drug Policy http://www.ssdp.org/ Actions: http://capwiz.com/norml2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=2562001 http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=1876&l08 Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Rave+act (Rave act) http://www.mapinc.org/topics/NORML (NORML) http://www.mapinc.org/states/mt/ (Montana) WAS EAGLES LODGE THREATENED OR ADVISED BY DEA AGENT? There's a political storm brewing in Billings, one that encompasses the U.S. Senate, powerful Washington lobbyists and Americans' First Amendment rights. The nexus of the storm involves the unlikely combination of the Eagles Lodge in Billings and a 21-year-old camp counselor in Laurel. How these two became involved, what happened on May 30, and why it has become the stuff of national news is a little complicated. Here's the story: More than a year ago, Adam Jones, 21, a camp counselor for the Laurel YMCA, was arrested with one-half gram of psilocybin mushrooms and sentenced to five years in prison with three years suspended, Jones said. After serving more than two months in jail, the judge reduced his sentence to three years probation. Because of his conviction, Jones said he can't get financial aid for college. That seemed wrong to him, so he became interested in drug law reform and that led him to start a Billings chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. During the 2003 legislative session, state lawmakers voted down the Clinical Cannabis Act, a bill to make medical marijuana use legal in Montana. NORML would like to put the issue on the 2004 ballot and is raising money to do so, said Montana NORML director John Masterson. This led Jones to plan a fund-raiser for the initiative. The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie #176 is often booked for concerts by some of Billings' younger, edgier bands. Jones booked the facility for May 30, hired several bands and advertised on radio and in newspapers. But when Friday rolled around, Jones was in jail. Part of Jones' parole requires him to notify his parole officer if his work supervisor has changed. Jones said his transfer from the Billings YMCA to the Laurel YMCA meant a change in supervisors, which he neglected to tell his parole officer. On Thursday, May 29, Jones' parole officer searched his house and Jones provided a urine sample. The sample came back positive for drugs, Jones said, so he was jailed. The urine sample was then sent to a laboratory, which subsequently showed that the positive result was false, he said. Jones was released on Sunday. While Jones was in jail, his fund-raiser fell apart. The bar manager for the Eagles Lodge, a woman named Kelly who asked that her last name not be used, said an agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency entered the lodge at about 1 p.m. Friday. He told her about a new law that could be used to fine venue owners up to $250,000 if drugs are used or sold during an event. The agent was polite and businesslike, Kelly said. "He didn't say we couldn't have the concert. What he said was that if we did have it and there was any drug use or selling on the premises, we could be fined $250,000." Kelly called one of the Eagles directors, who called the DEA and then the Eagles' lawyer, who told them it would be best to cancel the concert. She informed the bands as they arrived to set up. "They were shocked, but they were polite. Nobody was rude throughout this whole ordeal. The DEA agent wasn't being intimidating in any way. He was just doing his job," Kelly said. Was the DEA agent just doing his job? NORML says no. Keith Stroup, the founder and executive director of NORML in Washington, D.C., said the issue comes down to Americans' rights to free speech. He said the bill used by the DEA agent - the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act - was sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and failed twice in the Senate. He said Biden sneaked it into the popular Amber Alert Bill when it was in conference committee. The Amber Alert Bill was signed into law by President Bush several months ago. "This is probably the first instance that an event has been canceled due to fear of the bill," Stroup said. "The bill's sponsors kept reassuring us that it will only be used at places where the owner is selling drugs or is running a crack house." Bill Piper, the associate director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, claimed the law would punish club owners not only if they don't pay attention to the law, but even if they do. "Our concern is that small business owners will be told not to hold events," he said. "If they do, then they'll be told not to make their facilities safer with things like better ventilation or first aid or available water or any other common sense measure." He said such measures would indicate the owners knew drugs were going to be used at their venues, and would make them liable under the new law. Stroup said he has been in contact with several organizations - including the Drug Policy Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union and Students for Sensible Drug Policy - to mount a court challenge to the constitutional legitimacy of this law. Chip Unruh, a spokesman for Biden, said the senator didn't sneak the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act into the Amber Alert Bill. Biden was chosen to be on the conference committee for the bill, and it was appropriate for him to add this bill into the Amber Alert measure. "This was a bill to protect children from harm. It addressed child pornography, sentencing guidelines - all designed to protect children. It is appropriate to have a portion to help protect children from the dangers of drugs, and from stopping crooked concert promoters from knowingly selling drugs," Unruh said. Jeffrey Sweetin, the special agent in charge of the DEA for the Rocky Mountain Division in Denver, said the Billings DEA agent saw an ad for the NORML fund-raiser and approached the Eagles' management on his own initiative. The agent suspected that the Eagles didn't know what kind of crowd a NORML event might attract. "I think it's safe to say that the kind of audience attracted to NORML concerts are typically a marijuana-using crowd," he said. Sweetin said that to his knowledge such a warning had never been given before and has not been given since. He said this is because bigger venues know how to handle controversial bookings, while smaller venues don't tend to get those kind of bookings. "The fact that it was NORML just makes it a better story," Sweetin said. "NORML sees this as an attempt to stop their fund-raiser. That's not what we do." Kelly at the Eagles' Lodge has spent a lot of time on the phone. "I've had calls from a lot of reporters from New York, Chicago, California, lots of members of NORML, a lawyer from the ACLU ... it's surprising how big this turned out to be." One of the bands scheduled to perform at the NORML concert, ENDever, has been booked to play the lodge on June 28, she said. She said the Eagles are "a really good bunch of people who do a lot of good things in the community." They are a non-profit organization with about 300 members in the aerie and the auxiliary. Members of the Eagles' board of directors were in Helena Friday attending a convention and could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Jones continues to work at the YMCA. He said his employers know of his arrest record. He said he will continue to work for reform. "My interest in drug reform is not an implication in drug use. That's like saying a person who is pro choice is going to have an abortion. It's not directly related to it," he said. "If anything, this whole experience has further proved to me why we need reform." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake