CRACKED

Don't close cocaine sentencing gap by paring crack penalty

In recommending to Congress that it reduce federal sentencing
disparities for possession of crack and powder cocaine, President
Clinton is seeking to right a grievous harm, but not
surprisingly he is going about it all wrong.

In 1986, Congress enacted legislation that caused possession of
at least 5 grams of crack to trigger an automatic minimum prison
sentence of five years. It takes 100 times as much, or 500 grams
of cocaine in its powder form (from which crack is derived)
before the mandatory minimum fiveyear sentence kicks in.

Because this uneven sentencing structure has resulted in
disproportionate numbers of black addicts and dealers being
sentenced to long prison terms, black civil rights groups and
many liberal lawmakers have argued that the gap should be closed.

This week, Clinton accepted a recommendation from Attorney
General Janet Reno and the president's drug policy adviser,
retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, that would raise the fiveyear
prison term threshold to 25 grams for crack and lower the
threshold for powder to 250 grams. If Congress accepts the
recommendation, the cracktopowder sentencing disparity will
narrow to 10 to 1.

There is great merit to the argument that the sentencing gap
should be closed, but this task must not be accomplished by
lessening penalties for crack, a highly addictive, dangerous drug
whose introduction sparked an epidemic of violence in poor,
innercity communities. It makes far more sense to increase the
penalties for powder cocaine. Powder cocaine also is an addictive
and dangerous drug, and its cultivation, distribution and sale
have corrupted governments, sparked the assassination of numerous
Latin American judges and cost the United States billions in drug
treatment, lost productivity and massive interdiction operations.

Clearly Clinton hopes to score points with certain constituencies
by justifiably reducing the cocaine sentencing disparity.
But his method threatens to do great harm to communities that
count on tough drug laws to curb rates of violence and addiction
due to crack.

Strong laws are crucial for curbing cocaine trafficking and usage
and for ending the sale and abuse of all illegal drugs.

By all means, Congress should close the punishment gap for
possession of powder and crack cocaine, but that can best be
accomplished by bringing penalties for powder cocaine in line
with rock cocaine not lessening the penalty for crack.