MORE TIME URGED ON POWDERED COCAINE

Abraham's Critics Prefer He Ease Crack Penalties

WASHINGTON -- After two years of tense haggling, the Senate was expected to
vote today on a controversial bill that would dramatically stiffen
sentencing guidelines for some drug offenses.

The Powder Cocaine Sentencing Act, sponsored by Sen. Spencer Abraham,
R-Mich., would even the difference between federal prison term guidelines
for powdered cocaine crimes and the stiffer sentencing guidelines for
crack-related crimes.

But the bill would not ease crack sentencing guidelines, which is what
Democrats in Congress want. Instead, it would level harsher sentencing
guidelines for powdered cocaine crimes.

"We are making positive strides in arresting and leveling off the trends in
drug use, but one area where drug use is on an alarming rise is cocaine use
among our youth," Abraham said Monday.

The bill and the issue surrounding it have been controversial for several
years, as the country has moved toward harsher prison sentences for crack
crimes. That issue has led to splinter issues, such as a continuing
increase in prison overcrowding.

Crack cocaine tends to be sold in cheaper forms than powdered cocaine.
Black legislators and Democrats in Congress have complained that harsher
sentences for crack use unfairly target low-income and minority offenders.

Abraham's bill would lower from 500 to 50 grams the amount of powdered
cocaine that would have to be involved in a crime before a person received
a 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. Under current law, five grams
of crack triggers a minimum 5-year sentence.

But opponents to the legislation have complained that even more people will
wind up in already overcrowded federal prisons if Abraham's bill becomes law.

According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the Sentencing
Project, nonprofit Washington advocacy groups opposed to the bill, more
than 5,500 more inmates would end up in federal prisons in the next five
years because of the legislation.

Those groups and other opponents, including the Congressional Black Caucus,
have said the score should be evened by increasing the amount of crack that
would trigger a mandatory prison term.

Julie Stewart, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said she
takes issue with the fact that Abraham's bill is attached to the Senate's
much larger bankruptcy bill. "The disparity between crack and powder has
been under discussion for five years, and what the Senate is doing is a
very sneaky and underhanded way to fix it," Stewart said Monday.