Crack-vs.-powder disparity is questioned

[Gunny]

By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Dec 25, 2:33 AM ET

BOSTON - During some of the bloodiest years of the drug wars of the 1980s, crack was seen as far more dangerous than powdered cocaine, and that perception was written into the sentencing laws. But now that notion is under attack like never before.

Criminologists, doctors and other experts say the differences between the two forms of the drug were largely exaggerated and do not justify the way the law comes down 100 times harder on crack.

A push to shrink the disparity in punishments got a boost last month when reduced federal sentencing guidelines went into effect for crack offenses. Then, earlier this month, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal cases, voted to make the reductions retroactive, allowing some 19,500 inmates, mostly black, to seek reductions in their crack sentences.

Many think the changes are long overdue.

Crack, because it is smoked and gets into the bloodstream faster than snorted cocaine, produces a more intense high and is generally considered more addictive than powdered cocaine.

But experts say that difference does not warrant the 100-to-1 disparity that was written into a 1986 law that set a mandatory minimum prison term of five years for trafficking in 5 grams of crack, or less than the amount in two packets of sugar. It would take 100 times as much cocaine to get the same sentence.

"There's no scientific justification to support the current laws," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Many defense lawyers and civil rights advocates say the lopsided perception of crack versus cocaine is rooted in racism. Four out of every five crack defendants are black, while most powdered-cocaine defendants are white.

more ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071225/ap_on_re_us/crack_vs_cocaine

So why is it the punishment for crack is being lowered instead of the punishment for powder being raised?

I think the accusation that the sentencing is based on racism is bullshit. The disparity is based on the hype of crack being so much worse than powder; whether or not that hype is true. Looks like white powder's not even immune from someone whining "racism."

 

[Shogun]

dude... in all actuality it really was bullshit the way crack was treated differenly than coke back in the day. It's kinda like how our national racism had everything to do with the criminalization of pot despite the clear greater hazard of alcohol. Crack WAS an epidemic. In some places it still is. COKE WAS an epidemic too. The difference being that different forms of the same drug were distributed to different groups along racial divisions. Now, I agree that it is bullshit to assume that this marketing was the result of a specific plan against blacks and favoring whites. I'd need to see proof of that conspiracy theory before entertaining the idea... However, it was still very true that a difference in sentencing due to the form of the substance confiscated was favoring white consumption rather than black consumption of a similar amount of coke. Now, since black market drugs ARE a sellers market I think it's pretty obvious why poor ghetto blacks were smoking crack while wealthy whites were snorting blow. the racist element lies in inconsistant sentencing for a similar amount of the same drug according to it's form as powder or rock. I think it's kinda funny, actually, that when needing to normalize sentencing it is decided to reduce the violation for crack than increase the violation for coke. I think that says quite a bit about our cultural acceptance of drugs despite our drug war facade.

Also relevant, I think, is how the medium that LSD is sold on becomes the weighed criteria deciding punishment rather than the total presence of the drug itself. Why do paper sheets containing the same amount of the drug found in an eyedropper produce a harsher sentence based on the weight of the paper?

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

As far as I know, the harsher sentences for crack were not based on racism, although their outcome has been to target blacks more. The original supporters of marijuana prohibition were unabashedly racist of course.

Crack cocaine penalties should be lowered to match cocaine laws, not visa-versa. We've got too many nonviolent people in prison as it is, more per capita than even China or Russia. Besides, the reason crack was invented was because of the war on drugs. Crack is more compact and easier to transport than cocaine. Sort of like how bootleggers preferred to haul hard liquor instead of beer.

 

[eots]

As far as I know, the harsher sentences for crack were not based on racism, although their outcome has been to target blacks more. The original supporters of marijuana prohibition were unabashedly racist of course.

Crack cocaine penalties should be lowered to match cocaine laws, not visa-versa. We've got too many nonviolent people in prison as it is, more per capita than even China or Russia. Besides, the reason crack was invented was because of the war on drugs. Crack is more compact and easier to transport than cocaine. Sort of like how bootleggers preferred to haul hard liquor instead of beer.

well actual when crack was introduced it was turned from powder to crack after being smuggled here so the intent of the CIA was to create greater addiction and sell more product and the fact of race was probably just a bonus.I traveled with bands across the nation and there is heroin and cocaine
available easily everywhere you can not have a distribution network that massive and efficient without government complicity on many levels. if this is not the case then how in our wildest imaginings think we could keep out TERRORIST OR BIO WEAPONS
YouTube - CRACK THE CIA
Proves beyond a shadow of a doubt how the war on drugs is a ...
9 min -
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYOVQezWaCY[/ame]

 

[Shogun]

I'm curious to know how the difference in sentencing was NOT racist given the difference in sentencing between 5 grams of coke in powder or rock form. We acknowledge that the prohibition of pot was originally grounded in racism against latinos but can't fathom the same when Chauncey gets a slap on the wrist for snorting the same amount of active ingredients that Leroy smokes from his crackpipe and can get federal prison time for?

Hell, if offenders were given sentences based on the amount of controlled substance they had AFTER it was reduced into a pure state we may have found the opposite should have been true in sentencing. After all, who is more likely to have pure product: the wealthy white dude with the uncut Peruvian or the semi-homeless crackhead with rocked up coke that was cut a few times before he finally got it to rock up?

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Well, what I meant was, when the harsher laws against crack were passed, the stated intent was to stop a more powerful drug. The people pushing it could have secretly had racist intents for all I know, although I'm not aware of any evidence of that.

The outcome has effectively been racist though.

 

[Shogun]

fair enough... I'm not sure that I'd label crack more powerful than uncut puruvian though... It just seems to me that it was easier to ignore the coke being snorted through the 80s while focusing on the crack because the socioeconomic factors that seperate cokeheads from crackheads parted along racial lines. Hell, our culture damn near celebrated Studio 54 because the affluent were doing the drugs instead of a poor, moslty black, population of crackheads in the 80s..

 

[Gunny]

fair enough... I'm not sure that I'd label crack more powerful than uncut puruvian though... It just seems to me that it was easier to ignore the coke being snorted through the 80s while focusing on the crack because the socioeconomic factors that seperate cokeheads from crackheads parted along racial lines. Hell, our culture damn near celebrated Studio 54 because the affluent were doing the drugs instead of a poor, moslty black, population of crackheads in the 80s..

Don't look now, but there sure are a lot of poor white crackheads out there. I don't think it's race so much as socioeconomics, if that. What's missing in the equation here is crack was originally called freebasing coke and I don't recall that it was a "black thing." Just idiots, regardless of race, trying to cook their brain cells in a "new" way.

 

[eots]

YouTube - Crack The CIA (2001 Sundance Winner) (2001)
Content of this nature is not necessarily prohibited on ...
9 min -

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CHG8ZGV96s[/ame]

 

[Gunny]

YouTube - Crack The CIA (2001 Sundance Winner) (2001)
Content of this nature is not necessarily prohibited on ...
9 min -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CHG8ZGV96s

DUde, give it a rest, huh?

 

[jillian]

Don't look now, but there sure are a lot of poor white crackheads out there. I don't think it's race so much as socioeconomics, if that. What's missing in the equation here is crack was originally called freebasing coke and I don't recall that it was a "black thing." Just idiots, regardless of race, trying to cook their brain cells in a "new" way.

Perhaps in the same way Katrina wasn't a race thing... unfortunately, the socioeconomics and race are tied up together in some very complicated ways.

 

[eots]

DUde, give it a rest, huh?

why would I give the truth a rest? I don't suppose you viewed it, an award winning film with very credible information completely relevant to the topic of both cocaine and socioeconomic victimization so .why don't you give it a rest....DUde

 

[Shogun]

Don't look now, but there sure are a lot of poor white crackheads out there. I don't think it's race so much as socioeconomics, if that. What's missing in the equation here is crack was originally called freebasing coke and I don't recall that it was a "black thing." Just idiots, regardless of race, trying to cook their brain cells in a "new" way.

Yet the sentencing disparity CLEARLY divided along the socioeconomic lines that were CLEARLY separated into white and black culture. If we can admit that the same was done for the sake of mexican pot and whitey booze then perhaps you can toss out a guess as to why the same amount of crack lands a harsher penalty than the exact same amount of substance in powder form. Remember, the 80s wasn't out of the blast radius of a dominant white majority whose mentality was more in line with Archie Bunker than where we are now (thank god for the 90s)

 

[liberalogic]

So why is it the punishment for crack is being lowered instead of the punishment for powder being raised?

Why must we instantly relegate drug offenders to punishment? We fill up prisons with people who have a problem that cannot be cured by a prison sentence. If we really want to lower drug rates, we need to offer help not morally condemn.

 

[eots]

Why must we instantly relegate drug offenders to punishment? We fill up prisons with people who have a problem that cannot be cured by a prison sentence. If we really want to lower drug rates, we need to offer help not morally condemn.

because prisons are big business as is the legal systen.... it would be like the mob wanting to legalize booze during Prohibition

 

[William Joyce]

Blacks are 50 times more likely to commit murder than whites, according to statistics kept with the Dept. of Justice.

Are laws against murder "racist"?