T
The420Guy
Guest
For years, so-called head shops and Internet retailers have
sold pipes billed as being for legal tobacco products but mostly used,
authorities say, to smoke marijuana.
Likewise, hardcore pornographic videos have been sold through adult
bookstores and the Internet.
For years, neither manufacturers, retailers or buyers had much concern
about the possibility of arrest. That's been changing, however, as the
Department of Justice has begun cracking down on both industries, and the
U.S. Attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania has been playing a
key role.
Mary Beth Buchanan led "Operation Pipe Dreams," in which at least 55
people, including actor and comedian Tommy Chong, were accused of
trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia.
Chong, 65, pleaded guilty in federal court in May to conspiring to sell
drug paraphernalia and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11.
Last week, Buchanan announced the indictment of a California couple on
charges of distributing pornography that violates federal obscenity laws.
"She seems to be in great favor with the administration," said Stanton D.
Levenson, Chong's Pittsburgh attorney, who called Buchanan an aggressive
prosecutor. She was confirmed in September 2001 and in April was appointed
to chair a committee advising U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on issues
ranging from budgets to crime-fighting policies.
Buchanan declined to discuss her political philosophy Monday, but said she
believed enforcement of federal drug paraphernalia and obscenity laws had
been lax in the past.
Buchanan said every U.S. attorney was asked by the department to reduce
drug trafficking and drug use and her strategy was to target paraphernalia
makers and retailers. Obscenity, she said, has "always been an important
priority" for Ashcroft.
Obscenity cases were little prosecuted during the last administration and
Ashcroft has made it known that he would step up prosecutions, said Joseph
D. Obenberger, an adult entertainment industry and First Amendment lawyer
in Chicago.
Buchanan, who also serves on the Advisory Committee's subcommittee on child
exploitation and obscenity, said she was interested in the obscenity case
and coordinated the investigation with her counterpart in California and
U.S. Postal Service investigators.
Louis H. Sirkin, the attorney for Robert Zicari and Janet Romano, and their
company, Extreme Associates, called the prosecution a test case and said he
believes the federal obscenity statute is unconstitutional, based on the
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas sodomy law. He said
adults should be able to view any sexually explicit material they wish as
long as it involves consenting adults.
Levenson said there seems to be a trend toward prosecuting cases outside a
defendant's home jurisdiction. In the Chong and Extreme Associates cases,
investigators in the Pittsburgh area ordered items and had them shipped to
local addresses.
"The jurisdictional boundaries seem to be breaking down quite quickly,"
Levenson said. "The Internet has a lot to do with that."
Buchanan denied the suggestion that she was shopping for a conservative
jury in the obscenity case, saying the activities depicted on Extreme
Associates' videos, including rape and murder, would be found to be obscene
anywhere.
"The whole point of this case is, there are limits to what can be produced
and sold, and this material exceeds those limits," Buchanan said.
Pubdate: Tue, 12 Aug 2003
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2003 Associated Press
sold pipes billed as being for legal tobacco products but mostly used,
authorities say, to smoke marijuana.
Likewise, hardcore pornographic videos have been sold through adult
bookstores and the Internet.
For years, neither manufacturers, retailers or buyers had much concern
about the possibility of arrest. That's been changing, however, as the
Department of Justice has begun cracking down on both industries, and the
U.S. Attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania has been playing a
key role.
Mary Beth Buchanan led "Operation Pipe Dreams," in which at least 55
people, including actor and comedian Tommy Chong, were accused of
trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia.
Chong, 65, pleaded guilty in federal court in May to conspiring to sell
drug paraphernalia and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11.
Last week, Buchanan announced the indictment of a California couple on
charges of distributing pornography that violates federal obscenity laws.
"She seems to be in great favor with the administration," said Stanton D.
Levenson, Chong's Pittsburgh attorney, who called Buchanan an aggressive
prosecutor. She was confirmed in September 2001 and in April was appointed
to chair a committee advising U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on issues
ranging from budgets to crime-fighting policies.
Buchanan declined to discuss her political philosophy Monday, but said she
believed enforcement of federal drug paraphernalia and obscenity laws had
been lax in the past.
Buchanan said every U.S. attorney was asked by the department to reduce
drug trafficking and drug use and her strategy was to target paraphernalia
makers and retailers. Obscenity, she said, has "always been an important
priority" for Ashcroft.
Obscenity cases were little prosecuted during the last administration and
Ashcroft has made it known that he would step up prosecutions, said Joseph
D. Obenberger, an adult entertainment industry and First Amendment lawyer
in Chicago.
Buchanan, who also serves on the Advisory Committee's subcommittee on child
exploitation and obscenity, said she was interested in the obscenity case
and coordinated the investigation with her counterpart in California and
U.S. Postal Service investigators.
Louis H. Sirkin, the attorney for Robert Zicari and Janet Romano, and their
company, Extreme Associates, called the prosecution a test case and said he
believes the federal obscenity statute is unconstitutional, based on the
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas sodomy law. He said
adults should be able to view any sexually explicit material they wish as
long as it involves consenting adults.
Levenson said there seems to be a trend toward prosecuting cases outside a
defendant's home jurisdiction. In the Chong and Extreme Associates cases,
investigators in the Pittsburgh area ordered items and had them shipped to
local addresses.
"The jurisdictional boundaries seem to be breaking down quite quickly,"
Levenson said. "The Internet has a lot to do with that."
Buchanan denied the suggestion that she was shopping for a conservative
jury in the obscenity case, saying the activities depicted on Extreme
Associates' videos, including rape and murder, would be found to be obscene
anywhere.
"The whole point of this case is, there are limits to what can be produced
and sold, and this material exceeds those limits," Buchanan said.
Pubdate: Tue, 12 Aug 2003
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2003 Associated Press
