Pubdate: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 Source: Northwest Florida Daily News (FL) Copyright: 2000 Northwest Florida Daily News Contact: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/ DRUG WAR AFFLICTED BY SEIZURE MANIA Give a kid a beer, lose your house. That's the essence of a law passed in Albuquerque, N.M., last month. It's hard to imagine that the city's expanded nuisance ordinance will stand up to a challenge, yet its passage is indicative of the approach increasingly taken by governments waging a "drug war." The City Council voted 7-1 to amend a city code that was designed to crack down on drug dealing and prostitution. Now, city enforcers can seize a resident's house not only if it is suspected of being a crack house or a brothel, but also if teen-agers hold keg parties there when Mom and Dad are out of town. The ordinance amends the definition of "drug-related criminal activity" to include the following: "Allowing or permitting the consumption of intoxicating liquors by any person under the age of 21 without their parent's or guardian's knowledge or consent, or the order of a practicing physician, or as part of a religious ceremony." A stabbing death at a teen party was the catalyst for the council's proposal, according to The Albuquerque Journal. Although no responsible person encourages teen drinking, the Albuquerque law oversteps the bounds of common sense to redefine drug- related activity in a mind-boggling manner, and it is authoritarian in nature. With seizure laws, "they take your property first and then you have to prove them wrong to get it back," said Dave Kopel, who is the research director for the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo., a former prosecutor and a law professor who specializes in civil liberties issues. Albuquerque officials say they will apply the law only in extreme circumstances, such as when a house becomes a chronic problem. But the ordinance provides no guarantees that the city will always use its power judiciously. Albuquerque citizens have been asked to grant enormous power to their government, and to trust that it will not now or at any time in the future abuse it. That doesn't bode well for residents, especially given the language the city used to support the ordinance. The city attorney told the Journal that the law "gives us a hammer" to use against homeowners. "Criminal justice in this country is not supposed to be a blunt instrument," Mr. Kopel said in response. It is supposed to be based on fairness, justice, appropriateness and due process. Americans were told that expanded government seizure powers would be used only against big-time drug dealers, Mr. Kopel explained. "Now that they've got this confiscation machine going ... it can be turned on everybody else." Chalk the Albuquerque absurdity up to another ill effect of America's out-of-control drug war. - --- MAP posted-by: John Chase