Sober sentencing for cocaine possession

IT HAS TAKEN 20 years, but Congress is poised to reverse one of the great injustices foisted on the country in the name of the War on Drugs.

At the height of the panic over crack cocaine in the 1980s, Congress passed draconian laws to penalize the drug's use and sale. Possession of a mere 5 grams of crack -- the weight of two pennies -- guaranteed an offender five years behind bars; a conviction involving 50 grams would bring a mandatory 10-year sentence. These measures were supported by many in the Congressional Black Caucus who were deeply concerned about the devastation wrought by crack in the black community. But soon, the unfairness in the system became apparent: Almost 85 percent of crack arrests involved African American men, most of them young and tens of thousands of whom have been hit with inordinately long sentences. White and Hispanic offenders -- those most often arrested for powder cocaine violations -- escaped harsh sentences for small amounts and would have to be caught with 100 times the amount of powder cocaine to be subjected to the same mandatory minimums as for crack.

As drafted by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 called for wiping out all differences in sentences for crack and powder; the companion bill in the House also calls for eliminating the gap. But such parity ignores important if not huge differences between the two forms of the drug, including a slightly higher risk of addiction with crack, as well as a faster rate of physical deterioration users experience. This approach has also been politically untenable and unlikely to attract needed Republican support to move the bill quickly -- an important factor that House members should keep in mind when taking up the measure.

The Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a smart and strong compromise that the House should embrace. The new bill eliminates a mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack -- in itself an important change. It also increases the weight triggers for mandatory minimums: An offender would have to be convicted of peddling 28 grams or more of crack to be hit with a five-year mandatory sentence. A 10-year prison term would be handed down for 280 grams or more -- versus 50 grams today. The new amounts reduce the disparity between powder and crack penalties, from the current 100 to 1 ratio to roughly 18 to 1. And the measure hands back to judges a greater degree of discretion to tailor the punishment for those caught with very small amounts of the drug.