EAGLES GET DRUG LAW CLARIFICATION

The Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C., has issued
guidance to its field offices nationwide after an incident in Billings
involving enforcement of a new anti-drug law.

On May 30, a DEA agent visited the local Eagles Lodge and told the
manager that the business could be fined up to $250,000 if it allowed
the Billings chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML) to hold a fund-raiser concert there and people
attending smoked marijuana.

Public Outcry

The lodge canceled the concert date. Public outcry locally and
nationally prompted the DEA to clarify to its agents how to interpret
and enforce the law, spokesman Will Glaspy said.

Glaspy said the memo sent to the field offices is confidential, but
much of the information is posted on the agency Web site:
http://www.dea.gov

The site has been updated in the past few days to address the public
concern about the new law, giving answers to commonly asked questions,
he said.

The warning received by the Eagles Lodge in Billings apparently was
the first issued by the DEA after the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation
Act passed in April. The incident left many clubs, bars and other
operators wondering how the law would be enforced and if they were at
risk of being fined.

Glaspy said the agency is working to dispel the concerns that have
spread in the past few weeks.

"We use the law to target those promoters who use concerts as a means
to facilitate drug trafficking," Glaspy said. "The law does not target
legitimate businessmen or women."

In any case, legitimate businesses cannot be held responsible if
someone lights up a joint at a concert on the business property, he
said.

"These legitimate businesses don't have to worry about the DEA coming
in and holding them responsible for drug use by their patrons," Glaspy
said.

Targeting Drug Peddlers

The law gives the DEA the power to target a very specialized type of
scheme that involves drug peddling at concerts. Glaspy said some
unscrupulous promoters falsely advertise concerts as drug-free and
alcohol-free; when the teens show up, they are offered drugs and are
packed into hot, poorly ventilated areas. Bottled water may be sold
for $10. A few concertgoers a night generally end up in the hospital
with dehydration or drug overdoses, he said.

Why was the Eagles Lodge contacted by the DEA?

The regional office of the DEA in Denver will no longer comment on the
issue. The agent who warned the Eagles Lodge in May is under the
jurisdiction of the Denver office, and Glaspy wouldn't discuss whether
the agent had been reprimanded. Glaspy said he didn't know all the
details of the Billings incident but gave his agency's position in the
event that the same scenario presented itself in the future.

"With the recent legal guidance that we've provided to the field
offices, a place like the Eagles Lodge -- it would not apply to their
situation."

NORML's Web site, like the DEA's, is bristling with information about
the new drug law, passed by Congress April 10 as part of the Amber
Alert bill. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. The
laws aim to protect children from pornography and drugs, according to
the bill's sponsors.

Paul Armentano, a spokesman for NORML in Washington, said his
organization does not think the bill's sponsors intended the law to be
used to shut down benefit concerts like the one in Billings. They were
unaware of the DEA's response to the incident, he said.

"Hopefully, with these revised guidelines it will put an end to the
actions of agents like this who purposely try to use the 'Rave Act' to
target something they don't agree with personally," Armentano said.

The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act is known by many as the Rave
Act because a previous version of the bill, which died in Congress,
held that title. The DEA says the law is not intended to target raves,
dancing or any other expression, and should not be referred to as
such, according to its Web site.

The bill is an amendment to a law enacted 17 years ago known as the
"crack house statute." The law allowed the Justice Department to go
after property owners who knowingly allowed others to make, use or
sell drugs on their property. But the law had a loophole, Glaspy said,
because it did not address promoters who rent out a piece of property
for an event, like a concert.

"Before, we had no way to target a promoter because (the law) only
dealt with owners," Glaspy said.

Closer to home, the local Eagles Lodge has been talking to reporters
from all over the country almost daily. Kelly, the bar manager there
who asked that her last name not be used, said Wednesday that if the
agent who told her the lodge could be fined acted in error, she
doesn't hold it against him.

"Nobody's perfect, I'm sure he had the best of intentions," Kelly
said. "But it would have saved us from a sticky situation."

Kelly was also good-natured about all the phone calls, and said
everyone from the Los Angeles Times to the ACLU has been very polite.
Would the Eagles host NORML's benefit concert if the group asked in
the future? Kelly said such a decision would be up to the
organization's board of trustees.