Crack law reform

The House passed the measure handily, but the vote divided Republicans. A majority of House Republicans voted for the bill with all Democrats, but the 66 votes in opposition all came from the GOP.

Crack cocaine, which is typically smoked, tends to be less expensive than powder cocaine, which is snorted in through the nose. The lower price of crack cocaine made it more easily accessible to people in lower-income communities, which subsequently meant that members of marginalized groups were more likely to face longer prison sentences compared to the lower ones for powder cocaine offenses.

A law called the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the cocaine sentencing disparity for pending and future cases, but did not fully eliminate it. Democracy is on life support — and the GOP wants to pull the plug MORE allowed people convicted prior to passage of the law to seek resentencing. Make this donation monthly. Biden administration reverses Trump-era policy that opened new oil development in Arctic Alaska. Sanders demands refunds for seniors hit by Medicare premium hike.

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First declared in the s, the War on Drugs sought to combat the illegal drug trade in the U. However, the War on Drugs and the harsh sentencing policies that followed swelled our prison population and disproportionately targeted communities of color. The number of Americans imprisoned for violating drug laws increased from roughly 41, to , between to The Sentencing Project, Factsheet: Trends in U.

In recent years, many have begun to recognize that the War on Drugs has failed. States are legalizing the medical and recreational use of marijuana and decriminalizing marijuana and other drugs. Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act of , which reduced the racially discriminatory crack-to-powder drug quantity ratio from to The First Step Act in made the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive, applying the law to 3, people who were convicted of crack offenses before the law went into effect in And recently Members of Congress have introduced legislation to end federal marijuana prohibition.

Recognizing the impact of the failed War on Drugs, many states have taken action in the legislature and on the ballot to change outdated drug policies. In the November 3 rd , election, drug policy reforms were approved by voters in every state in which they were on the ballot. In Oregon, voters passed measures to decriminalize small amounts of all narcotics and to legalize psilocybin, the main psychoactive component in magic mushrooms, for therapeutic uses.

In Washington, D. Marijuana legalization measures were approved by voters in Montana, Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota, and medical marijuana measures were approved in Mississippi and South Dakota.

As of November , thirty-one states and Washington D. Thirty-six states and Washington, DC have legalized medical marijuana, and fifteen states and Washington, D. The Fair Sentencing Act S. Sentencing Commission is reconsidering the legitimacy and effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentencing and ahead of a report on the subject the commission is expected to release in October.

As originally introduced in the Senate, the bill would have completely eliminated the discriminatory disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing under federal law. We have momentum now to impose even greater change and we should not lose it.