The Rockefeller drug law of the 21st century

The Rockefeller drug laws are a set of right-wing 1973 laws in the state of New York supported by Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller that imposed draconian penalties for drug offenses. The laws were so shocking and cruel that the penalty for possession of 4 ounces of marijuana became equal to that for second-degree murder: a minimum of 15 years to life. The parts of the laws that dealt with marijuana were so out of proportion to the offense that the Democrats repealed these parts in 1979, but it took another 25 years before there were any more changes to the Rockefeller statutes. (The "corrections" industry and other Far Rightists put the kibosh on even modest reforms for years.)

After they were enacted, the New York laws were copied by other states that for the next 30 years all seemed to fall over each other to see which state could be the leanest and meanest by punishing minor drug offenses the harshest. In most states, the drug laws got tougher and tougher, while more and more murderers walked free after only a few years.

And there's never an end to it. When it seems like the fuckheadedly named War on Drugs can't get any more out of control, it always does. In the middle of this decade, right-wing legislators began turning their attention to criminalizing cold and allergy medicine. First it was state laws, but now it's gone national.

The federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act - which is the work of right-wing Republicans and right-wing Democrats alike (gee, don't you just love living in a two-party system?) - is part of the 2005 reauthorization of the unconstitutional Patriot Act. This rogue law imposes strict punishments for...over-the-counter allergy medicine. Cold and allergy drugs that contain ephedrine or certain similar ingredients are governed by this law. In other words, it applies to the only conventional allergy drugs that actually work.

In even simpler terms, if a product works, it gets banned. That's the credo that guides BushAmerica.

The law allows folks to buy only 9 grams of the drug per month (regardless of how much they need), requires buyers to be carded, and forces them to sign a log that the government can track (which is a violation of the Fourth Amendment right there). All this for an over-the-counter drug! The government's excuse is that ingredients can be extracted from the pills to make meth, but this is such an obvious ruse for control that anybody ought to be able to see right through it. For one thing, makers of deadly meth can find the ingredients elsewhere. For another, restricting allergy drugs because they can be used to make meth is like banning water because it can be used to make moonshine. Furthermore, it punishes the innocent.

What you never hear about is that probably a majority of meth found in America (as with other illicit substances) is in fact made or distributed by government officials.

Early this year, the DEA made its first arrest for violating the new law on cold and allergy medicine. A 35-year-old family man from the town of Ontario, New York, became the first casualty of the law because he purchased more than 9 grams of the drug in 30 days. Like I said, all it takes for the DEA to destroy your life is 9 grams a month! If you have a whole family of hay fever sufferers, you'll burn through 9 grams in a day!

The guy was caught when a drugstore that he buyed the drug from ratted him out to the DEA for being over the 9-gram limit. Nice to know the law encourages making tattle-tales of the retail industry (not like the industry has the guts to fight it or anything, for Big Business is the identical twin of oppressive government).

It turned out that the man (who was unaware of the new law) wasn't even using the pills to make meth or selling them to anyone who was. He purchased the drug for his own use. The prosecutors even admitted so! Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Gregory said there's no evidence that the man made meth - but he was prosecuted for it anyway.

Gee, it really makes me feel safe to know the DEA proved its unparalleled awesomeness by raiding someone just for buying too much over-the-counter cold medicine. (That's sarcasm, people.) Let's look more closely at what happened: The first person caught under a law that was passed supposedly to prosecute meth makers is someone who has nothing to do with meth at all. Isn't that just the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of?

The defendant in this case actually got convicted, believe it or not! Now he may face time in federal prison and a huge fine. Yet another Drug War statistic. And he's not the only victim, because if he goes to prison, his kids are losing their dad and his wife is losing her husband.

There's nothing built into the new federal law to require prosecutors to prove that a defendant is actually making meth out of the drug that they buy. So it's yet another case where someone is presumed guilty even after being proven innocent.

The government goons keep throwing their weight around like the big bullies they are. And the media is so lazy that it swallows the official propaganda. The DEA boasts that the number of meth labs has dropped since the law was passed, but other sources debunk this claim. One source says that the Texas version of the law was followed by a 24% increase in meth-related deaths.

The new restrictions on cold and allergy medicine are the Rockefeller drug laws of the 21st century. In Oklahoma, where the state law is even more fascist than the federal law, mothers have been hauled into court and given long prison sentences for buying medicine for their sick children. In many states, such as Kentucky, mere possession of 9 grams of the drug is considered evidence of intent to make meth and is a felony. Our legislators must be mind readers to know what a person's intent is to do with a small amount of allergy medicine.

Because of these right-wing new laws, anyone with allergies has to either risk going to prison, go without medicine, get a costly prescription drug, or buy the over-the-counter drugs that they're still allowed to buy. However, the drugs you're still allowed to get don't even work anyway and have many more side effects to boot. And how convenient that you can still get the prescription stuff that costs so much more. No wonder the drug companies aren't fighting the new law. Somebody needs to round up all the politicians who supported this fascism and sneeze right in their faces until gobs of mucus dangle from their noses like burst bubble gum. What a bunch of stupid morons.

The good news is that, because the federal law is part of the Patriot Act, it's illegal to enforce it in cities that have outlawed enforcement of the Idiot Act.

(Source: http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/04/10/war-on-sudafed-claims-first-victim;
http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=47676&rnews_story_type=18;
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/480/feds_make_first_bust_under_combat_meth_act;
http://highlytrainedmonkey.blogspot.com/2007/06/ok-well-take-him.html;
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/NEWS01/706280358/1002/NEWS)