RAVE ON

A National Antirave Act Wants To Stop You From Dancing In The Dark.

Hollywood has a long tradition of films in which the ridiculous plot serves
only as a flimsy excuse for the soundtrack. Such was the case with the
idiotic "plot" of the 1984 movie Footloose in which the family of a
high-school rebel (a young Kevin Bacon) moves to a Utah town and Bacon
discovers that they've outlawed--can you believe it?--dancing. Fast-forward
to this year. With virtually no attention, Congress passed an onerous new
national antidrug bill--one whose implicit effect is to outlaw certain types
of dancing. Enter the RAVE Act.

Passed last March, when, two days before the vote, Democratic Sen. Joseph
Biden attached it as a rider to what became the AMBER Alert law, RAVE takes
its place in the discouraging new tradition of ridiculous legislative
acronyms: the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act. And how, you
might ask, is Big Bro helping protect us from this demon high?

>From RAVE's text: It is illegal to "manage or control any place, whether
permanently or temporarily, either as an owner, lessee, agent, employee,
occupant, or mortgagee, and knowingly and intentionally rent, lease, profit
from, or make available for use, with or without compensation, the place for
the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a
controlled substance."

The idea is to hold concert promoters, hall owners, even stage managers
liable for any illicit drug use on the premises. If someone throws a rave in
a SoDo loft, 300 kids show up, and one is pulled over when leaving and found
to have contraband in his back pocket, not only is he in deep shit, but the
promoter could face felony charges, 20 years in prison, and a
quarter-million dollars in fines. But profit isn't even necessary; if you
throw a party at home and your neighbor calls in a complaint about loud
music, you could face the same consequences if any of your friends are found
with illicit substances.

Last year, when RAVE was introduced, its criminal provisions specifically
targeted raves, arousing enormous opposition--so much so that Senate
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy withdrew his co-sponsorship of the bill.
But in the version that became law, the word "rave" never appears. Biden
renamed the bill the Illicit Drug Anti- Proliferation Act.

The intentionally vague and overbroad language is part of what's helping the
RAVE Act work--in the short term. It allows prosecutors and the Drug
Enforcement Agency broad latitude; that, in turn, is scaring off prospective
promoters and event insurers.

On May 30, a DEA agent showed up at the Eagle Lodge in Billings, Mont.,
where a benefit concert for local drug-law-reform groups was to be held that
night. According to the lodge's manager, the agent waved a copy of the RAVE
Act while threatening the lodge with repercussions if anyone was found with
a joint at the concert. The lodge reluctantly canceled the show.

The Billings case highlights another undercurrent of RAVE--its selective use
and potential for political use against opponents of drug policy. If bands,
promoters, or sponsoring organizations are on record as opposing
laws--Hempfest comes to mind--the Billings incident suggests that the DEA
will use RAVE to oppose free speech as well as drugs.

Setting aside the question of whether drugs like MDMA (commonly known as
ecstacy) should be illegal in the first place, the net effect of RAVE isn't
to decrease their usage--it's to shut down public concerts. RAVE is a tacit
admission of the drug war's failure. By going after owners or promoters who
may well be antidrug themselves, it's an admission that people determined to
use illicit substances are not being deterred by the existing draconian
laws.

That being the case, if fear of RAVE becomes a serious impediment to the
hosting of events where drug use takes place--which could be, when you get
down to it, most any concert, any venue, any party--the drug use will still
take place. It'll just take place elsewhere. People will find a way.

Only the dancing will be shut down.