GORE VIEW FALLS SHORT ON COCAINE DISPARITY

Al Gore could have taken the easy way out. He could have clung to the
position Bill Clinton took four years ago during a similar conversation
with The Trotter Group, an organization of African-American columnists.

He could have hewed to the ''mend it, don't end it'' policy the president
advocated back then for the federal government's disparate treatment of
people convicted of selling crack and powder cocaine. Clinton then said
that he wanted to bring the penalty for selling powder cocaine closer to
that of selling crack cocaine, but he stopped short of saying he wanted to
see the same punishment meted out to both groups of offenders. ''You could
make an argument for some disparity based on the level of violence
associated with the crack trade,'' the president told us.

Equalize Penalties Between The Two:

Last week, when Gore was asked whether he thought a recent Senate vote to
reduce, but not eliminate, the difference in the mandatory minimum
sentences for selling crack and powder cocaine amounted to equal justice,
the vice president went a lot further than his boss has been willing to go.

''I think the remaining disparities should be dealt with. I respect the
views of the law enforcement professionals who argue that there is some
justification, but I don't see it myself,'' he told The Trotter Group
during its annual meeting at Clark Atlanta University.

''I'm not an expert in this field,'' said Gore, the front-runner for the
Democratic Party's presidential nomination. ''But I would start from the
assumption that (the penalties) ought to be equal, and I think the burden
of proof should be borne by those who say it should not be equal.''

That took some courage. Few share his view. Like Clinton, most of official
Washington believes there is some justification for treating those who sell
crack more harshly than people who hawk the powder.

But some black leaders and civil libertarians complain that the existing
uneven policy for dealing with those found guilty of selling different
forms of the same illegal substance disproportionately targets blacks.

Under the current federal law, the minimum sentence for someone convicted
of selling 5 grams of crack is the same as that for a person found guilty
of trying to sell 500 grams of powder cocaine -- a 100-1 ratio.

The Senate action, which was attached to a bankruptcy-reform bill and
failed to win passage in the congressional session that ended last week,
would have cut the ratio to 10-1.

Evenhandedness On Arrests Needed, Too:

Gore is right to think that doesn't go far enough. But wiping out the
sentencing disparity is just the first step. The next president also must
insist that federal agents and prosecutors be just as evenhanded in
arresting and bringing to trial those who deal crack and powder cocaine as
Gore would like the penalties to be for those who are convicted of such
crimes.

While 49% of crack users in 1998 were white, just 34% were black and 17%
Hispanic, according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug
Information. But in that same year, blacks were 85% of those convicted for
selling crack, Hispanics were 9%, and whites were 6%, according to the U.S.
Sentencing Commission.

Last year, whites were 74% of powder cocaine users, Hispanics 13% and
blacks 12%. But in 1998, blacks were 31% of those who ended up in federal
prison for selling powder cocaine, Hispanics 49% and whites only 19%.

Given the great difference between those who use crack and powder cocaine
and those who go to jail for selling these drugs, there is good reason to
believe that the scales of justice are out of balance. ''If most of the
crack and powder cocaine dealers are black, then inner-city streets ought
to be overrun with white users trying to buy these drugs,'' said Marc Mauer
of the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., organization that promotes
criminal justice reform. ''That they aren't suggests that something is
wrong.''

What it suggests is that white drug dealers in this nation's suburbs and
cul-de-sacs are less of a target than are black drug dealers in urban areas.

Gore's challenge, should he win the presidency, would be to match his words
with deeds. To balance the scales of justice, he not only would have to get
rid of the disparity between the minimum mandatory sentences for selling
crack and powder cocaine, he'd also have to change the way law enforcement
officials go about arresting and convicting those who sell these drugs.