Party poopers: anti-rave legislation.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE

YOU THOUGHT IT was bad when you heard that you could lose your house if your son planted a few marijuana seeds in the corner of your yard. That was nothing. Under a Senate bill introduced last summer, you could go to prison for letting him hold a party where someone passes around a joint.

The Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act of 2002 would broaden a federal law aimed at crackhouses so it can he used more easily against raves. The bill would make it a federal crime, punishable by a fine of up to $500,000 and a prison term of p to 20 years, to "manage or control any place" and "knowingly and intentionally...make [it] available for use, with or without compensation, for the purpose of unlawfully... using a controlled substance."

The RAVE Act--which was approved without amendment by the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 27, nine days after it was introduced--is worded so broadly that its chilling effect could extend far beyond raves. "'Knowingly' and 'for the purpose of' are too undefined to provide adequate protection to innocent businessmen and women," argues the Drug Policy Alliance. "Property...