In just five days, rave party-goers collected 10,000 signatures over the Internet to present to U.S. lawmakers considering a bill that would hold rave promoters responsible if illegal drugs are used at their events, the Washington Post reported July 18.The petition that ravers sent to each U.S. senator states: "This bill is a serious threat to civil liberties, freedom of speech, and the right to dance."
Rave parties feature loud, electronic dance music, as well as the party drug ecstasy. Police investigations in numerous cities have shown that raves are a popular place to buy, sell, and take ecstasy.
Under the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act of 2002, known as the RAVE Act, promoters would be charged with a felony crime if people attending raves use ecstasy and other illegal drugs. Essentially, the bill expands the existing federal crack-house law to cover promoters of raves and other events.
"It violates the First Amendment," said Marv Johnson, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Johnson said that while there is no constitutional right to smoke crack, there is a right to dance. Under the U.S. Constitution, he argued, music and dance are protected forms of free expression.
"This bill seems to imply that people go to raves to do drugs, and the music is there to accentuate the drug experience," said Luciana Lopez, a copy editor for a science journal in Washington.
The legislation passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and could receive final Senate approval at any time.
In the House of Representatives, a tougher bill is pending that would hold concert promoters in violation if they "reasonably ought to know" that someone will use an illegal drug during an event.
The Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize and Undermine Production (CLEAN-UP) of Methamphetamines Act has 67 sponsors, but has been delayed in committees since February.
Since 1999, misuse of ecstasy by teenagers has increased 71 percent. The drug also has been responsible for thousands of overdoses and some deaths.
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