And in this case, the hysteria is both mine and the governments. Mine, because my biggest fear about power grabs like the Patriot Act is that they will not be used for the limited role of combatting terrorism, but will simply be used to broadly expand government power. The government, because they are using the hysteria over meth to do just that:
Sens. Jim Talent, Missouri Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, said the Combat Meth Act — together with anti-meth measures championed in the House — were included in the Reauthorization Conference Report filed Thursday.
Mr. Talent and Mrs. Feinstein worked with leaders in both parties to push for the legislation, which is expected to be debated this week. The proposal, passed unanimously by the Senate, also includes treatment funding to help those affected by meth.
Law-enforcement authorities said meth use nationwide has increased by as much as 300 percent in the past decade.
“The Combat Meth Act is the toughest anti-meth bill ever considered by the Congress, and it will help people in neighborhoods all across Missouri and the country who are threatened by meth,” Mr. Talent said.
Mrs. Feinstein said the legislation “strikes a blow” against an ongoing meth epidemic.
“The heart of this legislation is a strong standard for keeping pseudoephedrine products out of the hands of meth cooks,” she said. “There were some who wanted to water down this legislation, but Senator Talent and I stood firm.”
The conference report also authorized several contentious provisions of the Patriot Act, including roving wiretaps, “sneak-and-peek” searches, and secret warrants for books and other records at businesses, hospitals and libraries.
Passage of the agreement is expected to be hotly contested, and one Democrat, Sen. Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, has threatened to filibuster the bill. He vowed to “do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this Patriot Act conference report, which does not include adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms.”
The provisions in the middle would simply restict what medical products are sold, and does not constitute any major action or power grab. It does, however, demonstrate to me the willingness of those in goverment to use the Patriot Act for whatever they want. The war on drugs existed before the war on terror, and as a never-ending source of funding and power, it will exist long after people are no longer sufficiently scared of terrorism.
And people- go read Jack Shafer on Crack v. Meth and The Meth Mouth Myth. And John Tierney.
Lines
Banning pseudonepherin will only slow the tide of Meth for a short period of time. The war on drugs has such a limited variety of tools and methods while the illicit drug industry is capable of morphing, cloning and shifting that no set of standards will ever be capable of eradicating it.
I can see an excuse for removing civil rights to fight it, at least the temptation, but its a hazardous one way road. Once gone, civil rights don’t just come back overnight, if they ever come back at all.
Speaking of civil rights, is there any new news on the War on Porn?
Zifnab
Personally, I’ve got no beef with putting cold medicine behind the counter. I mean, requesting Tylenol from a counter clerk hardly infringes on my civil liberties, and unlike Plan B I don’t think the pharmacist will be turning someone down on moral grounds for clearing up a headcold – unless it was a headcold as God intended… or something.
As for the “roving wiretaps, ‘sneak-and-peek’ searches, and secret warrants for books and other records at businesses, hospitals and libraries” I question how this is much different than what the DEA has been asking for years. I’m no fan of the Patriot Act, but this is definately more of a drug thing than a terrorist thing. I mean, it’s well documented that “all men were created equal, unless they were suspected of using or distributing controlled substances.”
Steve S
Putting Psuedofed behind the counter isn’t a big deal. Many states have already adopted this.
I don’t understand the roving wiretaps and library searches, however.
As for whether or not meth is being hyped. I don’t know. What I do know is that on my aunt’s farm in Iowa, an abandoned building over on the back 40 got turned into a meth lab. So it hits close to home.
John Cole
The issue is not the restrictions introduced- as has been noted, many states already do these things, and it is no big deal. It is, however, worthless, as they will quickly find a way around it.
The problem I have is the insertion of ANYTHING dealing with the War on Drugs into the Patriot Act, and wedding them with the contentious aspects of the Patriot Act.
Perry Como
We need to step up the War on Drugs. There are new fronts opening up every day.
rilkefan
Re Shafer, my impression was that meth is actually really bad stuff. I’ll go check what Mark Kleiman has to say on the subject, but I’m instinctively resistent to Shafer’s “crack was really bad but the press said it was really really bad, they suck, now here’s meth” line. Whenever I see any statistics on crime rates over time, there’s always a “correcting for crack” remark.
John Cole
Rilke- I don’t think Shafer’s point is that crack and meth are not bad. Carck and meth ARE bad news. Period. Jack’s point is that both are getting hyped beyond even how bad they are.
jg
The only thing it stopped was exploding meth labs in trailer parks. Most west coast meth is manufactured in sonora mexic and muled over. Meth factories have popped up all over mexico border. The US gov’t may have accidentally made the drug safer.
DougJ
Meth mouth is a myth? If I had known that, I never would have stopped taking it.
Whitney H.
Crack is whack!
rilkefan
John, see “really” vs “really really” in my comment. When he shows how bad meth is and will be and compares that to what the press says with some sensible metrics, well fine. As it stands I’m seeing more free-floating crankiness than argument.
Incidentally, did Bright Lights really celebrate coke use?
rilkefan
Whitey H. writes – oh, my bad.
Yeah, yeah, I miss my lunch and I’m six again.
John Cole
Rilke- Gotcha. Was reading fast.
rilkefan
John reads all my comments fast. Slow down, you should make them last, worshipper of the goddess Bast. Read aloud, they are a blast. You’ll be sad when they are passed, with their erudition vast. You could be read them, tied to a mast…
Zifnab
Well, I suppose that’s something at least.
ppGaz
Stop writing up a fog or I’ll
declare it all just doggerel.
SwMoLibertarian
I have the misfortune of living in Jim Talent’s state. To see him AND Feinstein’s name in the same paragraph almost made me lose my lunch.
Flint
Hi Folks:
The threat to democracy that the UNPATRIOTIC Act represents is unparallel in US history and that is why it is opposed by both conservative and liberal political action groups alike.
The vote is this week and if you want to preserve the Bill of Rights and your constitutional protections guaranteed by the 2nd and 4th Constitutional Amendments, and ultimately your first Amendment rights as well… you need to Act. Much of the faux compromise makes some of the worst parts of the UNPATRIOTIC Act permanent.
FORGET SNARKING AT TROLLS OR BITCHIN ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF YOU ACT NOW!
Call Your Senators Now: Last Chance to Stop Sham Patriot Act Reauthorization Bill
Conservative groups calling for a filibuster of the UNPATRIOTIC Act:
Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances:
Certain sections of this controversial law are due to expire December 31, 2005. Until recently, it appeared that lawmakers were moving toward adopting the modest checks on federal power contained in the Senate reauthorization bill (S.1389), which would require a connection to a suspected terrorist to obtain Americans’ records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. This reflected a commonsense compromise that was widely praised as a step in the right direction by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, representatives of the business community, civil liberties groups and – most importantly – the American public. But then, at the eleventh hour and behind closed doors, some Patriot Act conferees bowed to pressure from the Administration and produced a completely unacceptable conference report. However, the conferees still have a chance to fix the problems in the report and adopt the Senate reforms.
hq.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/PRCB/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1645
Liberal groups calling for a filibuster against the UNPATRIOTIC Act:
ACLU:
Our Call Alert allows you to look up and call your members of Congress and helps us to track the outcome of the call. It also allows you to tell you friends about the alert to help generate even more calls.
To participate, simply follow these directions:
secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=339&pg=makeACall&JServSessionIdr004=guvjpfhuh1.app23…
People For the American Way:
Emergency Petition to Filibuster the PATRIOT Act House and Senate negotiators have struck a deal on reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act, leaving many of the bill’s worst provisions intact. Before leaving for recess, several senators were threatening to filibuster this legislation if it contained these provisions. Let’s call on them to go all the way to fight for our civil liberties!
actions.pfaw.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=dsJSK2PFJrH&b=1287511&action=5143&tem…
Find your Senator:
senate.gov/
Find Your Representative:
house.gov/
Chris
I don’t know about the actual effect on use, but here in OK, after our state legis. adopted a behind the counter approach, keeping track of purchases, the number of meth lab busts went/and continues to do down by significant numbers.
Flint
” I question how this is much different than what the DEA has been asking for years. I’m no fan of the Patriot Act, but this is definately more of a drug thing than a terrorist thing.”
-Zifnab
I guess it all depends on what you’re into but there are substantial differences between the Unpatriotic Act and what the DEA has used in the past.
I come from a law enforcement family and don’t have a problem with the roving wiretaps and such. But what is at issue is the matter of judicial oversight because the Fourth Amendment protects you from unwarranted search and seizure and ask law enforcement to go before a judge and show that there is a reason for searching your property or interviewing your boss, or siezing your financial records or you!
Under the provisions of the Patriot act they do not have to establish just cause any more. Further members of the Senate from both parties became alarmed because in one year these types of searches jumped from teh average 300 per year to over 30,000.
The fear of course is that if the administration decideds that you aren’t “on their side” that you would become fair game for harrassment. Now I know that you might find this hard to beleive but this administration does have a “vindictiveness” issue with its critics eh?
The point is that no politican or political party should ever have this much power… ya can’t trust any of them and the founding fathers knew that… that’s why they wrote in in to the Constitution in the first place!