Sketch-y Behaviors

WTF!?
thedailywhat:

Dangerous Precedent of the Day: Hot on the heels of a major crackdown by the Obama administration on medical marijuana dispensaries, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed a bill sponsored by chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that aims to criminalize the discussion or planning of any activities abroad that would violate the United States’ Controlled Substances Act.
This includes activities which would be perfectly legal in the countries where they would be performed.
“Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution,” Drug Policy Alliance director Bill Piper is quoted as saying. “The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you’re there wouldn’t be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime.”
The bill is so vague, the doctors and academics discussing drug decriminalization and needle exchange programs with foreign colleagues might be subject to charges. Even something as innocent as an email to a friend in Mexico about over-the-counter drugs that require a prescription in the US might land a person in hot water.
The law was proposed in response to a 2007 court case involving two Miami men convicted of planning to transfer cocaine from Colombia to Saudi Arabia who had their convictions overturned because the drugs were not intended for US distribution.
Piper notes that the Smith bill goes too far in making it illegal to plan legal drug-related activities.
“They could have limited this law to prohibiting the planning of activities that are illegal in the countries where they take place,” he said. “That would have allowed them to convict the guys in the Miami case. There was an amendment proposed to do that and it was voted down on party lines. They intentionally made sure the bill includes activities that legal in other countries. Which means this is an attempt to apply U.S. law all over the globe.”
[huffpo.]

WTF!?

Dangerous Precedent of the Day: Hot on the heels of a major crackdown by the Obama administration on medical marijuana dispensaries, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed a bill sponsored by chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that aims to criminalize the discussion or planning of any activities abroad that would violate the United States’ Controlled Substances Act.

This includes activities which would be perfectly legal in the countries where they would be performed.

“Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution,” Drug Policy Alliance director Bill Piper is quoted as saying. “The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you’re there wouldn’t be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime.”

The bill is so vague, the doctors and academics discussing drug decriminalization and needle exchange programs with foreign colleagues might be subject to charges. Even something as innocent as an email to a friend in Mexico about over-the-counter drugs that require a prescription in the US might land a person in hot water.

The law was proposed in response to a 2007 court case involving two Miami men convicted of planning to transfer cocaine from Colombia to Saudi Arabia who had their convictions overturned because the drugs were not intended for US distribution.

Piper notes that the Smith bill goes too far in making it illegal to plan legal drug-related activities.

“They could have limited this law to prohibiting the planning of activities that are illegal in the countries where they take place,” he said. “That would have allowed them to convict the guys in the Miami case. There was an amendment proposed to do that and it was voted down on party lines. They intentionally made sure the bill includes activities that legal in other countries. Which means this is an attempt to apply U.S. law all over the globe.”

[huffpo.]