CARRIED AWAY BY DRUGS

The target of a new anti-drug initiative now speeding toward final
congressional approval is a worthy one big international drug traffickers.
But, as too often happens when Congress collaborates with the Clinton
administration to toughen law enforcement policies, civil liberties stand
to suffer.

The measure, called the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act,
overwhelmingly passed the House two weeks ago. A House-Senate conference
committee incorporated the measure in the annual intelligence authorization
bill that needs only a final floor vote in the Senate before going to the
president's desk for his signature. All of this occurred without any public
hearings or extended debate to explore the legislation's implications for
due process and other constitutional values.

Under the measure, the government will be required to compile an annual
list of those if determines to be "significant foreign narcotics
traffickers" under standards that the bill does not articulate. The
government would then have authority to freeze their assets in the United
States without any chance for judicial review of the basis of the designation.

Americans who engage in financial dealings with a person or company on the
fist could have their assets blocked, again without the benefit of full
judicial review. The measure makes no exception for those investors or
partners who thought they were dealing with legitimate businesses.

"Is this the America we want?" asked Representative Jerrold Nadler,
Democrat of New York, as he waged a lonely and futile fight against the
bill in the House. "What is the remedy if the bureaucracy gets the wrong
person?" Those pertinent questions were sadly lost in the rush to crack
down on foreign drug lords before Congress adjourns.