HATCH-FEINSTEIN ACT TRAMPLES FIRST AMENDMENT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. In a time when cynicism about the democratic process is at
an all time high, there still remain instances that re-invigorate public
faith in the federal government.

Often inter-party alliances, where a Democrat and a Republican temporarily
ignore their fundamental differences for the sake of the nation's general
welfare, are considered to be examples of politics at its best. But a
recent pact between Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.) to drive the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act through the
Senate is nothing Americans should be excited about.

According to an article which ran on Wired Magazine's Web site Friday, if
Hatch and Feinstein have their way, anyone who publishing a Web site with
links to information on where to buy "drug paraphernalia" could find
themselves facing a fine and up to three years in prison.

Even journalists reporting on drug culture, who link their Internet sites
to such web pages for informational purposes, could be prosecuted under the
Act which is sponsored by nine other senators besides Hatch and Feinstein.

Additionally, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act makes it illegal
for anyone to distribute information, "by any means" on "the manufacture or
use of a controlled substance." People violating that section of the Act
could be sent to prison for up to ten years.

The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act shows a complete disregard for
the First Amendment and the principles upon which it was based. Hatch and
Feinstein's alliance represents a desperate attempt to stop the flow of
information to a public that has grown increasingly tired of a war on drugs
that appears to both ill-reasoned and socially harmful.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the
Government's anti-drug propaganda is being ignored by a large percentage of
the population.

The agency's data indicates that almost 70 million Americans have tried
marijuana at some point in their lives and 18 million have smoked within
the past year.

Given this data, one must ask "what are some in the government trying to
hide?" The Hatch-Feinstein bill is trying to put an end to the already
one-sided debate as to whether some or all drugs should be illegal.

Since it is evident that Americans are not listening to what their
government says about at least some illegal drugs, the Methamphetamine
Anti-Proliferation Act has been drafted to just shut dissenters up.

As with all laws that attempt to regulate the Internet, the Methamphetamine
Anti-Proliferation Act will be impossible to enforce universally. Still,
the law could be used to send certain high-profile dissenters to jail and
strike fear into anyone who wants to distribute information some kinds of
drug-related information.

Americans should have no tolerance for lawmakers who demonstrate such a
lack of respect for the principles of free speech and a free press. A
democratic government has no business censoring information simply because
it contradicts someone's agenda. No matter how worthy one may regard it as
being, no goal is worth the sacrifice of the free flow of information.