RAVE Act
 

Check out http://ga1.org/campaign/rave

The Senate is considering legislation that would give federal prosecutors new powers to shut down raves or other musical events they don't like and punish business owners for hosting or promoting them. The bill (S, 2633), also known as the Reducing American's Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (RAVE Act), is moving very rapidly and could be considered by the full Senate as early as this week. (A similar bill is also pending in the House.)

S. 2633, sponsored by Senators Durbin (D-IL), Hatch (R-UT), Grassley (R-IA) and Leahy (D-VT), expands the so-called "crack house statute" to allow the federal government to fine or imprison businessmen and women if customers sell or use drugs on their premises or at their events. Property owners, promoters, and event coordinators could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars or face up to twenty years in federal prison if they hold raves or other events on their property. If the bill becomes law, property owners may be too afraid to rent or lease their property to groups holding hemp festivals or putting on all-night dance parties, effectively stifling free-speech and banning raves and other musical events.

The new law would also make it a federal crime to temporarily use a place for the purpose of using any illegal drug. Thus, anyone who used drugs in their own home or threw an event (such as a party or barbecue) in which one or more of their guests used drugs could potentially face a $250,000 fine and years in federal prison. The bill also effectively makes it a federal crime to rent property to medical marijuana patients and their caregivers, giving the federal government a new weapon in its war on AIDS and cancer patients that use marijuana to relieve their suffering.

Health advocates worry that the bill will endanger our nation's youth. If enacted, licensed and law-abiding business owners may stop hosting raves or other events that federal authorities don't like, out of fear of massive fines and prison sentences. Thus, the law would drive raves and other musical events further underground and away from public health and safety regulations. It would also discourage business owners from enacting smart harm-reduction measures to protect their customers. By insinuating that selling bottled water and offering "cool off" rooms is proof that owners and promoters know drug use is occurring at their events, this bill may make business owners too afraid to implement such harm-reduction measures, and the safety of our kids will suffer.

The RAVE Act punishes businessmen and women for the crimes of their customers and is unprecedented in U.S. history. The federal government can't even keep drugs out of prisons, yet it seeks to punish business owners for failing to keep people from carrying drugs onto their premises. If this bill passes, federal authorities will have the ability to scare business owners away from using or renting their property for all-night dance events, as well as any other "politically incorrect" event.

heh, we'll see if this passes. there was kids using E before and there will be kids using E after. laws arent goin to change that.

Maybe it will force all the parties into liberalized Canada?

i think they tried to pass a simmilar law in just CA and it failed to pass.
if it forces all the parties into liberalized canada, thatl be the end of my party days, cause crossing that border is a BITCH and a half, and i dont feel like movin to canada any time soon...

i had the easiest time ever crossing the border, i anserwed liek 5 questions and that was that. i could have smuggled massive quantities of all sorts of whatever it was i would have been smuggling. getign back in the US was a snap too.

going into canada was a problem this time. coming back to the US was a problem last time. needless to say, the car we were traveling into the US with...we wont be travelling with them again. into canada, i think it was the (un)luck of the draw, she already had the little yellow card out when we got to the booth. :( oh well. coming back into the US we just flat out said "rave" and he let us right thru. hehe. i guess they like honesty! :)

heh, i dunno, i went to canada to fuck around. if i told customs that i dont think they would have let me through as easily. im going to visit friends sounds much better.

You should try "I'm on my way to world youth day, we're going to help the homeless and tell people about our saviour Jesus Christ. Would you like a copy of the Watchtower?"

See how fast they wave you through then :P

^^ hahahaha that's a good one...i';ll have to remember that !!

does anyone have any info on where to sign a petition against this act??

jesus will forgive you for this comment

but you must repent.

The link at the top lets you send a fax to your representative telling them you don't approve of this fascist shit. And it would probably be a good idea to to encourage as many people as possible to do the same.

i did somehting liek this before, for some methamphetamine act liek a year ago.

I moved this to the front page of our site as this is really scary stuff. Hullabaloo may be a Canadian entity, but we do have a lot of American visitors, and it's important that ALL of you act now to do what you can so that this Bill is at least DEBATED and not fasttracked through. This is more than just your "right to party", this can be a scary precedent that can only snowball as the years go on to apply it to whatever their current target is. As a promoter of events myself, I can also bet that this bill will cripple the scene beyond repair. The link at the top makes it easy to contact your Senator, please take the time to do it.

hmmmm......
 

well geeze-ASS!!

now even the US government is trying to cash in on ecstasy!!! $250,000 is the most i've ever heard anybody paying for a tab!

i hope these so called representatives of democracy realize that the more the yell about this national threat called recreation, the more press it's going to get, and the more press it gets, the more people are going to get curious about it. makes sense, don't it?

think about, if someone has never been to a "rave", then they may never know anything about ecstasy... however, if the government want to air anti-ecstasy on national television, everybody is going to know about it!!!

that, and, i guess ol' george 'w' wont be going after blow for a little while (get it?)

on the topic of george 'w', if a former coke user can get elected to president, then maybe drugs aren't so bad?

-the PONG

I got one of them "justified sinner" cards with my subscription to Awake! Kinda like a get out of Hades free card. Anyways me and JC are tight like anything. I get in a spot he's got my back

:D

Stuff
 

What udder crap. Thank god I don't live in the states (anymore) I lived there for 3 months and they were right paranoid about everything there. I think it would be cool if there were more parties in Canada. That also will cause a poroblem though. Bottom line is that we should all protest this. stuff.

You people can't see the bigger picture!!! This is clearly the start of a new era of bipartisanship...

f*** politics! it's just music!

if the world was gettin' goofy off the stuff listenning to n'sync or ricky martin, would they let that happen?

man who comes up with these stupid bills? Thats such bS
theyre cashing in. bastards. Thats it. i'm moving to Toronto.

Against R.A.V.E Act, sign this patition.
 

If you want to sign patition against this bill just visit this link... it is filled out for you if you want to read it over go ahead. all you really need to do is sign your info and click send.

http://ga1.org/campaign/rave/

btw spelling for me is not very good. it is too early to think and feel bad for me i am in english class. Grrrrrrrrrr
oh well what can you do, exept tear out my eyes and ask to see the nurse. ;-)

:mad: uhh jesus christ they're trying to shut down our fun because of stereotypes and other non sense i hate the US government! 1 day there will be revolution and this wont be a problem :mad:

Ya know... If im not mistaken, I think the US gov't does a WAY better job of protecting you from yourself than from other people.
I live in a state where there is almost NO raves at all, If you come from the NH then you know what im talking about!

I am a little confused by this, what do you mean by bipartisanship and how does that apply to this situation :confused:

I just wrote my own and sent it to Pete Domineci! --Even though my voice is crap to him, at least i did something...

BTW can anyone PM or email me some names of good canadian colleges?? This act got me thinking... (fucking home country...)

come one come all...
canada awaits