|
January 18,
2002
Report
Says Federal Ecstasy Bill
Targets Raves And Violates Civil Liberties
CALIFORNIA
– A report issued by
the nonprofit Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, finds that the
Ecstasy Prevention Act, which is currently before Congress, unconstitutionally profiles electronic music
listeners, misappropriates federal funds to communities willing to outlaw
“raves,” and perpetuates a failed and harmful “lock ‘em up”
policy with respect to those who use the popular drug MDMA (Ecstasy).
Among
other conclusions, the report
finds that the Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2001 (H.R. 2215, Title VIII):
- Violates
the First Amendment rights to freedom of expression and assembly by
prioritizing federal funding to communities that pass ordinances
restricting “rave” clubs and events.
- Perpetuates
a hard-line national drug policy with respect to MDMA (Ecstasy) that
is ineffective, dangerous, and which violates the mental autonomy and
cognitive liberty of responsible Americans.
- Continues
to present Americans and their children with dangerous propaganda
under the guise of “drug education.”
- Furthers
the government’s “War on Drugs” ideology, at the expense of
public health and civil liberties.
“What
goes on inside a person’s head,” writes the report’s author,
attorney Richard Glen Boire, “deserves the very highest level of
privacy. An adult who responsibly alters his or her consciousness (with
the use of MDMA or any other drug, technique, or technology) should be
left in peace unless his or her subsequent behavior presents a danger to
others.”
The
complete report can be obtained at no charge from the Center
for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics at the address below. The
report is also available online.
A
complete index of materials on the Ecstasy
Prevention Act is also available online.
For
more information contact:
Zara Gelsey
Director of Communications
Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics
P.O. Box 73481
Davis, CA 95617 USA
(530) 750-7912
About
the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics
The
Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, law
and policy center working in the public interest to protect fundamental
civil liberties. The Center seeks to foster cognitive liberty – the
basic human right to unrestrained independent thinking, including the
right to control one’s own mental processes and to experience the full
spectrum of possible thought. Web site: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/ccle/ |
