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burning drug books
by Russ Kick (russ@mindpollen.com) - November 13, 2000

It's not a scene that should be possible in the United States. A publisher imprisoned for ten years because of a felonious book that doesn't reveal classified information, isn't libelous and doesn't violate coyright. It simply tells people how to grow marijuana in their closets.

A Netherlands web-site offers some cool bongs and glass pipes for sale, so you create a hyperlink. Days later, you're arrested and end up in jail for three years. Because of a hyperlink!

These situations aren't visions of America under Martial law but rather America under the 'Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation' Act (S 486, HR 2987), which has been unanimously passed by the US Senate and is currently before the House. This bill contains standard 'War On Some Drugs' measures but two provisions are shocking in their blatant contempt for the First Amendment.

The first measure makes it a crime to disseminate instructions for making, growing, or using any "controlled substance." These restrictions apply not only to methamphetamine, but to *all* illegal drugs, many prescription medications, and precursor chemicals of controlled substances, many of which have legal uses.

The bill outlaws dissemination of this information under certain circumstances. In the first circumstance, it must have been distributed in furtherance of a Federal crime. As long as a publisher isn't a cocaine smuggler or meth ring racketeer, then publishing the info shouldn't violate the bill.

The trouble really starts with the second circumstance. If the publisher "knows" that the information will be used in furtherance of Federal crimes, it just broke the law. A publisher shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of every one of its readers, but the US legal system doesn't agree.

The notorious 'Hit Man' case involved a 'Paladin Press' manual giving step-by-step instructions for committing murder. Afte a killer-for-hire supposedly followed most of the instructions, the victims' families sued. The US Supreme Court agreed that publishers should be held responsible for their reader's actions, and Paladin was forced by its insurance company to settle for US$5 million. Because the civil suit never went to trial, no firm precedent was set. The lawsuit's ruling has been cited by the Louisiana Court of Appeals in legal action against Oliver Stone and 'Time-Warner Entertainment' over their movie 'Natural Born Killers', blamed for a violent crime spree.

Other information (whether published on paper or in cyberspace) that is potentially covered includes how to grow magic mushrooms and psychoactive cacti; how to roll joints and cook with pot; how to use marijuana to fight nausea, glaucoma, chronic pain, etc; how to identify peyote cactus in the wild; which plants contain the psychedelic DMT; how to extract amphetamine from allergy medications; safe dosage levels for any illegal drug; and how to cook up LSD, Ecstasy, Meth, Valium, Steroids, etc. It's possible that Native American peyote rituals or LSD/Ecstasy psychotherapy descriptions could be *verboten*.

The chances of this bill becoming law are quite high. The bill's duo - Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) - are prominent, and they've created a piece of legislation that masterfully hides anti-free speech measures among hard to argue with provisions.

'Ronin Books' publisher Beverly Potter forsees the creation of a "new underground crime syndicate" that sells outlawed drug books at outrageously inflated prices. 'Loompanics Unlimited' publicist Gia Cosindas senses a new McCarthyism.

In August 1999, President Clinton signed into law a bill containing a Feinstein-authored stealth amendment that made it felononious to propagate instructions for making bombs, destructive devices, or mass destruction weapons. These provisions create dangerous precedents for the Meth Act.

Having discovered ways to suppress disliked information, Feinstein and colleagues are now using it to obliterate drugs and paraphernalia information. What will they target next?

United States Senator Dianne Feinstein: Official Web-site
Contains the press releases on the Meth Act and the amendment outlawing explosives info. Use this site to keep tabs on one of US Congress' most active opponents of freedom.

The Hive
Your global resource center for the advancement and exchange of ecstasy and amphetamine chemical knowledge. Need I say more?

The Peyote Foundation
Dedicated to the use of peyote as a sacrament. Native Americans may be able to ingest peyote in some places, but under the Meth Act they won't be able to talk about it!

Albert Hofmann Foundation
Set up by a non-profit organization named after the discoverer of LSD. There's not a whole lot here right now but the plans to turn this site into a repository of knowledge and history are quite dramatic. Under the Meth Law, those plans might not materialize.

Ronin Publishing
A leading publisher of drug books. Could be targeted under the new law.

Quick Trading Company
The leading publisher of how-to-grow-marijuana books, operated by pot guru Ed Rosenthal. Site contains growing tips and pictures of beautiful buds.

High Times
The web-site of the infamous 30-year-old magazine of pot and psychedelics. The Feds have been trying to bring them down for decades and just might succeed when armed with the Meth Act.

Marijuana.com
A huge web-site on everyone's favorite weed. Under the Meth Act, the most likely part of this site to trigger trouble is the discussion area, with forums on cultivation, chemistry, and methods of use.

The Shroomery
Lots of info on finding, growing, preserving, and using magic mushrooms.

Chemical Abstracts Service Homepage
This organization maintains a database with over 36 million records regarding chemistry, including lots of info that can be directly used for making controlled substances (and explosives). The Meth Act provides no exceptions for academic publications, so will these guys be targeted, too?

Headshop Listing From 10-10-420.com
A big linked listing of online head shops, with subcategories for glass pipes and other smoking accessories. Not only would all of the sites in the US be illegal under the Meth Act, but this section of 10-10-420.com that links to them would be illegal, too.

BongGirl
One of the coolest sites on the Web selling smoking accouterments. Be sure to check out (while you still can) the stealth pipes that look exactly like lighters, lipstick, a flashlight, and a highlighting pen!

Burning Drug Books
Considering this is my web-site, listing it (with a four-triangle rating, no less) might seem self-congratulatory, but this is really the most complete site about the bill. Read the important passages, check out articles on the Web, keep tabs on the bill's status, peruse the long list of books that would be outlawed, and visit a number of endangered web-sites.

The Lycaeum
Along with the 'Erowid' web-site, this is the best source of information about drugs on the Net. Maybe the best source, period. Probably top on the Feds' hitlist when the Meth Act passes.

Erowid
Like the 'Lycaeum' web-site, this is another amazingly expansive archive of drug information. Sure to draw the Feds' wrath.

The Media Awareness Project
This web-site of the non-profit drug policy foundation MAP is most notable for its archive of 31 000+ news articles on every aspect of drug policy. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey lied about MAP in testimony before Congress, saying that it disseminates information for making illegal drugs. Because of this baseless hostility, MAP is preparing to move its site offshore if the Meth Act passes.

Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act: Senate Version
From the 'Thomas' web-site, the Senate version of the bill which passed.

Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act: House Version
From the 'Thomas' web-site, the House version of the bill which passed.

Pelican Bay "Torture Chambers"!