'AMBER' ANTI-DRUG PROVISION CONCERNS SOME

WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation to crack down on club drug use is wrapped in a
popular child safety package, but critics worry that businesses whose
customers use drugs without the proprietors' knowledge could face
prosecution under the measures being signed into law Wednesday.

``You could have hotels prosecuted, you could have sporting events
prosecuted, basically anything or anywhere you could expect someone to try
and use drugs,'' said Marvin Johnson, an American Civil Liberties Union
lawyer.

Bush was signing the Amber Alerts package, which has as its centerpiece a
voluntary rapid-response network to help find kidnapped children, on
Wednesday.

It includes legislation originally introduced as the RAVE Act - or Reducing
Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act - that was aimed at ``club drugs''
like Ecstasy.

An earlier version targeting drugs found at raves, concerts and other venues
frequented by young people failed to pass Congress last year, after
complaints that the bill unfairly painted all raves and concerts as havens
for illegal drug use.

The bill was modified to take out its original focus on raves, renamed the
``Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act,'' and placed inside the Amber Alert
bill.

Opponents say broadening the focus makes the bill more dangerous.

``Our concern is this law is so wide and so vague that prosecutors are going
to find it easy to apply it to just about anyone,'' said William McColl of
the Drug Policy Alliance, an independent drug policy reform group which
promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.

The legislation is based on the federal ``crackhouse'' statute, which allows
prosecution of people who knowingly allow their private residences or
businesses to be used for the buying and selling of drugs. The new provision
would expand the statute to include places rented for temporary or one-time
events like nightclubs, concerts or raves.

Lawmakers who supported the popular Amber Alerts package said they
understood the concerns.

``Business owners have come to Congress and told us there are only so many
steps they can take to prevent any of the thousands of people who may attend
a concert or a rave from using drugs,'' said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont,
the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. ``They are worried about
being held personally accountable for the illegal acts of others. ... Those
concerns may well be overstated, but they deserve a fuller hearing.''

One of the sponsors of the law, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., told the Senate
earlier this year that its burden of proof is high enough that innocent
businesses won't be affected.

``The purpose of my legislation is not to prosecute legitimate, law-abiding
managers of stadiums, arenas, performing arts centers, licensed beverage
facilities and other venues because of incidental drug use at their
events,'' Biden said.

One industry representative is satisfied that the bill as it stands protects
businesses.

``Enough changes have been made to the bill that legitimate law-abiding
nightclub owners should be protected,'' said Darren Spinck, spokesman for
the American Beverage Licensees, which represents bars and clubs in 33
states and the District of Columbia. Still, Spinck said he would like to see
businesses protected with greater specificity.

People convicted under the law would face prison terms or civil fines of up
to $250,000 or twice the gross revenue of their particular event.