We don't need no Big Brother...

George Orwell missed the boat. Why have Big Brother watching everyone, when you can turn the nation into conscript spies? You don't need the government spying on the world, when you can make the world spy on itself.

What am I talking about? The "Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act" (H.R. 1528) bill currently making its way through the house.

I'm at work, so I need to do some more research into the text of this bill before quoting too many specifics, but as I understand it, this bill makes it mandatory to report drug offenses to the authorities, and then assist in the investigation of those offenses.

That chill you just felt was the icy hand of governmental control taking a better hold of your sensitive bits.

Have we learned nothing of what it means to be a free society? Now, if someone is caught for a drug offense, everyone who was in a position to possibly know about the crime and didn’t report it will now be subject to criminal prosecution?

The average citizen isn’t a trained drug agent. What do we do when, in the interest of avoiding prosecution, floods of calls start coming in because the next door neighbor swallows pills occasionally, and we can’t KNOW they’re merely aspirin? What is the repercussion for making false accusations? All the accuser has to say is “Well, it looked like drugs to me, and I didn’t want to go to prison for not reporting it, if it was.”

This sort of “turn in your friends and family” plan is contrary to the freedoms of this country. And especially when we’re talking about something as relatively benign as smoking the occasional joint. As a parent, if I suspect my children are using drugs, I want the freedom to search, and to confront them, and handle the problem without then being legally required to report the results to the authorities.

Do we really want to set up a situation where it’s safer for me to adopt a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with respect to drugs and my children, because once I know about it, I have to send my child to prison? And what if I have a cocaine addiction, and I realize it and want to get off of it? I will need the support of friends and family and probably of a doctor and maybe a peer group. Do I really need to choose between trying to quit without the proper weapons at my disposal or asking my friends and family to break the law by knowing but not reporting?

I truly hope when I get a chance to research this more, it’s not what I’m told it is, and if anyone has more information, please post it.

Copyright © May 13, 2005 by Liam Johnson. http://www.liamjohnson.net