Cocaine sentencing bill eliminates racism

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced a bill Thursday that would make sentencing based on possession of crack and powdered cocaine more equitable.

The current law requires possession of 100 times more powdered cocaine to invoke the same mandatory minimum sentence as that for crack cocaine, The Washington Post reported.

Civil rights groups, drug-reform advocates and courts have said the disparity between the sentencing laws has a disproportionately greater impact on African-Americans, the newspaper said. The issue has caused frustration since 1986, when the current, harsher law was instituted during a time of widespread crack cocaine use in inner cities.

"The sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine has contributed to the imprisonment of African-Americans at six times the rate of whites and to the United States' position as the world's leader in incarcerations. It's time for us to act," Durbin said.

The bill, titled the Fair Sentencing Act, would increase the amount of crack cocaine necessary to trigger a mandatory prison term, while making the harsher penalties for larger-scale drug dealers and violent criminals, the newspaper reported.

Reformers say another important reason for the change is that prison budgets are tight and half of federal prisoners are jailed for drug offenses.