Pubdate: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 Source: Charlotte Observer (NC) Copyright: 1999 The Charlotte Observer Contact: http://www.charlotte.com/observer/ Source: Charlotte Observer(NC) Author: Michael R. Bromwich of the Washington Post CLEAN UP THE DRUG LAWS WASHINGTON -- When I was a federal prosecutor in New York, I led a 13-month investigation of a vast cocaine distribution organization. The kingpin of the organization was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. A 21-year-old woman who played a subordinate and short-term role. The judge sentenced her to probation. It was a compassionate sentence and the proper one. But under the terms of an amendment recently passed by the Senate this woman would have received a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. The Senate's action was framed as an effort to shrink the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine. At present, a defendant convicted of dealing at least five grams of crack cocaine in the federal system receives a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. In the case of powder cocaine, the five-year mandatory minimum does not apply unless the defendant has engaged in drug dealing involving amounts of at least 500 grams. The appropriate solution, one urged by many participants in the criminal justice system, is to reduce the disparity by raising the weight standard for crack cocaine rather than lowering it for powder cocaine. Unfortunately, this solution runs counter to the iron law of drug politics, which holds that it is politically foolhardy to oppose tougher sentences for drug defendants. Since the late 1980s, sentences available to prosecutors in narcotics cases - -- and mandatory within comparatively narrow ranges for sentencing judges -- have become dramatically more severe. Some time ago we reached the point of diminishing returns. Although it takes courage for politicians to say in this context that we have gone too far -- or at least that we should go no farther -- we plainly have reached that point. The way to mitigate the unfairness of the crack-sentencing standards is not to toughen the powder-cocaine sentencing rules; it is to take the more courageous step of ameliorating the crack-sentencing scheme. When Congress reconvenes at the beginning of next year, it should reject the powder-cocaine measure that the Senate passed this month. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk