ONLINE FREE SPEECH ON THE LINE

Update: The idea of criminalizing the distribution of drug-related
information is catching on, from the US Congress to the United Nations.

Mix Americans' fears around illegal drugs with their fears around technology
and you've got a powerhouse of a congressional bill -- even if it does
threaten the First Amendment. The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act,
which would make it illegal to distribute information on the manufacture of
any controlled substance if the distributor knows that the person receiving
the information intends to use it to break federal law, now appears almost
certain to pass through the House, having already made it through the
Senate. In the meantime, it has spawned two other bills that some say will
go even further in limiting free speech.

The House Judiciary Committee will consider its version of the bill sometime
in early July. If approved, as expected, it will go on to the House for a
vote. Should the bill fail in the House, it still has a good chance of
survival, having been recently tacked on as a rider to an entirely unrelated
bankruptcy reform bill.

"I think in the end, some version of the bill is going to pass," says Bill
Piper, policy analyst for the Drug Policy Foundation. " It's just a matter
of controlling the damage."

Some of the Meth Act's critics say they are even more concerned about a pair
of recently introduced bills. The Senate's Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act --
accompanied by the House's nearly identical Club Drug Anti-Proliferation Act
- -- would ban the spread of information about not only the manufacture of
controlled substances, but also their use and acquisition.

The purported goal of the Ecstasy act is to heighten penalties for ecstasy
dealers, and to cut down on the spread of information about the drug on the
Internet. But, by prohibiting discussions -- online or otherwise -- about
the use of drugs, the bill could stifle those who seek to reduce the harm
associated with drug use. Such organizations as DanceSafe, which educates
ravers on how to take drugs more safely and tests users' drugs for dangerous
impurities, would technically be breaking the law.

In fact, the criteria for criminal activity is so broad that the bill
practically makes itself illegal. A section of the bill calls for a greater
effort to educate young people about the danger of mixing ecstasy with other
club drugs and alcohol. This, says Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice
Policy Foundation, is technically information on how to use the drug.

"If this law is being broken by its own author, it tells you how dangerous
this kind of legislation is," says Sterling. "It tells you that many other
innocent, public-minded people are in danger of breaking this law."

Mike Tiddy, a spokesperson for Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who introduced the
bill, says that portion of the bill would only target "people who are
engaging in criminal activity" and that the law "would not touch" those who
provide harm-reducing information on how to use drugs.

Meanwhile, the speech-restricting spirit of the meth and ecstasy bills seems
to be catching on internationally. Pino Arlacchi, the head of the United
Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, recently told The New
York Times that he sees "a lot of extremely dangerous information" about
illegal drugs on the Internet. "And unfortunately," he added, "these views
are spreading, and we are now thinking about some instrument to at least
stop the expansion of this flow of information."