Pubdate: Tue, 06 Aug 2002
Source: Centre Daily Times (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Nittany Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.centredaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/74
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm (Raves)

THE CORRECT WAY TO DEAL WITH ECSTASY

State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, is taking the right course by pushing 
for tougher penalties for selling Ecstasy, the mood-altering drug 
responsible the death of former Penn State student Stephanie Yau last November.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate, also wanting to look tough on ecstasy, is 
going overboard. Tough sanctions against dealers is one thing, but the 
Senate has a bill that would be akin to shutting down bars in an effort to 
end drunk driving.

The federal bill would reach beyond the sellers of the drug to go after the 
sponsors of raves, the high-intensity dance parties where Ecstasy is 
frequently used. The cleverly named "Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to 
Ecstasy Act of 2002" -- the RAVE Act, for short -- would "prohibit an 
individual from knowingly opening, maintaining, managing, controlling, 
renting, leasing, making available for use, or profiting from" a place or 
event where illegal drugs are sold or used. This legislation would subject 
violators to civil fines of up to $250,000 plus injunctive damages.

If the bill essentially stopped there, it would hardly raise an eyebrow. 
For years, local and federal drug enforcement officials have used a similar 
law to crack down on property owners who either failed to take action to 
prevent their properties from being turned into "crack houses" or actually 
took payments from known drug dealers. It has proven to be an essential 
tool for rooting out some of the conditions in which drug dealing and 
related crimes fester.

But the bill goes on to so tightly weave the use of illegal drugs to raves 
that to go after one would be to go after the other. The bill makes such 
statements as "each year, tens of thousands of young people are initiated 
into the drug culture at 'rave' parties" and that the use of Ecstasy and 
other "club drugs" is "deeply embedded in the rave culture." It even says 
that "many rave promoters go to great lengths to try to portray their 
events as alcohol-free parties that are safe places for young adults to go 
to dance with friends, and some even go so far as to hire off-duty, 
uniformed police officers to patrol outside of the venue to give parents 
the impression that the event is safe."

If an enterprising congressman had introduced a bill 30 years ago that said 
that because there is heavy marijuana use at outdoor concerts, the 
organizers of such concerts and the owners of the land where they are held 
should be subject to crushing fines, the common sense that that would be no 
better than using an anti-aircraft missile to shoot geese would have 
prevailed. The RAVE bill, however, already has gone through the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, chaired by the usually level- headed Sen. Joseph 
Biden, D-Del. Critical thinking appears to have been suspended.

Yes, there are problems with raves and with unscrupulous promoters who 
facilitate illegal and life-threatening activities or look the other way 
when they take place. Those people should be punished but not with this 
bill. Raves do not need to be virtually banished to get at the problem of 
Ecstasy.

What certainly needs to happen -- in addition to a heavy investment in 
education and other prevention efforts -- is that the weight of the law 
must fall heavily on those who would sell this poison to our youth. 
Corman's bill sets jail terms that range from up to five years in prison 
and a $15,000 fine for persons selling more than 50 tablets of the drug to 
a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for more than 1,000 
tablets or 300 grams.

Unlike the poorly conceived bill going through the Senate, efforts in the 
General Assembly to toughen Ecstasy penalties have moved more slowly. They 
deserve better. Corman's bill goes after the right target: those who peddle 
illegal drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager