The text of the newly proposed "Crack House Statute" amendment is now available on Thomas. It appears as Section 5131 of S. 22, the "Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act" of 2003, a comprehensive bill covering a potpourri of other law enforcement measures ranging from telemarketing fraud and gun control to anti-terrorism and victim restitution.

he bill is the same as last year's anti-RAVE act S. 2622, without the extensive findings denouncing raves. Its basic effect is to extend current federal law against owning or maintaining drug-involved premises to include renting, leasing and using.

At present, Section 416 of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 USC 856 a(1) makes it a federal crime to " knowingly open or maintain any place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance." (This is one of the statutes under which Ed Rosenthal has been charged).

The amendment would expand this to "open, LEASE, RENT, USE, or maintain any place, WHETHER PERMANENTLY OR TEMPORARILY"

Note that the owner/leaser must KNOWINGLY have the PURPOSE of using the premises for a controlled substance offense. Thus the act of leasing premises for rave parties where drugs happen to be used would arguably not be a crime. However, maintaining premises for medical cannabis clubs would be illegal (as under current law in the case of property owners).

The proposed amendment also provides for a new civil penalty of $250,000 for maintaining drug-involved premises; however, this doesn't add a lot to the present criminal penalties of a $500,000 fine and 20 years in prison.

Absent last year's inflammatory language against raves, the bill appears to be a less than radical, though still objectionable, extension of current law."