WEAKENING RIGHTS

The House judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider HR 2987, dubbed the
"Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act," today, although it is possible it
will be postponed (as it has been before) because of growing opposition to
two provisions of the bill that would do serious damage to venerable
constitutional protections for individual citizens. As written, the bill
would weaken Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and
First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech.

Under current law, law enforcement agencies with a proper warrant can enter
your house and search it when you are not present, but they must inform you
that they have done so. HR 2987 would allow them to search houses without
informing the occupants or owners.

A similar provision was contained in a Senate bankruptcy bill but was
removed due to citizen opposition. It is possible the Judiciary Committee
members led by Georgia Republican Rep. Bob Barr will remove this provision
from HR 2987 if and when the committee takes it up.

The other provision is, if anything, more dangerous but has engendered less
opposition. It would make it a federal crime to provide information, even
by linking to a Web site that contains it, relating to the manufacture,
acquisition or use not just of amphetamines, but of any illicit drug. Thus
a doctor warning that methamphetamines or heroin are more dangerous when
used in conjunction with alcohol might be subject to prosecution. Those who
advise patients in states like California that have authorized the medical
use of marijuana might also be prosecuted.

This assault on free speech in the name of the drug war is unconscionable
and (courts would almost certainly decide eventually) unconstitutional. But
it would be better not to pass such an assault on free speech than to pass
it and fight it out in the courts.

If the Judiciary Committee considers HR 2987 today it should excise these
two provisions. You can get more information by logging on to
www.drcnet.org/freespeech/.