OUR UNJUST DRUG LAW

THE DEATH and disorder stemming from decades of illicit drug dealing
have destroyed countless lives and property, turning city cores into
blighted wastelands and economic disasters.

Dope is a plague without cultural boundaries and no sign of retreat -
unless we stamp it out.

So, it is hard to rail against any "get tough on" policy aimed at
disrupting the underground narcotics market and meting out stiff
penalties to anyone trafficking there. Yet, our "war" on drugs has
missed its mark: After nearly 20 years, it remains largely
ill-focused, ineffective and, perhaps worst of all, inherently unfair.

A 1988 state law mandated 3-to-5 year prison sentences for possessing
or selling crack cocaine but, inexplicably, only 2-to-4 year sentences
for powder cocaine convictions.

It's the same drug, the same toll on society. The only distinction is
that crack is crystallized into rocks and smoked mostly by blacks,
while the powder is snorted mostly by whites.

African Americans accounted for more than 66 percent of the crack
cocaine convictions; whites just 3 to 4 percent. Bottom line: Blacks
get more and longer prison terms for the same crime.

California is among only 13 states, including Alabama and Louisiana,
to have the two penalties for cocaine.

"We have unequal justice ... It's stupid, it's racist and it's costing
taxpayers," said Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton.

His bill, AB2274, would end this blatant disparity by mandating 2- to
4- year sentences for all cocaine convictions, and in the process save
about $65 million a year in prison costs alone.

Assemblymembers should take courage and do the right thing: End the
state's discriminatory sentencing guidelines and stop funneling
millions of taxpayers' dollars into an overly costly prison system.