First Posted: 07-28-10 03:42 PM | Updated: 07-28-10 04:00 PM
Crack-Powder Sentencing Disparity Reformed By Congress
Congress addressed a historic wrong on Wednesday afternoon, replacing it instead with a slightly lesser wrong, when the House voted to reduce the disparity in the sentencing of people caught with crack cocaine versus powder cocaine.
To be charged with a felony, crack users needed to possess only 5 grams of the drug. To be hit with the same charge, powder cocaine users needed to be caught with 500 grams. That 100-to-1 disparity has frequently been cited by drug war opponents as exhibit A to buttress their claim that drug laws are racist.
The moment on the House floor came and went fairly quickly, but the ease with which the bill passed belied a lot of behind-the-scenes activity.
In March, the Senate approved the legislation to reduce the disparity to 18 to one, also on a voice vote. The threshold for crack cocaine in the new law will be 28 grams; the powder level remains the same.
President Obama is expected to sign the legislation, having expressed opposition to disparity in the past.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/c...
To be charged with a felony, crack users needed to possess only 5 grams of the drug. To be hit with the same charge, powder cocaine users needed to be caught with 500 grams. That 100-to-1 disparity has frequently been cited by drug war opponents as exhibit A to buttress their claim that drug laws are racist.
The moment on the House floor came and went fairly quickly, but the ease with which the bill passed belied a lot of behind-the-scenes activity.
In March, the Senate approved the legislation to reduce the disparity to 18 to one, also on a voice vote. The threshold for crack cocaine in the new law will be 28 grams; the powder level remains the same.
President Obama is expected to sign the legislation, having expressed opposition to disparity in the past.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/c...
The number of grams of crack went up, but the disparity is still there. To make it right it has to be 1to 1. If not it is still B.S. and people of color still get the bad end of the drug deal. Cocaine is cocaine. It does not matter if it is powder,crack, or in a needle it's still cocaine. A longer sentence for crack is backwards. All crack cocaine begin as powder cocaine. If you really want to make an impact, have a stiffer sentence for purity of powder cocaine. COCAINE KILLS US, in any form. Law makers do your homework and ask people recovering from cocaine addiction if the form of coke made a differents, it's like making lemonade out of lemons. Law-makers you guys are looking at the form of the deal that the dealers make. BE NOT CONFUSED DRUG DEALERS SELL DRUGS, LIKE CANDY STORES SELL CANDY. My people, my people A DRUG IS A DRUG. You might think about getting B.A.D. (Blacks Against Drugs.)