Louisiana Legislature and ’pre-crime’

[Benzhead]

If this is the wrong place to post this, please move it to the appropriate category.


It looks like Louisiana may be getting set to target internet sellers of non-scheduled substances. From an email:

Targeting Ethnobotanical Suppliers


A Louisiana bill aims to make the production and distribution of many previously unscheduled ethnobotanicals a crime...


House Bill No. 20 from Louisiana has been introduced to control the production and distribution of many common ethnobotanicals, some hallucinogenic and some not. From Jon Hanna, of the Entheogen Review:


Strangely, in the long list of names of specific plants that they deem "hallucinogenic" and therefore not allowed to be produced, manufactured, distributed, or possessed for consumption, Trichocereus is absent. (And they have several plants listed that can't really be considered hallucinogens.) But they do nail some things like Amanita muscaria, Heimia salicfolia (sic), Atropa belladonna, Brunfelsia species, Peganum harmala, and several others that have never been targeted for restriction from consumption, since they don't contain any scheduled compounds. And Salvia divinorum is on there too. (Indeed, it seems like perhaps MOST of the plants listed don't contain any compound that is scheduled.)


My guess would be that the idea--aside from getting more specific with the names of what is illegal and the defining the terms themselves--is that someone in Louisiana wants to target entheobotanical companies (in the same way that various "research chemical" companies were recently targeted), by trying to argue that it is CLEAR that such companies are selling the products for consumption.


Perhaps The Entheogen Review should stop accepting adverts from botanical vendors. Such adverts might perhaps be used in part of the "evidence" that defines the intent of the seller. Indeed, having a copy of Pharmacotheon in your house when they kick down your door and discover that Brugmansia plant in your back yard might also be "evidence" of your intent to later eat the plant...


View full PDF copy of Louisiana House Bill No. 20

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I should advise all that I have not completely read LA HB20. I will do so, and edit this commentary portion of the post as necessary. I did a cursory reading, and it appears that the LA Legislature is on the slippery slope of being able to determine 'intent' by some form of divination(See PG.4 Sec. D for legitimate uses of otherwise potentially prohibited plant products)Oh, brother.Edited by: benzhead

[unico_walker]

Well wait I'm unclear and I don't have the time right now to read the
full text but, is it selling these plants with reasonable thought that
they will be used for consumption thats going to be outlawed by this
proposed bill.

Or is it attempting to schedule all these plants? Or is it outlawing
possesion with intent to consume? How the hell can you make it legal to
possess something but illegal to consume it? How would you bust someone
on it, see them putting the gelcap in their throat?



Sorry for all the questions but this bill seems to be all over the place.

[Benzhead]

Well, U_W..I'll spare you the read. Here is the pertinent verbiage, less the named plants:

HLS 05RS-52 ORIGINAL
Page 1 of 4
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.
Regular Session, 2005
HOUSE BILL NO. 20
BY REPRESENTATIVE STRAIN
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES: Prohibits the production, manufacture, and distribution
of hallucinogenic plant products
AN ACT 1
To enact R.S. 40:989.1, relative to controlled dangerous substances; to create the crime of 2
the unlawful production, manufacture, distribution, or possession of a material, 3
compound, mixture, or preparation intended for human consumption which contains 4
a hallucinogenic plant; to provide for definitions; to provide for penalties; to provide 5
for exceptions; and to provide for related matters. 6
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana: 7
Section 1. R.S. 40:989.1 is hereby enacted to read as follows: 8
§989.1. Unlawful production, manufacture, distribution, or possession of 9
hallucinogenic plants 10
A.(1) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to 11
produce, manufacture, distribute, or possess with intent to produce, manufacture, or 12
distribute a material, compound, mixture, or preparation intended for human 13
consumption which contains a hallucinogenic plant. 14
(2) Whoever violates the provisions of this Subsection shall be sentenced to 15
a term of imprisonment with or without hard labor for not less than two years nor 16
more than ten years and may, in addition, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than 17
twenty thousand dollars. 18
HLS 05RS-52 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 20
B.(1) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to 1
possess a material, compound, mixture, or preparation intended for human 2
consumption which contains a hallucinogenic plant. 3
(2) Any person who violates the provisions of this Subsection shall be 4
sentenced to a term of imprisonment with or without hard labor for not more than 5
five years and may, in addition, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than five 6
thousand dollars. 7
C. For the purposes of this Section: 8
(1) "Distribute" means to sell, lease, rent, barter, trade, furnish, supply, or 9
otherwise transfer in exchange for anything of value a material, compound, mixture, 10
or preparation intended for human consumption which contains a hallucinogenic 11
plant. 12
(2) "Manufacture" means the production, preparation, propagation, 13
compounding, or processing of a material, compound, mixture, or preparation 14
intended for human consumption which contains a hallucinogenic plant either 15
directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, or 16
independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and 17
chemical synthesis. Manufacturer includes any person who packages, repackages, 18
or labels any container holding a material, compound, mixture, or preparation 19
intended for human consumption which contains a hallucinogenic plant. 20
(3) "Production" includes the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing, 21
or harvesting of a hallucinogenic plant. 22
(4) "Hallucinogenic plant" means any part or portion of any of the following: 23

(Plant species left out in the name of brevity)
In another portion of the bill, the legislators saw fit to continue to allow the use of 'hallucinogenic plants' in the following manners:

The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the possession, planting,
cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a hallucinogenic plant strictly for aesthetic, 7
landscaping, or decorative purposes. 8

So, I would argue that the true traditional use of these plants..That is, as tools to alter concious states, may become prohibited, but the newer, novel and less 'dangerous' uses will be allowed to coninue as before.
My use of the word 'dangerous' is simply to illustrate that lacking any evidentiary data, it ispolitical suicide to be seen as anything but 'tough' where the WoD(War on Drugs) is concerned. This bill is an obvious attempt to expand some definitions in the name of saving us from ourselves. I say let's do the research before enacting more plant prohibition(s). That seems to me a sensible position - although in the current climate of fear in the U.S., I fear that logic and reason will again fall prey to blind emotion.
Let's hope that in debate, that the LA Legislature will see that this bill in this form would be almost unenforceable, and kill it.
T