Legal Commentary

House to Vote on Misleading Bill Creating More Drug Crimes

By Jeralyn

Via Drug Policy Alliance, the House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a sneaky and misleading bill, courtesy of your drug warriors in Congress.

The bill is the "Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2010 (H.R. 5231)." It's the lame-brain idea of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the only congressperson to speak out in opposition to to reforming the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity.

Why is it misleading? Because it doesn't just apply to traffickers, but also to those who simply possess drugs. More from Drug Policy Alliance:

Even though this bill references drug trafficking in the title, it also criminalizes conspiring to possess and use marijuana or other drugs in other countries if more than one person is involved - even if drug use is decriminalized in that country. Thus, it imposes America’s harsh drug policies on other countries, and further criminalizes a health issue. The bill’s title is very misleading.

Here's the full text of the bill. Why is this bill even coming to a vote? It has It has one cosponsors (Adam Schiff, R-CA) and was never considered in committee. [More...]

There's an identical bill pending in the Senate, the Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2010, S.3218, introduced by Sen. Kent Conrad (R-ND). It too has one co-sponsor: Jeff Sessions. What a surprise.

The text of both bills adds the following to the 21 USC 846 (drug attempt and conspiracy statute):

(b) Whoever, within the United States, conspires with one or more persons, or aids or abets one or more persons, regardless of where such other persons are located, to commit at any place outside the United States an act that would constitute a violation of this title if committed within the United States, shall be subject to the same penalties that would apply to such act if it were to occur within the United States.

What it's intended to do:

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to clarify that persons who enter into a conspiracy within the United States to possess or traffic illegal controlled substances outside the United States, or engage in conduct within the United States to aid or abet drug trafficking outside the United States, may be criminally prosecuted in the United States, and for other purposes.

As if our war on drugs and over-reliance on incarceration isn't bad enough, now Congress wants to export it.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 22, 2010 (boomark / email).