BUSH TO SIGN CRIME BILL WIDENING DRUG LAW

N.O. Rave Prosecution Helped Spur Provision

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to sign into law this week a
far-reaching crime bill that includes a controversial provision making it
easier for federal prosecutors to hold music promoters and property owners
criminally responsible when they knowingly allow their venues to be used
for illegal drug use.

A White House spokesman said the measure, part of legislation expanding the
Amber Alert system aimed at catching child abductors, will be signed
Wednesday. The bill passed the Senate and House earlier this month with
support from the entire Louisiana congressional delegation.

The drug provision was added by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., whose spokesman
said he was motivated in part by the prosecution two years ago in New
Orleans of local promoters of all-night dance parties known as raves.
Then-U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan alleged that the raves included rampant
drug use.

The prosecution resulted in a plea bargain, but some civil liberties groups
questioned whether Jordan, now New Orleans district attorney, had gone too
far in using a 1986 law targeting crack houses to stop the flow of drugs,
particularly Ecstasy, at the all-night dance parties. The Biden spokesman
said the senator's bill leaves no doubt about congressional intent.

"The reason I introduced this bill was not to ban dancing, kill 'the rave
scene' or silence electronic music -- all things of which I have been
accused," Biden said in a floor speech. "In no way is the bill aimed at
stifling any type of music or expression; it is only trying to deter
illicit drug use and protect kids."

But Joe Cook, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Louisiana, said that discouraging free expression is exactly what will
happen when the Biden provision becomes law.

"What this bill that is about to become law does is threaten free speech,"
Cook said. "I expect that it will make some owners afraid to rent or lease
spaces for events that they perceive rightly or wrongly will attract drug use."

Cook said law enforcement ought to go after those who sell or use dangerous
drugs, not those who host an event where some drug use occurs. Under the
Biden proposal, the 1986 crack house law will be expanded to include
properties used or rented for one-time events, such as concerts or dances.
It will allow prosecutors to seek prison terms and civil fines of up to
$250,000 for property owners and event promoters who sponsored events in
which drug use was encouraged.

"Enacting this legislation will help prosecute unscrupulous promoters who
seek to profit from exploiting and endangering young lives," Biden said
when he introduced the legislation earlier this year. "This law is not
aimed at one type of event or drug. However, one problem we are currently
facing nationwide involves so-called 'club drugs' and raves."

Biden said the Partnership for a Drug Free America found that teenagers who
attend raves are seven times more likely to have tried Ecstasy than those
who haven't.

"While we know that not all Ecstasy use takes place at raves and that not
all ravers use Ecstasy or other club drugs, the fact is that drug use is
widespread at many raves," Biden said.

Opponents of the legislation draw some satisfaction that Biden amended his
original legislation to take out the specific reference to raves. Targeting
one form of entertainment, they said, amounted to discrimination against
electronic music and dance events. The Drug Policy Alliance, which
advocates alternatives to the war on drugs such as prevention programs and
making marijuana legal for medical purposes, nevertheless asked Attorney
General John Ashcroft to give the new law low priority.

It said Biden sneaked the measure into the child-crime legislation without
benefit of committee hearings and called on Ashcroft to concentrate on
other duties, such as terrorism. "Targeting, arresting and prosecuting
innocent business owners will not solve our national drug problems," its
letter to Ashcroft said.

A Justice Department official, who asked not to be identified, said
Ashcroft strongly backs giving prosecutors more tools to reduce dangerous
drug use by teens.