COCAINE: EQUALIZE JUSTICE IN CALIFORNIA

Re: the editorial "Equalizing justice" (July 31):

California needs to follow Congress' lead and reform inequitable state
sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine. Mandatory
minimum prison sentences have done little other than give the land of
the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The rise of the
prison-industrial complex has created powerful prison lobbies that
skew public priorities in states like California.

The deterrent value of zero tolerance is grossly overrated. During the
crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the zero-tolerance
approach. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., had the highest per-capita
murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities
simultaneously. The decline was not because of the passage of federal
mandatory minimum-sentencing laws.

Simply put, younger people saw firsthand what crack was doing to their
older siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news.
This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to
substance-abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from
prisons and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars
and lives.

Robert Sharpe, Arlington, Va.