End the Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine

From The United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society:

The enactment of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created what is known as the 100 to 1 crack to npowder cocaine disparity. This legislation was hastily passed in response to basketball star Len Bias who died suddenly after trying cocaine. Although it as thought he had tried crack cocaine, he actually died using powder cocaine. This legislation was passed due to much misinformation.

Current federal sentencing law punished crack cocaine offenders much more severely than any other drug offenders. Crack cocaine is the only drug for which simple possession and trafficking can lead to the same sentence. Possessing or dealing 5 grams of crack cocaine results in the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as trafficking 500 grams of powder cocaine.

African-Americans constitute more than 80% of the people sentenced under these harsh federal lawsand serve substantially more time in prison for drug offenses than whites, yet whites use this form of cocaine more than African-Americans do. These laws are therefore are inherently racist.

Public concern in the 1980s on widespread use of crack cocaine was thought to be epidemic at the time, but has been understood to be over-dramatized. The pharmacological effects of crack cocaine are the same as powder cocaine, and the rash of expected "crack" babies never materialized. Yet, this legislation, which was passed in response to these irrational expectations has not been changed.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, created in 1984 to help Congress reduce unwarranted sentencing, has repeatedly called for the equalization of crack and powder sentences. The resistance to change the law is based on the lack of political resolve by Congress. The result of these long sentences has been a ballooning of the prison population and the transformation of drug addicts who begin these long sentences, into criminals when they complete them.

Contact your Federal Senator(s) and Representative(s).