OUR VIEW: SPOILS OF WAR

Crackdown on Drug Trade Has Proven All Too Lucrative for Law Enforcement

Not since Edward Teach first prowled the high seas in pursuit of merchant
ships as a "privateer" for the British crown has a war on commerce been so
profitable. What separated him from today's drug warriors, though, is that
Teach eventually crossed the line into out-and-out piracy as the notorious
outlaw Blackbeard, ultimately to be hunted down and killed; the agencies
that prosecute America's war on drugs need fear no reprisal. They seize and
benefit from substantial booty - houses, boats, cars, planes, etc., along
with wads and wads of cash - with the law's full blessing.

And they don't even have to prove the guilt of the alleged drug dealers
whose ill-gotten gains have been impounded. Needless to say, no one who
hoisted the Jolly Roger over the Spanish Main ever had it so good.

That's why two state lawmakers in Denver are introducing a measure to rein
in this forfeiture power when wielded by law officers in Colorado. The move
follows legislation by Congress a couple of years ago limiting federal
agents' ability to seize assets.

Current state law makes it "much easier for the government to seize
property than to convict you of a crime," said Republican Rep. Shawn
Mitchell of Broomfield in touting the bill to Denver media. "I have the
firm belief it's a dangerous power subject to abuse."

In the bipartisan effort, he and Pueblo Democratic Sen. Bill Thiebaut also
seek to restrict how such property is used while it's in authorities'
possession because often it is never returned to the owner, even if the
person is acquitted.

Forfeiture power, initiated on the hopeful premise it could undermine drug
traffickers by depriving them of their lucre, has become a cynical game on
the part of government. The ability to take possessions of alleged
wrongdoers - it doesn't even have to involve the drug trade; it could be
used against anyone presumed to be involved in any felonious activity - has
turned into not only an unjustifiable penalty but also a reliable, and
relied-upon, source of revenue for law enforcement.

One of lawmaker says police have seized cars, cell phones, jewelry and guns
and then used them in subsequent undercover work or sold the property and
used the proceeds for pizzas, parties and, in the case of one police
department, an aquarium.

Mitchell's and Thiebaut's pending legislation would redirect the property
and proceeds from forfeitures toward services such as treatment programs
and to innocent co-owners of the seized property, such as family members.
Indeed, there have been cases around the country in which children were
deprived of their homes because dad was thought to be a dope peddler.

The reason authorities have been able to get away with it is that the
assets are disposed of under civil rather than criminal laws, meaning the
state has less to prove in court than it does in pressing criminal charges
against the suspects themselves.

That also means that even if the property's owner is tried and acquitted,
he doesn't necessarily recover his belongings because it's a separate legal
action. Often, the legal costs in fighting the civil case are prohibitive
and sometimes, by the time the criminal case is resolved, the property as
been auctioned off - with proceeds going to the local constabulary.

Accordingly, the legislation aims to shift the burden of proof for civil
forfeitures to the government and to raise the legal standard for seizures
prior to a conviction. It would require that, in most cases, a property
owner be convicted of a crime before any forfeiture.

The measure warrants the statehouse's full support.

As staunch supporters of local law enforcement and fervent believers in its
role in apprehending those who violate the rights of their fellow man, we
want to see law officers equipped with the latest technology, the most
effective armaments and the swiftest patrol cars. We want to see them paid
well, too, for the tough work they do. Heck, we're only too happy to throw
in parties and an occasional pizza.

However, none of law enforcement's resources should derive from the spoils
of a bust that didn't even result in a conviction. That, in effect,
penalizes the innocent. Let's not sully law enforcement's noble mission by
reducing it to thinly veiled piracy.

Science Over Rhetoric

Fresh facts in the Dust-Up Over Medical Pot

While we're on the subject of drug war-spawned misfires, consider the
federal government's fever-pitch assault on proliferating medical-marijuana
laws such as Colorado's, approved in 2000. Federal law still bars pot's
production, sale or use, and the feds have continued to threaten those
states that have liberalized it for the ailing. In some high-profile cases
in California, G-men have seized pot plants grown by cannibis clubs to
dispense to the sick.

To back their bullying, Washington's drug warriors have maintained
steadfastly there's no medicinal value to marijuana - a claim disputed by
many scientists. One of them is Bob Melamede, chairman of the CU-Springs
biology department; he was profiled in Tuesday's Gazette. As one who
maintains the feds need "to be educated" on the subject, he'll teach a
seminar on medical marijuana at the campus on March 29 (call 262-4071 for
details). May science trump politics.