You will now go to jail for not informing on your neighbors.

Presence_of_Light · May 24, 2005, 8:13pm

If this passes, and you knew someone was using, selling, or CONSIDERING PURCHASING drugs, and you don’t report it to the COPs… you go to jail for a MANDATORY mininum of 2 years.

drugpolicy.org/news/051105sensenalert.cfm

This is draconian… if this passes there will be absolutely no fundamental difference between our drug policies and the drug (and other) policies of nazi Germany.

Write your representatives using that link.

Proposed legislation would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, forcing all Americans to become foot soldiers in the war on drugs.

Neighbors spying on neighbors? Mothers forced to turn in their sons or daughters? These are images straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, or a remote totalitarian state. We don’t associate them with the land of the free and the home of the brave, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t happen here. A senior congressman, James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), is working quietly but efficiently to turn the entire United States population into informants–by force.

Sensenbrenner, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has introduced legislation that would essentially draft every American into the war on drugs. H.R. 1528, cynically named “Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act,” would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, and even go undercover and wear a wire if needed. If a person resisted, he or she would face mandatory incarceration.

Here’s how the “spy” section of the legislation works: If you “witness” certain drug offenses taking place or “learn” about them, you must report the offenses to law enforcement within 24 hours and provide “full assistance in the investigation, apprehension and prosecution” of the people involved. Failure to do so would be a crime punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year prison sentence, and a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Here are some examples of offenses you would have to report to police within 24 hours:

You find out that your brother, who has children, recently bought a small amount of marijuana to share with his wife;
You discover that your son gave his college roommate a marijuana joint;
You learn that your daughter asked her boyfriend to find her some drugs, even though they’re both in treatment.

In each of these cases you would have to report the relative to the police within 24 hours. Taking time to talk to your relative about treatment instead of calling the police immediately could land you in jail.

In addition to turning family member against family member, the legislation could also put many Americans in danger by forcing them to go undercover to gain evidence against strangers.

Even if the language that forces every American to become a de facto law enforcement agent is taken out, the bill would still impose draconian sentences on college students, mothers, people in drug treatment and others with substance abuse problems. If enacted, this bill will destroy lives, break up families, and waste millions of taxpayer dollars.

Despite growing opposition to mandatory minimum sentences from civil rights groups to U.S. Supreme Court Justices, the bill eliminates federal judges’ ability to give sentences below the minimum recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. This creates a mandatory minimum sentence for all federal offenses, drug-related or not.

H.R. 1528 also establishes new draconian penalties for a variety of non-violent drug offenses, including:

Five years for anyone who passes a marijuana joint at a party to someone who, at some point in his or her life, has been in drug treatment;
Ten years for mothers with substance abuse problems who commit certain drug offenses at home (even if their children are not at home at the time);
Five years for any person with substance abuse problems who begs a friend in drug treatment to find them some drugs.

These sentences would put non-violent drug offenders behind bars for as long as rapists, and they include none of the drug treatment touted in the bill’s name.

At a time when everyone from the conservative American Enterprise Institute to the liberal Sentencing Project is slamming the war on drugs as an abject failure, Sensenbrenner is trying to escalate it, and to force all Americans to become its foot soldiers. Instead of enacting new mandatory minimums, federal policymakers should look toward the states. A growing number have reformed their drug sentencing laws, including Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, New York and Texas, and they have proved it is possible to both save money and improve public safety.

Simply put, there is no way H.R. 1528 can be fixed. The only policy proposal in recent years that comes close to being as totalitarian as this bill is Operations TIPS, the Ashcroft initiative that would have encouraged – but not required – citizens to spy on one another. Congress rightfully rejected that initiative and they should do the same with H.R. 1528. Big Brother has no business here in America.

Dm7 · May 24, 2005, 8:49pm

That better not be happening :o

Presence_of_Light · May 24, 2005, 9:55pm

it will if people don’t speak up and keep their representatives accountable for themselves.

omega3 · May 24, 2005, 11:21pm

That definitely can’t happen where I’m at, my neighbors have turned in some people across the street who peddle drugs over a dozen times; the local law enforcements don’t even send out an officer… (and that house is infamous for drug sales).

It would be a law impossible to enforce, how would you know if someone really was aware of what their neighbor was doing? You couldn’t define it.

milod789 · May 25, 2005, 2:55am

I would not worry about that bill too much. Do you know how many bills are introduced every year and don’t pass or even get a vote for that matter. I think that site might be trying to use scare tactics to get people to donate to their cause.

Even if it was passed it would be almost impossible to enforce. What can I tell you, we have some crazed representatives that want to pass bone headed laws. They can introduce whatever bill they want but that does not mean they will get any support from their colleagues. If that bill even gets out of committee I’ll be stunned.

Presence_of_Light · May 26, 2005, 2:13am

it wouldn’t be used for drugs so much as it would be an excuse to imprison someone you want for just about any reason you want… i.e. if they are a “terror suspect” or something like that.

but that’s just paranoid old me.

Shaper · May 26, 2005, 2:27am

So is this bill being considered by the American congress? Like, what country is this for, cause it’s an awefully silly law.

sir_sleeps_alot · June 13, 2005, 11:10pm

I wouldnt be worried too much about this law it doesnt seem like something that would get passed. (what country is this?)

Shaper · June 13, 2005, 11:13pm

yes, if you refer to Holy Reality’s quote of the article, you’ll see it is a proposed law in America.

sir_sleeps_alot · June 14, 2005, 7:51am

Thats not good due to the fact that i live in the U.S (will you keep me posted?) please

Iluminada · June 14, 2005, 2:02pm

First they have to prove you knew…

Dreamer · June 14, 2005, 2:33pm

You’ve got a very good point there

Here in Britain the government proposed a bill that would mean that if you had magic mushrooms growing in your garden you could be put in jail. As they are a common mushroom here that would mean that an awful lot of people could be prosecuted. The only reason I could see was so that they could put anyone they want in jail.

Thankfully that part of the bill has been changed and it’s still going to be legal to have them growing in the garden here.

What’s the position on mushrooms growing in your garden in the ol’ land of the free?

Iluminada · June 14, 2005, 4:30pm

oh… let’s see.

Harvesting an illegal substance
Harvesting w/ the intent to distribute
possession of an illegal substance

I could go on. They are really very strict on that stuff here.

But I meant to mention earlier that if you’re in a car with a friend who has drugs and even if you really truly didn’t know, you could still be charged.

Ego_Tripping · June 14, 2005, 4:33pm

This has happened before, it will happen again.

We will see (are seeing) the rise of a Facist Dictatorship in America…

But not all Facism will look like Adolf Hitler.

Nic · June 16, 2005, 5:47am

so true.

This country has gone to ■■■■.

Nic · June 16, 2005, 5:49am

so true.

This country has gone to ■■■■.