Pubdate: Thu, 30 Sep 2010
Source: Daily Cougar (U of Houston, TX Edu)
Copyright: 2010 UH Student Publications
Contact: http://thedailycougar.com/write-a-letter/
Website: http://thedailycougar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1374
Author: Joseph Marhee
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

LEGISLATION PERTAINING TO MARIJUANA ON AGENDA AS MIDTERM ELECTIONS APPROACH

Despite growing public support for the decriminalization of 
marijuana, one Texan, Congressman Lamar Smith, and Democratic 
Congressman Adam Schiff of California are pushing the Drug 
Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2010.

The bill's language is allegedly so malleable that its critics are 
concerned it could be used to prosecute Americans for drug use that 
is legal abroad, but illegal domestically. The bill's authors stand 
by the legislation and refute this allegation. Smith and Schiff, 
while seeking to protect Americans, may be overstepping the bounds of 
acceptable foreign policy.

Since the bill can be evaluated based upon two charges (individual 
possession, and the larger focus of trafficking), many things must be 
taken into consideration.

"If you go to Amsterdam on vacation and smoke a doob, you're fine," a 
senior House Judiciary committee staffer told The Daily Caller. "So 
long as it's legal in the country where you'll be," the staffer said.

"(This bill) seeks to authorize U.S. criminal prosecution of anyone 
in the U.S. suspected of conspiring with one or more persons and 
aiding or abetting one or more persons to commit, at any place 
outside the United States, an act that would constitute a violation 
of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act if committed within the United 
States," the Drug Policy Alliance states on its Facebook page. "These 
penalties apply even if the controlled substance is legal under some 
circumstances in the other country."

Whether or not this bill allows the above (it doesn't seem as though 
it does), it should be alarming that Congress, which at the time was 
likely to pass the bill, would act so far from the consensus of the 
states debating for a closer evaluation of American drug policy. Most 
notably, California's drug policy comes to a vote this November.

In 2005, Gallup conducted a poll that showed support in the Western 
United States to be in favor of legalization by 47 percent. A 2010 
report by "The Atlantic" showed that polling consistently showed this 
support to be firmly in place.

The undecided voters are slowly taking sides in the debate over 
Proposition 19, the bill to legalize marijuana in California.

The most recent poll cited by "The Atlantic" was a September public 
policy phone survey showing the Proposition passing 47 percent to 38 
percent, with the majority favoring legalization of personal 
possession and growth for personal use.

"Even though this bill references drug trafficking in the title, it 
also criminalizes conspiring to possess and use marijuana or other 
drugs in other countries if more than one person is involved - even 
if drug use is decriminalized in that country," the DPA's Facebook 
note asserts.

The aforementioned staffer dismissed these concerns, devaluing the 
legislation's alleged Orwellian aims by pointing out that it'd be 
impossible to enforce person-by-person: "So what? I say to someone, 
'I'm going to [possess] a dime bag of marijuana when I get to 
AmsterdamUKP'" the staffer said. "I can't technically say that's not 
within the four corners of the Controlled Substances Act. But how is 
a law enforcement officer supposed to know that?"

The staffer goes on to explain that the bill was drafted in response 
to a 2007 incident wherein a Colombian drug lord and Saudi prince had 
conspired to traffic drugs. Although the Miami-based middlemen were 
successfully prosecuted by the Department of Justice, the crime 
didn't precisely fit the Controlled Substances Act, so the 
implication was that legislation could be drafted to close this loophole.

Ultimately, it seems the DPA is taking the legislation out of the 
intended context. Some of the bill's components are troubling in the 
context of American foreign policy. While it's impossible to enforce 
in terms of Americans buying and using drugs abroad, the notion that 
the U.S. should be able to prevent trafficking abroad is well 
intentioned - however, it's not realistic and largely outside of the 
federal government's auspices until it becomes clear that the U.S. is 
the final destination. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake