SENATE ADOPTS MEASURE TO REDUCE COCAINE SENTENCE DISPARITY

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted today to stiffen the penalty for the
sale of powder cocaine, bringing the penalty closer to that prescribed for
selling crack cocaine.

The measure also would increase penalties for sales of all illegal drugs to
minors and for selling them near schools and other places where young
people congregate.

``We must act to prevent our youth from ever starting down the path of drug
abuse,'' said the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, who wrote the provision.

The vote was 50-49 for the measure, which would reduce the sentencing
disparity between powder and crack cocaine by tightening the penalty
against dealers of the powder. It responds to complaints that a 1996 law
making the penalties for selling crack cocaine more stringent than for the
sale of powder cocaine has unfairly resulted in harsher sentences for
blacks than whites. The presumption is that more blacks use crack cocaine
and that more whites use powder.

The provision was attached to a major bill pending in the Senate to
overhaul bankruptcy laws.