|
|
|
May 20, 2005 - DrugSense Weekly (USWeb)Spy vs. SpyBy Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy AllianceNeighbors 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:
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:
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.' No More Tulias' legislation introducedRep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) has introduced HR 2620: No More Tulias - The Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2005, placing stricter oversight and possible loss of funding on the over 700 jurisdictions (the so-called 'HIDTAs') that accept federal monies for drug task forces, and requiring more than uncorroborated testimony of lone undercover drug agents to sustain convictions. It was named for the infamous Tulia, TX drug war scandal, where 15% of the black population was rolled-up in a cocaine bust conducted by a single rogue lawman, Tom Coleman, working for a Texas drug task force. Virtually all the defendants were eventually exonerated. |
|
|