Help if you can!!

[Suspect X]

This is a forwarded letter about the Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund. EMDEF was formed to fight for the rights of the dance & electronic music community, and the promoters & venue owners that are the new targets of the givernment's misguided "war on drugs". You will read below about the DEA's new strategy to close "rave clubs," and why this is a direct attack on our collective freedoms. I encourage you to read the following letter, and get involved - the next person to come under the scrutiny of the DEA using "crack house" laws may be you or someone you know.

Fight for your rights or lose them!

Please forward the letter portion of this email (below) to any and all.

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Dear Friends,

January 12th was a sad day for many in the dance community. A talented promoter, and friend to many, Disco Donnie in New Orleans was indicted along with Managers of the State Palace Theater on Federal charges.

This is a letter appealing to you for support as Donnie, Robert and Brian take a

brave stand against a precedent setting attack on our culture. Please forward this e-mail to friends. Dance events, and raves in particular, have long been the subject of

discriminatory legal enforcement. Never before have the potential consequences of these attacks carried such significant ramifications for the scene. The DEA and local law enforcement have used an unprecedented tactic of arresting the promoters and venue management for alleged drug use by patrons. By singling out electronic music events, the DEA has

threatened the viability of our music industry, and our community.

We are very fortunate that Robert, Brian and Donnie will challenge these charges, venting a national precedent from taking place.

Considering the possible consequences - up to 20 years in prison and fines of $500,000

each - these men are taking a brave stand, defending our community in the process.

You are being invited to help raise funds for what is likely to be an expensive legal defense. Law enforcement officials around the country have commented that they are watching this case with a scrutinous eye to

determine whether they can use the same tactic to close electronic music events in

their jurisdiction. In other words, the prosecutors in this case will be given extensive financial resources. This effort appears to be a further step in the calating attack against the Electronic Music industry. EMDEF is being established to help the defendants in New Orleans and to prepare for future legal defense efforts.

The Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund (EMDEF) is appealing to you for support. EMDEF will be assisting Donnie, Robert and Brian financially so they will have access to a top team of defense attorneys. The fund will protect other professionals as new cases arise. Please donate what you can.

This is a new fund, and will rely on your support to assist Robert, Brian and Donnie. The New Orleans trial may cost as much as $500,000. The full text of our press release follows.

Please DONATE and READ MORE ABOUT THE CASE at WWW.EMDEF.ORG.

Again, please forward this e-mail to your friends. In unity, we can defend the rights of our community, and the respect we deserve.

Warmly,

Will Patterson

EMDEF

Censorship is Latest Drug War Tactic as Government Seeks to Put "Rave"

Dance Music Promoters in Prison

9:00 A.M. C.S.T., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2001

NEW ORLEANS, LA--A local music promoter and a concert hall manager who

face

up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines simply for staging the

electronic dance music events known as "raves" said today that the

charges

against them amount to censorship and have asked a federal court here

to

dismiss the case.

"The prosecution by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is part

of a

novel -- and entirely unconstitutional -- strategy to curtail use of

the

drug Ecstasy, which has been associated with raves, by using federal

‘crack

house̢۪ laws," said Arthur Lemann, a local attorney who is

representing

one of the defendants.

Youth culture expert Douglas Rushkoff as well as music industry

professionals are speaking out against the prosecution of rave

organizers as an

unfounded attack on a vibrant music culture. The American Civil

Liberties Union has

also said that it opposes such prosecutions on constitutional grounds.

"Holding club owners and promoters of raves criminally liable for what

some

people may do at these events is no different from arresting the

stadium

owners and promoters of a Rolling Stones concert or a rap show because

some

concertgoers may be smoking or selling marijuana," said Graham Boyd,

Director of the ACLU̢۪s Drug Policy Litigation Project.

Today's case marks the first time that the government has used the

"crack

house" law to prosecute organizers of raves. Prosecutors around the

country

are watching the case and have already publicly announced an interest

in

applying the same strategy in their districts, Boyd said.

"If the government is successful in shutting down raves," he added,

"whats to stop them from applying this tactic to other music genres,

such as

hip-hop, heavy metal and jazz, where drug use is known to exist?"

At a hearing today in federal district court, James D. Estopinal --

known

to worldwide fans of electronic music as "Disco Donnie" for his

legendary rave

parties -- and Brian Brunet, a manager of the State Palace Theater

here,

will enter "not guilty" pleas and seek a dismissal of the case.

Lawyers for Brunet and Estopinal are charging a violation of their

clients basic constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

Their clients,

they said, "have been targeted because of the genre of music that they

promote and the unsubstantiated association of that genre with rampant

drug

use."

New Orleans attorney Lemann, who will appear in court tomorrow with

Brunet

and Estopinal, noted that both men had fully cooperated with

"Operation

Rave Review," a joint investigation by the New Orleans police

department and the

DEA.

But under pressure from the media and the public, according to the

brief,

"the DEA has revised its strategy, ignoring drug dealers, and instead

prosecuting electronic music concert promoters, whom the government

does

not accuse of providing drugs, assisting anyone in providing drugs, or

of being

directly involved with drugs in any way whatsoever."

Passed by Congress in 1986 to combat crack cocaine, the federal "crack

house" law was designed to punish the owners or operators of houses

used for the

manufacture, storage, distribution or use of illegal drugs.

Yet Congress specifically rejected using the crack house tactic last

year

when it passed the Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act. Passed in October

2000,

the Act strengthened penalties for those caught trafficking in the

drug and

provided money for educational programs. Significantly, however,

lawmakers

eliminated a controversial provision that would have limited speech

about

ecstasy and other drugs.

Raves are a legitimate cultural event just like rock concerts, art

exhibitions and film screenings, and can be an important outlet for

young

people, according to journalist and youth culture expert Douglas

Rushkoff,

a Professor of Media Culture at New York University and author of

"Coercion: Why We Listen to What ‘They’ Say."

"In a world where most every authentic expression of youth culture is

commodified by a media conglomerate and sold back to teens at the

mall,

rave culture stands as one of the few, relatively uncorrupted

outposts for

America's kids," he said.

Grassroots organizing has already sprung up in response to this latest

government censorship threat: the newly established Electronic Music

Defense and Education Fund (EMDEF), is spreading the word to rave

enthusiasts and

music industry professionals.

William Patterson, an EMDEF activist, said that concert promoters are

concerned about drug use in their community and have taken proactive

steps

to alleviate problems of drug use by some patrons. The Lindesmith

Center, a

drug policy organization working to broaden and better inform the

public debate

on drug policy and related issues, sponsors the group.

Note to Reporters/Editors: Contact Susan Mainzer, Emily Whitfield or

Kini

Schoop at the numbers listed above to arrange interviews with legal

experts

and others involved in the case.

www.aclu.org

www.emdef.org

www.drugpolicy.org

www.greengalactic.com

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Method acting is like masturbating. It's lots of fun, but you don't accomplish much. - Charlton Heston