Just when you thought it all couldn’t get more stupid… More election time posturing, most likely.
The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) — even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they’re carried out. The new law, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) allows prosecutors to bring conspiracy charges against anyone who discusses, plans or advises someone else to engage in any activity that violates the CSA, the massive federal law that prohibits drugs like marijuana and strictly regulates prescription medication.
“Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country’s drug laws. “The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you’re there wouldn’t be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime.”
The law could also potentially affect academics and medical professionals. For example, a U.S. doctor who works with overseas doctors or government officials on needle exchange programs could be subject to criminal prosecution.
Obviously, this means other countries should be able to arrest Americans for discussing what’s criminal in their countries, but not here. Only fair…
And let’s not forget this new gem from Obama’s Justice Dept.
So what does a former deputy sheriff in LA think about the cost of the drug war?
Fuckers. I would hope that the US courts would shoot it down immediately.
But then again, the Supreme Snort approved the grotesque abuse of Eminent Domain in that Kelo case as Constitutional where a bunch of people were summarily evicted from their homes to make way for a car plant…
Umm,
Can anyone tell me the logic in having this bill?
There are other things we need to worry about..
ACTA is being signed..(look it up, its to big to post here)
Cartoon network and all the parts of NBC are CLOSING ACCESS..
http://techdirt.com/articles/20110930/14413316153/adult-swim-cartoon-network-piss-off-fans-removing-free-ipad-streams-now-only-cable-subscribers.shtml
ALL the copyright trolls..and the DEFUNCT rules for copyrights..
as well as the killing of the public Domain.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20111007/14102716253/miramax-ceo-finally-admits-control-over-distribution-channel-is-much-bigger-issue-than-piracy.shtml
http://techdirt.com/articles/20111006/12220616236/lawrence-golan-speaks-about-golan-v-holder-his-fight-to-protect-public-domain.shtml
http://techdirt.com/articles/20111005/04022116205/hollywood-applauds-destruction-public-domain-even-as-hollywood-exists-thanks-to-public-domain.shtml
Why are the STOMPING on the 4th amendment?? They have NOTHING ELSE TO DO???
http://techdirt.com/articles/20111005/03430716204/riaa-law-lets-law-enforcement-ignore-4th-amendment-search-private-property-with-no-warrants.shtml
http://techdirt.com/articles/20110929/01521316131/courts-search-cell-phone-no-problem-touch-mouse-violate-4th-amendment.shtml
http://techdirt.com/articles/20110923/17251716080/details-emerging-stingray-technology-allowing-feds-to-locate-people-pretending-to-be-cell-towers.shtml
http://techdirt.com/articles/20110827/23285615713/appeals-court-arresting-guy-filming-cops-was-clear-violation-both-1st-4th-amendments.shtml
I can find TONS more, things for these REPRESENTATIVES TO DO, them to stomp on our BASIC RIGHTS
Sheria law is NEXT on the books…
Cartoon network and all the parts of NBC are CLOSING ACCESS..
http://techdirt.com/articles/20110930/14413316153/adult-swim-cartoon-network-piss-off-fans-removing-free-ipad-streams-now-only-cable-subscribers.shtml
Cartoon network is owned by Turner/Time Warner, not NBC.
Maybe no one was clicking through the advertising, so they couldn’t make money on it. And before you argue that they make “too much” money already, maybe their idea of too much isn’t the same as your idea of too much.
It’s their content, they can do with it what they want. If you think they’re shooting themselves in the foot by removing it from the Internet, think again. Look at the pathetic numbers of donors to the NA show. Cartoon Net has a known revenue stream now with their cable channel. It’s full of flaws, but it allows them to produce cheap content and eat. The Internet has mass, but no revenue stream other than click-through advertising. Even all Leo’s ads are click-through (use offer code LEO). You can argue that advertisers are holding the Internet to a higher standard than other mass media, but I’ve also seen what a full-size newspaper ad can do for moving product.
Until we get away from the advertising model and put an effective micropayment system in place (hint: it ain’t Visa), original content on the Internet is going to remain in a cottage industry-like limbo. Some sites will be big, but as long as the next new site is a click away, they’re all going to be running scared.
ECA,
Try using tinyurl for your links.
http://tinyurl.com
There are legal statutes prohibiting sex tourism and the abuse and exploitation of minors by Americans while on vacation in foreign countries. So there is a legal precedent to the control of American behaviour in foreign jurisdictions (excluding Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan of course). Whether this should be applied in this circumstance, is unprecedented.
This, much like the website layout, is complete and total crap.
Why do so many idiots come from Texas.
Yup, the US needs more people in jail. Creates jobs and such.
Let’s legalize violent crimes too
Nice. You equate something like planning to smoke a joint with shooting nuns.
You really didn’t think about that one, did you?
Come to think of it, I didn’t give much of a thought. Then again, so didn’t you.
I’m equating drug addicts to spoiled brats & people profiting from that as as selfish bastards. The spoiled kid will still be spoiled after you give him his toy and the selfish bastard will always find a way to keep looking after himself.
Tough concepts for you to grasp.
Is there anything you actually like, or love?
The bill is from Texas because it’s for peeps heading to Mexico; border rumors are a full legalization of drugs. These rumors have been around along time but seem a tad different now with more emphasis on actually happening.
So let’s see. I PLAN to have a wedding in Amsterdam. I PLAN to have a cake, I PLAN to have a honeymoon downtown above that “coffee shop”, BUT…
I DIDN’T PLAN on having those drugs. It just happened.
Who’s gonna know??
Crime will be eliminated when we legalize alcohol!
Not!
Crime will be eliminated when we legalize marihuana!
Not!
There’s always something illegal to trade.
One thing Uncle Dave got right is that the government is responsible for this loss on the war on drugs and it’s because the government is fully corrupted and there’s a lot more interest inside the government AND THE PUBLIC to make the the drugs flow.
Addicts to anything are like spoiled toddlers. Take give them what they were making a tantrum about and they’ll find something else to throw a tantrum about.
The moment we grow up as a society is the moment violence will stop. Fat chance we have at that.
Your addicted to your own hot air.
If someone profits from a substance being illegal, it is those involved in the enforcement apparatus.
Think cops; think jailers; think politicians who campaign year after on an easy platform; think the drug manufacturers (that’s is what the drug lords really are,) all of whom see an enormous jump in the prices they can charge to the end consumer.
You want to stop drugs? Make it look like boring and make them easily available to the losers who abuse them.
If you have kids, you must have been quite the irresponsible father, leaving your kids to do anything they want as long as they leave you alone to live your life.
Here kid, take the knife and stop crying.
so if you are say, in afganistan, or saudi, and you discuss or plan doing something that you plan to do here in the states that violates the local muslim laws they should be ok to arrest you there and wack off your head or hand or whatever is suitable in that culture, for say planning to drive a car in the usa if you are a woman, or plan to not wear a bee suit, or be a the same vehicle as someone of the opposite sex whom you are not married to, or heaven forbid drink alcohol. i mean if you are a couple of gi’s, or anybody, and you discuss getting drunk when you get home while in an arab country then it should be ok for them to arrest you for engaging in the illegal planning.
Wouldn’t this mean that talking about the bill would be detailing the act of getting drugs, which is illegal. So talking about the bill is illegal.
Repeal the CSA. Legalize all of it. I want to see Walmart and Target competing to sell meth and heroin at the lowest price. I know the blood thirsty statists with their puritan authority fetish shudder at the thought of not telling people how to live their lives, but this drug “war” is working just as well as prohibition did.
When in Rome……… But I am an American and may go to jail once I get home.
I think that you should be bound to follow every single law that is in force wherever you were born, wherever you reside, and wherever your flight took off from.
Which side of the road you drive on: Not optional. You drive on the right, mister, and don’t you forget it! Look out Oz, NZ, Japan and the UK. American coming through.
This one is tricky. If you traffic into the US, even if you live in another country you are breaking US law. Say somebody lived in the US and controlled drugs going in from north Africa to Europe only. They might not be committing a crime under US laws, but COULD be extradited to a European country to face charges there.
The hypothetical wedding party doesn’t stand up as a legit reason for this law, but US persons advising foreign nationals on PUBLIC POLICY that conservatives don’t like just might.
I think this issue is ALL about money. When there is enough money on the legal distribution side to balance the money going to law enforcement and prisons we will start to see movement on US domestic drug policy.
Pedro is glossing over that nobody declared alcohol to be safe when prohibition was ended. The effects of alcohol are still very damaging to society, but the effects of prohibition were worse.
Everything is on a balance.
Pedro says:
“Crime will be eliminated when we legalize alcohol!
Not!”
That’s right, but we don’t see the same level of mob activity (outside of drugs distribution) anymore do we? Crime is not going to be eliminated until all people are eliminated, but rationalizing the laws are going to atomize criminals networks.
In Mexico you multiple international networks that cohere around smuggling. Are these guys going to disappear if they lose that revenue? Absolutely not. But they aren’t going to have the same reach if they are only doing localized protection/kidnapping rackets.
A decade of international cooperation on transnational terrorist groups has made a lot of progress. 30-40 years of international cooperation on drug smuggling appears to have made NO dent in the ability of smuggling orgs to operate(in the aggregate, of course).
We ought to be targeting financial fraud instead of drugs. It has done a hell of a lot more damage.
No, but you keep seeing families being destroyed, accidents caused by drunk people.
Nothing will change unless the society as a whole grows up. Drugs are nothing but scape from reality. Once you grow the fuck up and start to face life as it is, then we’ll all have peace.
Until then, stop behaving like little kids & irresponsible parents believing that caving up or wanting more will make you happy.
Pedro: “Nothing will change unless the society as a whole grows up.”
Me: So things aren’t going to get better until something that will never happen happens? That doesn’t sound very good.
Pedro: “Once you grow the fuck up and start to face life as it is, then we’ll all have peace.”
Me: Me, or people in general? See I would turn it on it’s head. Extend the idea that prohibition was worse than the problems caused by alcohol and I you get a funny result: the bible-thumpers are actually more dangerous than the drunks.
The real problem is people who feel free to impose their shit on innocent bystanders. To counteract alcohol you don’t need to ban alcohol, just beef up enforcement of drunk driving and assault statutes.
The real problem with drugs is NOT drugs, but negative things people do when high or to get money to get high.
Funny, but this is an exact parallel to guns. Why is it that ‘guns don’t kill people, people do’ but the scourge of new-terrible-drug is at fault and not the users of said drug?
Part of “growing up”, to use your phrase, is realizing that attempting to control people is not only impossible but more destructive than giving them freedom to make bad decisions.
Wow, that’s gotta be one of the most laughable bills I’ve heard of in a while.. XD
Kinda like the law up here in Norway saying that you can’t rent hookers out of country. And approximately as enforceable.
But hey. Maybe they can integrate it with the whole see something, say something bullcrap. =o
..So, i guess if by some stroke of insanity this passes, we all best be pulling the batteries out of *all* wireless communication devices when not in use.
How else are they going to know you were “discussing” illegal activities?
-and you know they wont stop at drugs.
When we re-build our government from scratch, I vote this treasonous scum to be the first one hung by his toenails for even THINKING about entering this BS globalist legislation into law.
-s
Perhaps they can extend this to the EPA, allowing us to go after companies that plan on polluting in other countries.
Labor laws would be a good candidate as well.
What are the prerequisites, for educational purposes, to run for office…not saying what is required to GET THE JOB..(besides basic logic)
And I would like to point out 1 small point.
how easy would it be to re-word this, and make things WORSE??
key words..
RESIDENTS..
this is YOU, not them..(get the point?)
not corps, not the gov..
Controlled Substances Act..
lets change that, to ANY CRIME.
now lets say,
you wish to Download something off the net..ITS LEGAL IN THE USA..but, a small Agreement has been passed(ACTA)(and a recent Copyright extension to the public domain)..YOU ARE SCREW’D..