RAVE ACT REVERBERATIONS

In the wake of the cancellation of a Montana NORML/SSDP benefit by the
venue's owners after a DEA agent warned them they could face a $250,000
fine under the RAVE Act if anyone used marijuana at the event
(http://www.drcnet.org/wol/290.shtml#dearave), organizers of some drug
reform-related events have begun to cancel events or relocate them to
friendlier territory. At the same time, national drug reform and civil
liberties organizations are mobilizing against the RAVE Act, now officially
known as the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act.

The Sonoma Health and Harmony Festival (http://www.harmonyfestival.com) in
California has cancelled plans to have a medical marijuana smoking area due
to fears of RAVE Act prosecutions, California NORML has reported. And the
Wisconsin Weedstock festival (http://www.weedstock.com) is relocating
across the border to Canada -- to Sault, Ontario, where there currently are
no laws against marijuana possession, let alone anything like the RAVE Act.
Weedstock will become part of the Planetary Pride Hemp Fest
(http://www.planetarypride.com/comingsoon.html), an Ontario-based event now
in its fifth year.

(US citizens thinking of attending but who have an arrest record should
make sure they can get into Canada. Visit
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/individuals/visitors-e.html and go to
the Citizenship and Immigration Canada's web pages to get more information
about entry.)

As some groups change plans under RAVE Act prosecution pressures, the drug
reform movement is mobilizing to roll back the law, which was stalled under
stiff opposition in the Senate last year, but which passed easily once it
was stealthily inserted into the popular Amber Alert by RAVE Act sponsor
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). Drug Policy Alliance has made repealing the RAVE Act
one of its action priorities (http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/),
and other major reform and civil liberties groups continue to plot
strategies to kill the law.