Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

Just when you think Congress has gone about as far as it can go in terms of destroying civil liberties and Constitutional rights, eager and earnest Congressmen such as those “serving” on the House Judiciary Committee step up to the plate and show the American people that there is plenty more that can be done.  Case in point: on October 6, 2011, the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill (sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith) called the Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011 (H.R. 313), which will serve to continue the administrative beating of the corpse known as Free Speech in America.

H.R. 313 would make it a Federal crime for U.S. citizens/residents to plan or even discuss activities on foreign soil that would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) if they were carried out inside the United States. Under this bill, it is irrelevant if the activity is actually legal in the country where it is going to be conducted. With H.R. 313, the operative law is the CSA in the United States; the unconstitutional and oppressive law that prohibits drug use and marijuana possession as well as regulates the use and possession of prescription medication.

According to H.R. 313, anyone who discusses, plans, or advises anyone else to engage in an activity prohibited by the CSA, regardless of national boundaries, will be subject to prosecution under Federal law as well as charges of conspiracy. Apparently, conspiracies only exist when they are committed by the citizenry – never the government colluding with corporations or drug cartels.

The conspiracy issue aside, however, there are some disturbing implications for American free speech in this bill. As Jay Van Liere writes for Reality Sandwich: Continue Reading