"Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country's drug laws. "The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you're there wouldn't be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime."
The law could also potentially affect academics and medical professionals. For example, a U.S. doctor who works with overseas doctors or government officials on needle exchange programs could be subject to criminal prosecution. A U.S. resident who advises someone in another country on how to grow marijuana or how to run a medical marijuana dispensary would also be in violation of the new law, even if medical marijuana is legal in the country where the recipient of the advice resides. If interpreted broadly enough, a prosecutor could possibly even charge doctors, academics and policymakers from contributing their expertise to additional experiments like the drug decriminalization project Portugal, which has successfully reduced drug crime, addiction and overdose deaths.
The Controlled Substances Act also regulates the distribution of prescription drugs, so something as simple as emailing a friend vacationing in Tijuana some suggestions on where to buy prescription medication over the counter could subject a U.S. resident to criminal prosecution. "It could even be something like advising them where to buy cold medicine overseas that they'd have to show I.D. to get here in the U.S.," Piper says...
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Radley Balko @'HuffPo'
Almost every country in the world has laws regarding the legality of marijuana. If the Smith bill passes would violators be prosecuted in the foreign country where the law was broken as well as in the United States? Some countries, like Indonesia and Thailand for example, have stricter marijuana laws than the US. Violating marijuana laws in Thailand with large quantities of marijuana can lead to arrest and fines. Since Thailand already has its own laws, why does the US need such a far-reaching law? The article brings up American citizen, Joe Gordon. The US government and citizens tend to be outraged when Americans abroad are arrested, yet this bill has the same intentions as the law that snared Joe Gordon. I can see this law affecting diplomatic relations between the US and foreign countries. The law could also be a detriment to the tourism industry of certain countries.
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