NICKERSON URGES DRUG-LAW REVIEW

Federal drug laws unfairly punish small-time dealers, and strict sentences
fail to help users swallowed by the illegal drug trade, said outgoing U.S.
Attorney Don Nickerson.

"Until we get a handle on drug treatment, we're just going to keep putting
people in prison at an incredible rate," he said.

Nickerson, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa since 1994, will
leave office next month and begin work in June as a corporate lawyer for
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa and South Dakota. He said he
will not seek public office again.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley has recommended that President Bush nominate one
of four lawyers, including former Whitewater prosecutor Steve Colloton of
Des Moines, to succeed Nickerson.

Nickerson said the federal judicial system must be more flexible in dealing
with drug users.

The number of people charged with federal crimes in the southern half of
Iowa rose by 63 percent from 1995 to 2000, due almost exclusively to the
rise of methamphetamine trafficking, Nickerson said. The rate of those
pleading guilty rose by more than 100 percent.

The spike in guilty pleas stems from federal sentencing guidelines enacted
in the late 1980s. Defendants qualify for shorter prison terms if they
provide evidence for federal prosecutors.

But those defendants, often bit players in larger trafficking schemes with
addictions of their own, still go to prison more often than they go to
intense drug treatment centers, Nickerson said.

Research shows that methamphetamine is so instantly addictive that the
brains of first-time users are immediately altered, Nickerson said.

"There was a prevailing thought that said if someone wants to kick drugs,
they just have to buckle down and kick drugs," Nickerson said during an
interview last week. "But it's not a question of volition and discretion.
It's a matter of needing and physically depending on the drug to create a
mood."

Users who get involved in dealing drugs to feed their habits should be
treated differently than higher-level traffickers who use violence in
pursuit of profit, Nickerson said.

"The system is weighted too heavily in favor of prosecuting small-time drug
dealers," he said. "I'm very concerned about the mechanical application of
justice."

The next U.S. attorney will continue to face a formidable opponent in
methamphetamine trafficking, as other illegal drugs, such as the
hallucinogenic stimulant called ecstasy, become more common in Iowa.

Iowans also will wrestle with how they receive more new neighbors from
non-English-speaking countries, as the stream of Hispanic immigrants increases.

"There's a change afoot," Nickerson said. "Iowa is really going to go
through a sea change in terms of its attitude about diversity."

Nickerson, Iowa's first African-American federal prosecutor, said Iowans
are resistant to change, which can make the state seem uninviting. He said
a proposal in the Iowa Legislature that would make English the state's
official language is wrong-headed.

"Hell, English is the official language," he said. "This is an indication
that non-English-speaking people aren't necessarily welcome. I think we
forget as Americans that other cultures have rich languages and traditions."

Nickerson denied that being overlooked for a state district court judgeship
in January soured him on future public office.

He applied for a vacant Polk County District Court judgeship. The Judicial
Nominating Commission recommended District Associate Judge Douglas Staskal
and Des Moines lawyer Robert Hanson. Gov. Tom Vilsack appointed Staskal.

Critics of the commission said that Nickerson, an assistant U.S. attorney
from 1978 to 1980, was the most qualified candidate in the field of 12
candidates and that the commission was insensitive to diversity by passing
over the African American. Three of Iowa's 170 district and associate
judges are black.

Nickerson renewed his call for officials to appoint more minority judges.
Among the reasons are that Iowa's minority prison population is
disproportionately high.

"Just to say it bluntly, people from diverse backgrounds and diverse
cultures need to be given more of an opportunity in and out of the
courtroom," Nickerson said. "Given an opportunity, there are a number of
people who could answer the call."

Nickerson, 49, is a Delaware native who came to Iowa in 1969 to attend Iowa
State University. He attended Drake University Law School and has remained
in Iowa for more than 30 years. He expects to stay in Iowa indefinitely,
although he said much of his family including his aging father remains on
the East Coast.

He plans to stay involved in public service, especially concerning youth,
even though he will no longer have a title.

"I don't need a title. I don't need a long black robe," he said. "My view
of public service is just as beneficial and valuable in society as
someone with a long title and a high position."