Of course, this is the sort of tragedy that pill testing tries to prevent, but the bill shows no recognition of this. But Eric Sterling, who served eight years as the counsel to the House Judiciary Subcomittee on Crime and is now the president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, which advocates drug law reform, has a different view. Fear of felony prosecution in the drug arena is an enormously heavy blanket. Small programs like DanceSafe run the risk of being destroyed. Other such organizations, including the Harm Reduction Coalition and the Lindesmith Center, advocate a shift in national drug policy to view the issue of illegal drug use as a matter of public health, rather than law enforcement.
People are going to use drugs anyway, the reasoning goes.
Sferios says it's especially important to serve the dance community. The anti-Ecstasy bill, say civil libertarians and reduction advocates, could easily be used against programs like DanceSafe. Those prosecuted for distributing information on the use of E and other club drugs would face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years along with fines. He points to studies from England showing that frequent weekend users of Ecstasy are depressed by mid-week, every week. He has no doubt that if the legislation becomes law, the courts will throw it out.