DRUG CZAR TALKS SENSE ON SENTENCING

"I try to spend the least amount of time possible talking about
sentencing," U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey told The Chronicle's
editorial board Wednesday. That's a shame because when McCaffrey talks
about sentencing, he makes more sense than the draconian federal
sentencing system. He says things that could give cover to politicians
who know the system is overly harsh with minnows in the drug world,
but fear pushing for change lest they seem to be defending the sharks.

Specifically, McCaffrey criticized mandatory minimum sentences for
simple drug possession, tougher sentences for those caught with crack
cocaine versus powder cocaine and plea bargains that often mean
smaller sentences for drug kingpins than their girlfriends and lackeys.

Last year, McCaffrey went to New York to criticize the state's
heavy-handed drug sentencing and declared, "Mandatory sentencing ties
the hands of judges too tightly and prevents them from exercising
discretion and good judgment." This week, McCaffrey reaffirmed that he
does not believe there should be mandatory time for personal drug possession.

Has he laid out a plan? No, spokesman Robert Weiner replied, "That's a
conceptual statement." Well, it's a start.

Not that everyone is impressed. "This is not a concession about much,"
said Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy
Foundation. "The injustices that exist regarding mandatory minimums
are very much for the cases that involve the mandatories for
trafficking."

McCaffrey agreed that there are "injustices" in drug dealing cases
too, such as when a drug dealer turns on other dealers in exchange for
a light sentence, while his less-connected, less-culpable girlfriend
receives a 20-year term. To prove his bona fides, McCaffrey should
call for presidential pardons for convicts such as Kemba Smith, who
was sentenced in 1995 to 24 1/2 years after her drug dealer boyfriend
died. (Her penalty was so large partly because she had pleaded guilty
to conspiracy with the boyfriend's drug trade, even for trade that
occurred before they got involved.)

As Monica Pratt of Families Against Mandatory Minimums noted, "For a
person like Kemba, I think society would be satisfied in getting five
years in prison and letting her get out and contribute."

Sterling argues that Congress passed mandatory minimums in 1986 with
the intent of punishing drug kingpins, but the system is failing. Last
month, the Los Angeles Times ran an investigative piece that looked
into federal prosecutions and found that sentences have fallen 22
percent from 1992 to 1998. It may be that prosecutors are going after
the easy cases, and letting the drug biggies skate.

McCaffrey said that he disagrees with the disparity -- obviously
race-based -- in laws that mandate a five-year sentence for possession
of five grams of crack cocaine, or 500 grams of powder cocaine. In
1998, 85 percent of crack cocaine arrests involved African Americans,
while 31 percent of powder cocaine charges were filed against African
Americans.

McCaffrey told The Chronicle that he proposed 1-to-1 parity for
possession of both drugs, with a five-year minimum starting at 250
grams for either drug. The proposal, however, was "dead inside the
administration." The White House came up with a compromise for a
1-to-10 ratio, an improvement over 1-to-100, but that proposal tanked
in Congress.

"The Congress just won't budge, or when they do, they go in totally
the wrong direction," Weiner noted, citing a bill by Sen. Spencer
Abraham, R-Mich., that would reduce the disparity, not by lowering the
penalty for possession of crack, but by mandating a five-year sentence
for 50 grams, instead of 500 grams, of powder.

That bill is change for the worse. But if citizens don't speak out
against it, it could become the next overkill drug law.