DRUG-SENTENCING BILL GETS SENATE OK, GOES TO RELL

A bill that equalizes sentencing provisions in crack and powder
cocaine laws was approved Thursday by the state Senate over opposition
of critics who said it just gives crack dealers a break.

If signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the bill would set possession of 28
grams -1 ounce - of either crack or powder cocaine as the threshold
for charging someone as a dealer. Currently, the trigger is 28 grams
for powder cocaine but half a gram for crack cocaine, a smokeable and
cheaper form more common in cities than suburbs.

Possession with intent to sell carries a mandatory minimum five-year
sentence and a maximum of 20 years.

Rell's office said she has not decided whether to sign or veto the
measure, which was approved 21-15 by the Senate and 92-52 last week by
the House.

"This bill addresses a fundamental issue of disparity," said Sen. Eric
Coleman, D-Bloomfield.

Coleman and other supporters said the current law, passed in 1987 to
combat a violent spike in the urban crack cocaine trade, results in
more blacks and Latinos being imprisoned on drug crimes than whites.
They said the bill only adjusts an inequity in laws covering dealing
and has no impact on current narcotics possession laws, which carry a
seven-year maximum jail term.

About 72 percent of the inmates in state jails are members of minority
groups, and about 80 percent of them are there for drug-related
crimes, bill co-sponsor Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said.

But senators who opposed the bill said they could not back a plan that
would increase the minimum amount of crack cocaine someone must have
to be considered a dealer, not a user.

"This sends the wrong message to drug dealers," Sen. John Kissel,
R-Enfield, said. He offered an amendment setting 14 grams, or one-half
ounce, as the trigger for the crime of possession with intent to sell
for both crack and powder cocaine. It failed by a 23-13 vote.

Afterward, Sen. William H. Nickerson, R-Greenwich, said he did not
expect Rell to sign the crack cocaine bill, calling it "the clearest
veto bill" of the year. Senate Republican leader Louis DeLuca of
Woodbury also publicly urged Rell to veto the bill.

But Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said, "I
certainly hope she will sign it because it's a matter of enlightened
public policy ... of not making an artificial distinction between
types of cocaine."

Rell spokesman Judd Everhart said she wants to study the bill before
making any decision and had no immediate comment on it.

The nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, which is working nationwide to
emphasize treatment instead of incarceration in narcotics cases,
issued a statement urging Rell to approve the bill.

"Connecticut's legislature has made a statement today," Alliance
spokesman Michael Blain said. "They've said that the first step toward
ending the failed war on drugs is taking the underlying racism out of
it. We hope their voices are heard on Capitol Hill."