Obama Backs Crack-Powder Cocaine Equalization at Today's Hearing

[FUCK THE POLICE]

Obama Backs Crack-Powder Cocaine Equalization at Today's Hearing

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/4/29/12124/3073

As I wrote yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning on the need to revise the disparate 100:1 ratio of penalties for crack and powder cocaine. Here is Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's written testimony.

The Administration believes Congress’s goal should be to completely eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

Until that change from Congress comes:

However, we recognize that federal courts have the authority to sentence outside the guidelines in crack cases or even to create their own quantity ratio. Our prosecutors will inform courts that they should act within their discretion to fashion a sentence that is consistent with the objectives of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and our prosecutors will bring the relevant case-specific facts to the courts’ attention.

[More...]

Until Congress changes or eliminates the mandatory minimum thresholds, judges right now don't have the ability to use their discretion to go under those amounts.

Mandatory minimums trump the Sentencing Guidelines. Right now, by law, the Judge cannot depart below a five year mandatory minimum sentence for cases involving between 5 and 50 grams of crack or ten years for cases involving more than 50 grams of crack -- unless the safety valve applies or the Government requests a departure, which it can do for only one reason: if the defendant cooperated in the investigation or prosecution of another person. (The levels for powder are five years for between 500 grams and 5 kilos and ten years for more than 5 kilos.)

Until we get rid of mandatory minimums entirely, we need a law that gives judges the authority to depart from mandatory minimums on their own motion.

The safety valve (see section (f)) is limited to defendants with no more than one criminal history point. Minor offenses and deferred judgments in state courts count for one point. DUI's count for a point. There are far too many deserving defendants with more than one point who can't benefit from the safety valve. The safety valve needs to be expanded.

It's important for people to realize the sentencing guidelines, which are no longer mandatory, are only one factor in the equation. We need to get rid of the mandatory minimums and until we do, give judges the discretion to go below them on their own motion and expand eligibility for the safety valve.

 

[WRL]

I would support the legalization of non addictive substances like marijuana, but I say throw the book at crack dealers.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

I would support the legalization of non addictive substances like marijuana, but I say throw the book at crack dealers.

I agree. The punishment for dealing crack should be to have one book thrown at you.

 

[WRL]

I agree. The punishment for dealing crack should be to have one book thrown at you.

Are you even trying to be serious anymore, or is it troll time, every time?

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

Certainly you see the absurdity of punishing someone 500 times harder for possessing the same chemical substance?

 

[Don Quixote]

I would support the legalization of non addictive substances like marijuana, but I say throw the book at crack dealers.

de-criminalize all recreational drugs, addiction is a medical problem along with a societal problem

yeah, crank and crack suck

 

[Cancel 2018. 3]

Certainly you see the absurdity of punishing someone 500 times harder for possessing the same chemical substance?

crack is not coke...

next

 

[WRL]

de-criminalize all recreational drugs, addiction is a medical problem along with a societal problem

yeah, crank and crack suck

Exactly addiction is a societal problem, to feed their addictions people will rob, steal, kill, turn to prostitution, spreading disease, I mean an addict will steal from his own mother if only for one more fix, all standards and self respect go out the window, it's a nasty beast. I would support, enthusiastically, the legalization of non addictive substances, such as pot, but believe that those pushing addictive substances need to be made an example of. Especially crack dealers, that substance unleashed an epidemic in our country not to long ago, and tough laws on it, reigned it in.

 

[Damocles]

I agree. The punishment for dealing crack should be to have one book thrown at you.

The Oxford English Dictionary, each day, for the rest of your life. All 26 volumes. From a height of 30,000 feet.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

crack is not coke...

It is the same chemical. It's just that blacks use one mostly and whites mostly use the other. That's why fascists like WRL support institutionalized racism.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

The Oxford English Dictionary, each day, for the rest of your life. All 26 volumes. From a height of 30,000 feet.

One book once. No compromise.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

Exactly addiction is a societal problem, to feed their addictions people will rob, steal, kill, turn to prostitution, spreading disease, I mean an addict will steal from his own mother if only for one more fix, all standards and self respect go out the window, it's a nasty beast.

That's a dramatization. Besides, you can't say the same thing of SOME cocaine addicts? Crack cocaine and powdered cocaine are the same substance and should be treated no differently.

Get tough policies DO NOT WORK, and I look forward to the time when the massive prison population get-tough predators like you induced will be nothing but a shameful memory for the United States.

 

[Cancel5]

AMEN!!!!!! Shout it Brother!

 

[Cancel 2018. 3]

It is the same chemical. It's just that blacks use one mostly and whites mostly use the other. That's why fascists like WRL support institutionalized racism.

ok, you're right, i read up on it, i did not realize that crack is basically coke but less pure.

do you have evidence this law was created because blacks mostly use it? is the law aimed at dealers or users? or was the law created and then incidentally more blacks use crack?

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

The perception of crack-crazed negroes going out rapin white women is... exactly reminiscent of what was being propagated when cocaine was banned.

 

[Cancel 2018. 3]

The perception of crack-crazed negroes going out rapin white women is... exactly reminiscent of what was being propagated when cocaine was banned.

ok...do you have evidence the law is racist or did the law incidentally affect more blacks simply because they use the drug more?

they did the same thing with the marijuana in the initial prop films

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

ok...do you have evidence the law is racist or did the law incidentally affect more blacks simply because they use the drug more?

Crack cocaine is mostly used by blacks, powdered cocaine is mostly used by whites. Do I necessarily think it was self-conscious, deliberate racism? No, but it definitely did play into the paranoia.

I'm not going to say that cocaine and crack are equally as dangerous; crack enters the body much faster, and so produces addiction faster. It's the difference between snorting and smoking heroin, the way it enters the system. However, smoked cocaine had existed in the form of freebasing since the 20's.

I'll admit that smoked cocaine is more dangerous than snorted cocaine, but the ratio of addiction isn't 100:1.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

Apparently there is a bit of debate on whether or not crack is more addictive that powder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_cocaine#Addiction

Crack cocaine is popularly thought to be the most addictive form of cocaine,[1] and one of the most addictive forms of any drug[1]. However, this claim has been contested: Morgan and Zimmer wrote that available data indicated that "...smoking cocaine by itself does not increase markedly the likelihood of dependence.... The claim that cocaine is much more addictive when smoked must be reexamined."[9] They argued that cocaine users who are already prone to abuse are most likely to "move toward a more efficient mode of ingestion" (that is, smoking).

 

[Cancel 2018. 3]

Crack cocaine is mostly used by blacks, powdered cocaine is mostly used by whites. Do I necessarily think it was self-conscious, deliberate racism? No, but it definitely did play into the paranoia.

I'm not going to say that cocaine and crack are equally as dangerous; crack enters the body much faster, and so produces addiction faster. It's the difference between snorting and smoking heroin, the way it enters the system. However, smoked cocaine had existed in the form of freebasing since the 20's.

I'll admit that smoked cocaine is more dangerous than snorted cocaine, but the ratio of addiction isn't 500:1.

the law ratio is 100:1, not 500:1

if it is more dangerous and the law is neutral as to race and race is only incidentally effected, i see no reason to change it simply because more blacks that whites use crack. if whites or other races receive teh same sentence, i don't see the problem.

now, if you're arguing that the sentence is to harsh and does more damage than good, then the sentencing should be changed.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

if it is more dangerous and the law is neutral as to race and race is only incidentally effected, i see no reason to change it simply because more blacks that whites use crack. .

If the perception of massively increased addiction potential is mainly based off of hysteria flamed by racism, then yes, it is a valid argument for equalization or at least reduction of the 100:1 ratio.