[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2348 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2348

 To amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide civil liability for 
illegal manufacturers and distributors of controlled substances for the 
         harm caused by the use of those controlled substances.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2005

Mr. Latham (for himself, Mr. Kuhl of New York, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Case, Mr. 
Kennedy of Minnesota, and Mr. McCaul of Texas) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 
   in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide civil liability for 
illegal manufacturers and distributors of controlled substances for the 
         harm caused by the use of those controlled substances.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Drug Dealer Liability Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL CAUSE OF ACTION FOR DRUG DEALER LIABILITY.

    (a) In General.--Part E of the Controlled Substances Act is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 521. FEDERAL CAUSE OF ACTION FOR DRUG DEALER LIABILITY.

    ``(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), any person 
who manufactures or distributes a controlled substance in a felony 
violation of this title or title III shall be liable in a civil action 
to any party harmed, directly or indirectly, by the use of that 
controlled substance.
    ``(b) Exception.--An individual user of a controlled substance may 
not bring or maintain an action under this section unless the 
individual personally discloses to narcotics enforcement authorities 
all of the information known to the individual regarding all that 
individual's sources of illegal controlled substances.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for the 
Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 is amended 
by inserting after the time relating to section 520 the following new 
item:

``Sec. 521. Federal cause of action for drug dealer liability.''.
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