CRACK VS. POWDER

Make Cocaine Penalties Equal.

The Legislature is close to making the penalties for both crack cocaine and
powder cocaine equal, a long overdue reform that will slightly soften the
penalties for crack cocaine and while stiffening the penalty for possessing
the drug in its powder form.

For too long the Legislature has been paralyzed on this issue, mainly
because of the inherent racial element. Far more blacks use crack cocaine
and far more whites use powder cocaine. Therefore, blacks have suffered far
stiffer prison sentences for what is essentially the same crime. The
maximum penalty for possessing crack cocaine is more than double the
penalty for possessing the powdered form of the same drug.

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus -- all Democrats -- have long
decried this disparity. Many Republicans, however, have held on to the
traditional view of crack cocaine that originally fueled the elevated
penalties. Crack cocaine, especially in its early days, has been synonymous
with violent street crime. The stiffer penalties were intended to be a
deterrent.

But the world has changed since then. Crack cocaine use is down, and the
violent turf wars associated with its sale are far less common. This bill
recognizes that. Therefore, the General Assembly should send the governor a
bill that equalizes cocaine sentences and creates tougher penalties for the
new drug menace: crystal meth.