CRITICS FEEL FEDERAL ANTI-DRUG LAW PROMOTES MUSICAL PROFILING

MIAMI - In the movie "Footloose," Kevin Bacon's character asks, "Is it a
crime to dance?"

Nineteen years later, the rock 'n' roll beat has given way to an electronic
thump. But the dancers' complaint is similar.

Young people who like to dance till dawn at clubs say a new federal statute
amounts to an attack on their culture, while promoters fear it will put
them out of business.

The source of their anguish is the Illicit Anti-Drug Proliferation Act,
Congress' attempt to reduce drug use in nightclubs.

"It is definitely viewed by people who love electronic music as unfair,"
said Miami Beach, Fla., resident Humberto Guida, 24, a fan of the music.

Passed in April, the law makes it possible for a promoter or building owner
to be charged with a felony if anyone at an event uses or sells drugs.
Politicians and federal law enforcers say it's the kind of hard-line
approach needed to keep young people away from drugs.

Sen. Joe Biden, sponsor of the legislation, made clear it targets
"rave"-type affairs where young people dance, chug bottled water, wave
"glow sticks" and - in some cases - take the designer drug Ecstasy. In
fact, he originally christened it the RAVE Act, short for Reducing
Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy. The bill didn't win approval.

"Senator Biden's intent was to keep young kids from going into clubs and
being exposed to drugs," said Chip Unruh, spokesman for the Delaware Democrat.

Although he reworked, renamed and reintroduced the legislation this year,
its intent remained basically the same. He removed the mention of glow
sticks, water bottles and other accouterments in the law that passed, but
in arguing for the measure on the Senate floor, he again termed the items
telltale signs of drug use.

This time the legislation passed, incorporated into the Controlled
Substance Act.

Critics contend the act is an open invitation to a kind of musical profiling.

They freely acknowledge that lollipops and pacifiers are common at their
concerts and clubs. (Ecstasy produces a prodigious thirst and causes users
to gnash their teeth, hence the lollipops and pacifiers. Glow sticks
enhance the psychedelic experience.) But pacifiers and lollipops are also a
fashion statement among skateboarders.

Not that Florida isn't awash in Ecstasy. Over the past five years, Florida
led the nation in Ecstasy-trafficking arrests with 1,113 - nearly twice as
many as the No. 2 state, California, with 579. But club goers object to any
law that links a particular drug to a particular form of music.

The law has spurred electronic music devotees to get organized. A group
called Ravers Against Opposition to Raves (ROAR) spearheaded a Sept. 6
protest on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. It attracted more than 2,000,
including celebrity DJ Junior Vasquez.

"We're being vilified by people who don't understand electronic music,"
said Legba Carrefour, director of ROAR.

Added Dade Sokoloff, former owner of Miami electronic hot spot Shadow
Lounge: "To say Ecstasy goes hand in hand with electronic music is the same
thing as saying marijuana is smoked by everyone who loves hip-hop. Drugs
have been in nightclubs since there were nightclubs."

South Florida authorities have yet to enforce the 5-month-old statute.
Recent raids at Club Space and eight other venues made use of other
anti-drug laws. But Joe Kilmer, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement
Administration, indicated it is only a matter of time.

"First of all, let me say you've not seen the last of the arrests," said
Kilmer. "We have to use whatever we can to continue to keep nightclubs and
other places drug free."

The law has gotten ample use elsewhere. Its first application on May 31
chilled the nightlife in Billings, Mont. The National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(SSDP) had organized a fundraiser at a Billings Eagles Lodge. Before rock
bands kicked off the event, a DEA agent presented the bar owner with a copy
of the law and informed him that he could be fined $250,000 and face jail
if anyone on the premises was caught with so much as a joint.

The event was canceled and promoters lost money.

Busts have occurred in Missouri, Louisiana, Wisconsin and North Florida.
Those raids unleashed a string of legal counterattacks by the American
Civil Liberties Union.

"The law is mostly used as an intimidation tool by federal authorities to
shut down perfectly innocent gatherings before they begin," said ACLU
attorney Graham Boyd.

Biden says it was never his intent to put a damper on anyone's music.

Angered by the Billings incident, Biden wrote a letter to the DEA, which
made it a policy that all local agents must get approval from the
Washington headquarters before enforcing the law.

But South Florida aficionados of electronic music say the law can be a
blunt instrument in the hands of officials who have made it clear they
don't like electronic music.

They point to this year's battle between Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and
organizers of the fifth annual Ultra Electronic Music Festival in Bayfront
Park, Fla., an event that has attracted 30,000 people in years past.

Diaz announced that he wanted the concert called off, for fear that large
amounts of Ecstasy would be consumed on city property.

Promoters announced they would sue the city to recoup the $1.6 million
they'd spent, plus costs to hire hundreds of security personnel, if Diaz
had his way.

The party went on.

But fans of electronic music fear the next time the music will be silenced.