US Club Owners Fear DEA Asset Seizures

Club owners in Miami are staging a "Nightclub & Crackhouse" conference shortly to discuss increasing concern about US authorities' escalating campaign against nightlife. "Nightclub owners around the country fear that the government is involved in an effort to seize their assets," a spokesman from the EMDEF (Electronic Music Defence Fund) said this week. "Asset seizure became a new tool of the US government in 1986, the same year the government passed the Crackhouse Law. While cocaine was the drug of choice in most nightclubs then, the US government is now waging an all out offensive on what they're calling 'Club Drugs'."

"Nightclub owners agree that drugs are a danger - especially to young people," he continued. "But they also point out there is little more they can do to prevent drug use among their young adult patrons. US Law prohibits them from searching a patron beyond a reasonable point (previous searches by security, when too extensive, have resulted in class action lawsuits against venue managers). At the same time, US Law prohibits them from denying use of a location to a promoter of a specific form of entertainment."

Leading First Amendment lawyer Luke Lirot will be hosting the panel which takes place at 10.00am on June 11th at the Miami Beach Convention Centre. Confirmed guests include Florida's Drug Tsar, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and representatives from the US Justice Department. The event is being arranged by the Bar And Nightclub Association and registration can be completed at their website at the following address:
http://www.nightclub.com
Jonty Adderley

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• USA Club