JUDGE NICHOLS: CHANGE DRUG LAW

LEGAL: Practice Of Keeping Seized Property Is Called Corrupt.

In his 15 years in Whatcom County Superior Court, Judge David Nichols
has sent a lot of people to jail for drug-related crimes. Now he says
it is time for politicians to do something about it.

More than 70 people gathered at Northwood Hall Wednesday afternoon for
a meeting of the City Club of Bellingham to hear Nichols talk about
the effectiveness of drug laws and the death penalty.

Nichols described current approaches to drug use as counterproductive,
particularly the judicial system's emphasis on incarcerating drug
users. But he stopped short of advocating a particular course of action.

"We haven't learned the lessons of the prohibition," Nichols said. "We
can't legislate based on morality and imprison people for individual
lifestyle choices."

He said the sacrosanct nature of current drug policies often hinders
the discussion of alternative approaches to drug use, such as
decriminalizing the possession of some drugs.

"There is a tremendous amount of drug-related violence and property
damage because of the need for money to sustain an illegal habit,"
Nichols said. He added that up to 80 percent of the criminal cases he
sees are drug related.

"We have got to give our politicians the permission to discuss this
without losing their jobs," Nichols said. "It is insanity how we're
dealing with some of this -- not from a moral point of view, but from
a legal point of view."

According to Nichols, one of the problems with the current system is
that the legal system has become addicted to money it gets from drug
cases. He cited the police practice of keeping property they seize
during drug raids. Nichols said that items such as cars and houses are
often dubbed "drug related" and confiscated by the police. He also
said prosecutors often reduce felony drug charges to misdemeanors if
offenders make a contribution to the county drug fund.

"Law enforcement is being corrupted by this money," Nichols said. "One
has to ask questions when a government institution comes out of a
situation better than when it walked in."

Jon Ostlund, director of Whatcom County's Public Defender's Office,
concurred with Nichols.

"I'd like to see (drug fund) money go into treatment rather than
buying more toys for police," Ostlund said.

Ostlund said decriminalization of the possession of drugs would help
an overburdened court system.

"I would decriminalize for simple possession for all of these drugs,"
Ostlund said. "I would leave the criminalization to those who are
selling them."

Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Steven Mura agreed that drugs pose
a large problem to the legal system. When asked about his view of
current drug policies, however, he declined to take a position.

"I think that if a policy maker who is in a position to have to make
the laws is interested in discussing with the judges what the effect
of the law is, or what the effect of a future law will be, I think
it's very appropriate for a judge to comment," Mura said. "I have
enough to do over here without worrying about what the laws should
be."

Mura agreed with Nichols that discussion of alternative solutions to
drug abuse is often obscured by organizations with an interest in the
drug trade.

"If the national government were willing to discuss it, it would be
the Colombian drug cartel who would hire lobbyists to say 'you're
trying to corrupt out kids,'" Mura said.

Nichols began his lecture by advocating the abolishment of the death
penalty. Among the reasons Nichols cited were its unequal application
depending on defense counsel, race, and state, as well as the lengthy
appeals process, the presence of judges who refuse to apply the death
penalty, the high cost of trying capital punishment cases, and the
involvement of "innocent citizens off the street" in the decision to
kill criminals.

Nichols is not afraid he will be accused of being "soft on
crime."

"What I feel about an issue doesn't have anything to do with what I do
in court," Nichols said.